Book Synopsis
Sam Gay defied the challenges of the mid-1900s—the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and two World Wars— to provide for his family. He and his wife and four children followed destitute Oklahoma farmers, and was one of 60 lucky enough to secure membership at Casa Grande Valley Farms, a farming cooperative part of Roosevelt’s New Deal, in Coolidge, Arizona. Although membership came with a home and steady income, the project offered no opportunity for his children, prompting two of his sons to enlist in the military. Sam learned that one of his boys was missing in action after Army Major General Edward P. King surrendered to Japanese General Masaharu Homma at Bataan, Philippines. That same year, Congress notified the Farm Security Administration that Valley Farms would be liquidated, opening an unexpected opportunity. Sam’s work ethic so impressed the manager of Valley Farms that he offered Sam a position as a wrangler at Bear Valley Ranch, now part of Point Reyes National Seashore.