BIOGRAPHY OF
ROGER H.
SMITH
Adapted from an April 2005 letter by Josie Baumgartner
and updated in September 2009
Roger was born in Watsonville in 1937 and started his career at 15 as a grocery store clerk. He worked his way to the top and managed grocery stores in the Watsonville/Salinas area (1952 - 1983). Roger then became a Farmers insurance agent (1983 - 2003) after which he retired.
Roger started square dancing in 1961 and began calling in 1963. He called for the Mission Mixers in Hollister (1963 - 1974) the Castaways in Watsonville (1964 - 1975), and the Golden Eagles (1975 - 1979). He didn't call again for many years.
Roger started square dancing again after his divorce in 1995. (Roger has 3 children, 3 stepchildren, 10 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren.) In 2000 Single Squares of Sunnyvale (Sunnyvale Singles) hired Roger to teach their class, and Roger started calling newer dancer hoedowns with Harold Fleeman as well as the Sunnyvale Singles Spring Fling hoe-down with Jake Shimata. In 2004 Roger became the caller for The Jokers in Campbell, which has combined with the Rafter Rockers to become the Rockin' Jokers.
Roger met his partner, Josie Baumgartner, in 2000 at Sunnyvale Singles. Josie and Roger have been active since then in promoting square dancing by giving demonstrations for local schools, senior groups & other events.
They have traveled to festivals in Bakersfield, Kings City, Tulare, and Yuba City. Roger has called at State conventions in California and Hawaii; USA West conventions in Idaho, Utah and Oregon; National conventions in Anaheim, Portland, Seattle and Long Beach. Roger also calls for many PTA family events, Girls scouts and private dance parties.
After Roger retired, he and Josie started a program with the San Jose Unified School District to train teachers to teach square dancing in schools and to have students dance as part of the school's curriculum.
Between 2005 – 2009 Roger called in 54 schools, trained 93 teachers, and introduced 5200 children to square dancing. Roger and Josie continue to give the teachers ongoing classroom support, and some of the teachers have become square dancers.
Last but not least, the Santa Clara Valley Square Dancers Association (SCVSDA) has voted Roger one of the top ten callers for the past 8 years.
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