Final Notes:

At this point in his story, with the tumult brought about by wartime activities permeating thoughts and narrative, I.O. left off writing never to return to it. For that reason there is a rather sketchy quality when it comes to details towards the end of his account, with portions of what took place missing.

The time it took to complete work on the ranch project in Yuma County is almost completely passed over in his narrative in favor of the more fulfilling assignment of running the Tolleson farm project. Other details are passed over without mention as well.

Going on to live a full rich life, loved by family and friends alike, in 1989 heart problems put I.O. in the hospital in Chandler, Arizona where days later he passed away. His story reminds us what it means to truly live, taking life as it comes a day at a time, tackling problems and possibilities with foresight, hard work, faith in yourself and your loved ones, trust in your fellow man, and dogged determination.

During the times in which he lived, from his pioneer ranch childhood and youth near Ranger Lake, New Mexico until his retirement years on the 2 1/2 acre mini-farm that he and my brother John purchased in Gilbert, Arizona, where he hand built the last home he and our mother Mary would live in together prior to his death, I.O. took part in and was witness to some of our nation's most dramatic and tumultuous years and events. His focus on hard work, self reliance, optimistic planning and tough minded tenacity continues to inspire his family as well as those who count themselves as friends.

I.O.'s story rings as true today with home grown personal insights and familiar timeless truths as it did when he lived it, and retains the power to touch many who will read it with a sense of what life amounted to in years now past.

George Sherwood Rasmussen