Rice, Rozell W.

Rozell W. Rice, born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on August 7, 1858, received his education across Michigan and Kansas during his youth. At nineteen, he began working in a Michigan shingle mill before relocating to Lawton, where he worked on the farm of his father-in-law, A. H. Norton, following his marriage to Ida Norton in 1882. He briefly operated a grocery business in Schoolcraft and managed a ranch for Senator Brown before moving west to California. Arriving in Fresno in 1891, he spent a year with the Lusk Canning Company before transitioning into a highly successful career as a carpenter and builder.

As a builder, Rice worked with C. B. Hanner for eight years to erect some of Fresno’s finest homes, including twenty-eight residences built from a single popular plan. He later served as foreman for contractor Z. T. Maxwell, superintending the construction of the Emerson school and two other school buildings on C Street. In 1911, he took on the responsibility of superintendent of Mountain View Cemetery. Beyond his professional labor, Rice was a prominent fraternal leader, serving as secretary of the Fraternal Aid Union for twenty-one years and holding various leadership offices in the Odd Fellows and Rebekahs alongside his wife.