George S. Romney

Who was George S. Romney?

George Samuel Romney was the president of Ricks Academy at the end of the First World War. He was a key figure in helping it to survive the postwar depression.

Romney was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was born in St. George, Utah. When he was young his family moved to the Mormon colonies in Mexico so that his father could continue practicing plural marriage, which was illegal in the United States.

After marrying and having several children, Romney returned to the United States at the start of the Mexican Revolution, specifically to flee the disruptive activities of Pancho Villa.

By 1917 Romney was a faculty member at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In the summer of that year Romney was appointed as principal of Ricks Academy to replace Andrew B. Christensen. In 1918, the school was granted state certification. It was then renamed Ricks Normal College. By the time students returned for Fall Semester they not only had a new name, but they were now led by a president.

Under Romney's leadership the school instituted standards of dress and conduct that all students agreed to follow in 1922.