Table of Contents
Introduction… 1
1. Growing Up: Our Ranch at Small, Idaho… 3
2. School Days at Small, Idaho… 21
3. Lidy Hot Springs… 27
4. Mack Ellis and Gertrude Lidy Elope… 43
5. Life on Crooked Creek… 55
6. Old-Timers, Pioneers, and Tales… 67
7. To Keep Her Boys In School… 73
8. Back To The Ranch In Idaho… 81
9. At the University and in the Forest… 89
10. Detour to Torpedo Squadron Four… 101
11. Torpedo Four in the Atlantic Theater… 109
12. Air Group 4 to the Pacific Theater… 127
13. Air Group 4 on the USS ESSEX… 133
14. Stateside: Sweeping Changes as the War Ends… 149
15. Return to Civilian Life in Idaho… 155
16. Conversion to a Texas Aggie… 169
17. Dean of Agriculture… 187
18. A Shake-Down Period: 1960 – 64… 193
19. Family Traditions… 201
20. Expanding Horizons… 213
21. Texas Tech Gets a New President… 217
22. At Home and Abroad… 225
23. 1970: The Road Turns Westward… 237
24. A New Mexico Welcome… 241
Epilogue… 245
Appendix A: Thomas Family Roots… 249
Appendix B: Ellis Family Roots… 253
Appendix C: An Investigation into Robert Lidy’s Origins… 257
Index… 259
