Caleb W. Smick

CALEB W. SMICK occupies an important position in educational affairs of Northwestern Kansas as principal of the Decatur County High School. He is a native of Decatur County and since early manhood has been identified with all the ability he possesses with the cause of education.

He was born November 15, 1886, and his grandfather was Adam Smick, an Indiana farmer who died near South Bend in that State in 1900. John W. Smick, father of Caleb W., was born at South Bend, Indiana, in 1862. He came out to Kansas with his mother in 1864, and grew up in Washington County. He was one of the pioneer settlers of Decatur County, where he homesteaded a quarter section, later sold it and bought the half section where he now lives. He has a fine grain and stock farm, located nine miles south of Oberlin, and in politics is a democrat and a member of Oberlin Camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.

John W. Smick married Myrtle Zoe Cayton, born in Missouri in 1869, and Caleb W. is the oldest of their three children. Fay D. is a farmer near Oberlin and Adam W. is with the International Welding Company at Denver, Colorado.

Caleb W. Smick was educated in the rural schools of Decatur County, and as a boy attended the old sod schoolhouse that stood out on the prairie near his father's farm. In 1907 he graduated from the Decatur County High School. Then followed one year as a student in Washburn College at Topeka. in 1909 he was elected and served one year as superintendent of the Oberlin City Schools. For three years he was a student in Washburn College, and in the fall of 1911 he was elected principal of the Decatur County High School and gave an exceedingly able administration of the school until 1916. He was then elected and for one year held the position of superintendent of city schools at Deming, New Mexico. In 1918 he returned as principal of the Decatur County High School, and is directing the work of this institution. He has a staff of ten teachers and an enrollment of 211 students.

Mr. Smick has served as president of the Northwest Kansas Teachers Association. He is a democrat, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with Oberlin Lodge of Masons, Oberlin Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and Atwood Commandery, Knights Templar. He owns a farm of 160 acres in Decatur County.

August 4, 1915, at Oberlin, Mr. Smick married Miss Lois E. Street, daughter of William D. and Louisa (Van Cleave) Street, the latter still living at Oberlin. Her deceased father was a prominent Kansan, was in the Legislature two terms, served one term as speaker of the House of Representatives, and was also widely known as an author.

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