The Hawes Family Leaves Their Mark

An Influential Family in Agriculture & Education

Twin boys Roy and Ray were the first of five children born in 1901 to Jacob and Lillian Hawes at the family ranch in Anderson. These active farm boys were corralled just long enough to attend the Sacramento River School, and they surely left a long-standing impression there, including Roy’s initials carved into the back of the school building! The twins must have had a fondness for school because they both grew up to marry educators. Roy married Virginia and Ray married Edna. Glenn Hawes, a former supervisor with the Shasta County Board of Supervisors and founder of the Historic Hawes Farms in Anderson, is the son of Ray and Edna.

A conversation with Glenn can quickly span miles and generations. I knew we would find plenty of farming pride and connections to Tehama County embedded in the Hawes family history, but what I didn’t expect was the way our conversation kept turning to the educators in the family. Female educators were popping up like ears of corn in the Hawes corn maze.

So which came first, the agriculturists or the educators? This question could be asked of many ranching and farming families as schools were often founded by agricultural communities to educate the children. To this day, many women and men in the North State agricultural communities hold teaching jobs, helping to provide medical insurance for their families and keeping things “steady” when the ebb and flow of ranching and farming take a toll on family finances.

When speaking with Glenn Hawes about his mother Edna, Tehama County and education were the most frequent topics. Without Edna Elizabeth Edwards, there would be no Glenn Hawes with his spark for lifelong learning, and there would be no Hawes Farm. Edna was born November 16, 1912, in Oakland, CA. She was raised on the family dairy in Richfield and graduated from Corning High School. She attended Chico State Normal College, later renamed Chico State Teachers College.

In 1937 Edna was teaching music when she met Ray. He was working at the Coleman Fish Hatchery when Edna visited to pick up some salmon. They married in 1939 and called their first home in Paradise “49 Pines.” Ray had started working as a trimmer man at the sawmill in Sterling City. Edna taught in Paradise and eventually became the principal of the grammar school in Magalia. Somewhere along the way, she made time to get a master’s degree from Chico State by taking summer classes.

Ray and Edna remained in Paradise until July 4, 1955, when they moved to a house on the Hawes family ranch in Anderson. The ranch and its livestock—cattle, sheep, and hogs—had been divided among Jacob’s sons. Ray and Edna named their new home “Hawes River Acres,” and Ray started farming while working for Diamond National in Red Bluff. Ray and Edna had two boys, Glenn, and Will, both of whom would go on to get their college educations. Warren Weber introduced his twin sister, Wanda, to Glenn while they were all attending Chico State. Glenn and Wanda married in 1964. Meanwhile, mother Edna became a reading consultant for the Shasta County Schools, a position she held for eight years. In 1975, Edna ended her 39-year career as an educator; teaching the last seven years at Shasta College.

The deep California history of the Hawes family makes me think of the Bidwells, another early agricultural family who also believed in education. As a boy, John Bidwell walked 300 miles to get his education and to become a teacher. Later, as a farmer and rancher in “Rancho Chico,” he donated eight acres of his cherry orchard for the teacher’s college that Edna Edwards would eventually attend. John Bidwell was said to be one of the first visitors to Tehama County in 1843, and he was “favorably impressed.”

The first school in the Tehama County area opened in 1855. This area was known at the time for its grain, fruit, vegetable, and wool production needed schools for the children. By 1890 there were 13 teachers in the county. Agriculture and education were both priorities.

The Women’s Federation of Kindergartens had the following compliment for the Corning area in 1914. “One of the interesting proofs this government report gives of the appreciation of the kindergarten in California communities which have tried it out is in the town of Corning. Out of 40 children of kindergarten age, 37 are enrolled in the public school kindergarten, and the qualifications required of the teacher are of the highest standard. There are only about a dozen other places of its size in the whole country which provide so well for their children as does this progressive little Tehama County city.”

Rather than one preceding the other, it seems that a heart for learning can go hand-in-hand with a dedication to work and improve our lands. That heart is still displayed in the Hawes children. Lori Richards, Glenn and Wanda’s daughter, has taught second grade for 24 years at Millville School. Her other passion? Raising and training border collies and managing her own cattle herd. Glenn and Wanda’s son Greg owns the Hawes Ranch and Farm Supply store in Red Bluff and manages the farm in Anderson with his wife Nikola. You will find their kids helping at the farm both early and late but never interfering with school hours. Well done, Grandma Edna!

The ancient word “Tehama” once meant a place where rivers could be crossed. With our county’s rich currents of history, happenings, and hope, this is our crossing place today — where we meet to celebrate our beautiful Tehama County.