Outstanding Club Member Award Recipient

JULIA ROTH
WINNER OF THE OUTSTANDING CLUB MEMBER
2010-2011 AWARD!

In Tsin ing, when China was in the midst of many civil wars, a young American girl shared her childhood with her two younger brothers, William and Stockwell. “Even though my brothers and I were close enough to watch the fighting brought on by the war, we were unaffected by it and I had a very happy childhood,” noted Julia.

Julia Roth was born in 1917 of Frank & Mary Connely in Tingtu, a town located in the Shandong province in northern China. Both Roth’s parents were Southern Baptist Missionaries and moved their family to northern China just before she was born. Two years after she was born her family moved from Tingtu to the city of Tsin ing where she grew up.

In Tsin ing, Roth lived on a compound where she was home-schooled by her mother along with her two brothers. There was a local girl’s school nearby where she played with other girls her age. She remembers the girls there loved to comb her curly red hair because it was so different from their own hair. “They thought I was very different,” Roth explained. Roth also attended a boarding school near Beijing, China.

In 1935, Roth returned to the United States to attend William Jewel College in Missouri where she received a Bachelor of Arts Degree. She was active in the college music club and sang in her church choir. She enjoyed learning about different languages and majored in French for which she studied a total of 4 years. She also studied German for 3 years and Spanish for 2 years. Roth furthered her studies at the University of Washington Nursing School in St. Louis, Missouri where she received her nursing degree and worked as a nurse for 10 years.

In 1963, Roth moved to San Diego and it was there that she met and married Ralph Roth. In 1965, Roth began teaching at the San Diego Mesa College. She taught nursing there for 45 years. Roth joined the San Diego Woman’s Club in 1994 and has been an active member for 16 years. When she first joined she was working and didn’t attend card parties. The only club meetings she attended regularly were the music section meetings. Someone then invited her to a card party and she decided to give it a try. She enjoyed it very much. At first she told herself that she wouldn’t get too involved when to her surprise she was asked to be the music section chairman. “I thought why me?” she remembers. She accepted the invitation and started to participate in more club activities. When she became president she started attending all club meetings and fund raisers. “I have many friends at the club, many good friends. I wouldn’t change anything.” She believes it is important to be versatile in all activities and warns against channeling all of one’s energy in one direction.

Currently, Roth enjoys reading in her free time. “I am currently reading a book on the history of China. I enjoy non fiction books.” She also volunteers at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido as well as the Carlsbad Inn Resort activities department.