Clovis Living Legend

The celebrated story of Nick Ubick begins with his Father.  Mike Ubick, Nick’s father, was born in 1877 in Croatia while it was occupied by Austria. Croatia would eventually become a part of Yugoslavia. It is now the Republic of Croatia. Mike arrived in the United States in 1898 and worked as a long shore man in Hoboken, New York until he had enough money to join the gold rush in the Yukon Territory.

 

He was not successful in panning for gold or working in the gold mines. He relocated to Anacortes, WA, which is near Puget Sound and worked in a sawmill. There were many Croatian fishermen there and in 1906 he viewed a woman’s picture at a friend’s house. He wrote her and asked if she would become his wife. He married Katarina Vranjican in 1908. Nick, their second child, was born January 27, 1911.

 

In 1914 the family moved to Fresno and built a house at 721 C Street, between Kern and Inyo. Many Croatians from his mother’s Island of Hvare lived in that area. In 1916 the family purchased a 20 acre farm of Malaga and Muscat grapes on Maple Avenue between Bullard and Sierra. Maple was a dirt road that ended at Sierra Avenue which extended east to Clovis. The land was purchased from a Croatian that had worked at the Fresno Flume and Lumber in Clovis.

 

 Nick was raised on the farm. He remembers riding horse drawn wagons and walking the two miles with his friends and neighbors to Clovis Elementary School when it was located on the NE corners of Pollasky and Second Avenue in Old Town Clovis.

 

On February 5, 1924, Clovis’ First State Bank, SE corners of Pollasky and Fourth, was robbed by “The Owl” and “The Lone Wolf”. They netted $31,800 in gold, currency and securities. They threw roof nails on Clovis Ave as they headed south.

Nick was among six Boy Scout seventh graders who were instructed to collect the nails from Fourth Street to Shaw Ave, a distance of one mile. Nick remembers an irate woman motorist that berated them when she received a flat tire after their heroic service.

 

Nick attended Clovis High School and recalls that freshmen were harassed in those days. He did not complete high school but his significant contribution to Clovis was recognized when he received an honorary diploma in 1979. CUSD Board presented him an honorary high school diploma and made him an honorary member of the class of 1929. To date, three generations of Ubick’s have attended Clovis High.

 

Like his father, distance did not deter Nick from marrying the girl of his dreams. In 1937 Nick traveled to North Carolina to claim Agnes as his bride. They celebrated their 71st anniversary recently.

 

Nick was a successful cement mason and rancher. He remains a prolific reader and does not wear glasses at 98 years of age. He has recorded and handwritten much of his family history and our local history. He has been called a “math whiz”. When visiting the Museum his recollections are clear and precise as ever.

 

Our history captured his interest and he began collecting artifacts.  His home on Ashlan Ave. is replete with a portion of the 42 mile 1893 Fresno Flume that provided 400 jobs in Clovis (he donated a portion of the flume to the Clovis Museum), a dozen old farming equipment that includes a Stockton Gangplow which was pulled by ten mules and an 1888 two-cycle drag saw which Nick was able to restore to operating condition.

 

He was one of the founding members of the Clovis-Big Dry Creek Historical Society and has made significant donations to the Museum.

 

He is a role model to his family and the City of Clovis. It is about love of family and community.