Racine McCoy McRoskey was a native of Oregon, raised and educated in Portland where she passed with credit through the grammar and high schools of that city. In her early womanhood she moved to San Francisco where she lived until after the earthquake of 1906. In 1907 the McRoskeys came to San Mateo where they were living at their home on San Mateo Drive at the time of Mrs. McRoskey’s death in April, 1915.
Mrs. McRoskey took an active part in club and social affairs, being a member of the Thursday Club and the Woman’s Club of San Mateo and also of the Women’s Pacific Coast Press Club and Laurel Hall Club of San Francisco. Besides these she belonged to a number of social clubs in Burlingame and San Mateo. However she will be remembered best as the author of “Drift O’Dreams,” a collection of poems and short prose sketches; and “The Missions of California,” a sympathetic study of the buildings and work of the Franciscan Fathers in this state.
The nervous break-down which caused her death was the direct result of overwork incident to the writing and publishing of this book.
While the artistic temperament was dominant, there was also a strongly practical side to her nature as was evidenced when she served so efficiently as chairman of the finance committee on the first grand jury in which women were chosen. Though Mrs. McRoskey was not a militant suffragette, she took an active interest in political matters and local campaigns, and was an officer of the San Mateo County Civic Center.
She was one of the talented and energetic women of San Mateo county and is richly deserving of a place in the local hall of fame. Her untimely death is a distinct loss to the community and a sad bereavement to her family, friends and admirers.
Not only for her social activities will Mrs. McRoskey be remembered long in the community in which she lived, but also for her quick sympathy and steadfast loyalty which her friends will always associate with the name of Racine McRoskey.