Garry Gordon PM'd me; seems he'd been rummaging around an antique mall in Minnesota and had found a book he thought I might be interested in hearing about, a copy of American Duck, Goose and Brant Shooting by Dr. William Bruette. Now, I'm not a waterfowler, but as soon as he told be about the book I knew I had to have it. You see, the book plate showed that it was owned by Lewis E. Yearout; in fact, he notated it: Master Sergeant, Marshall Field, Fort Riley, Kansas, 15 September 1947. I was just about nine months old when he wrote that. It took a few phone calls and a bit of effort, but finally the book arrived today. Typical of books of that era it's a fine book and beautifully illustrated.
Lewis and my dad were first cousins, and the stories about him are way too numerous to relate here. Suffice to say he retired as a Major and that he founded the Winchester Arms Collectors Association and the Montana Arms Collectors Association and was a major Colt and Winchester collector.
Sadly I only stumbled on Lewis very late in his life when I ran across a book he'd written about Royal Mounted Police carbines. We traded a few letters but he was already sick and passed a few months later. My dad was not one to talk much about such things and he wasn't particularly close to his extended family; I learned more family history from Lewis in those few letters about names I'd only heard in passing than I ever learned from dad.
Sorry for the ramble, but I just wanted to thank Garry publicly for thinking of me; I'm so thrilled to have the book on my shelves!
And his carbine book...
