CAMP COFFEE
Tales of a Wyoming Cowboy
Memoir / Nonfiction
Publisher: The Lowell Press
Date Published: October 16, 2006
Page count: 208 pages
Camp Coffee is not just about a person - Grant Beck -
and his stories; it's about a way of life - the cowboy way of life. Most people
will never feel the warmth of a high mountain campfire or experience the
eye-burning smoke wafting from the branding coals. Few will have any firsthand
experience of what the American cowboy was all about. Lots of books have been
penned about lots of cowboys, both fictitious and real. However, few cowboys
have touched as many people in the encouraging way that Grant Beck has through
his chosen profession. This is a must-have volume for all who are drawn to the
essence of the Western experience.
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About the Author
Bob Sullivan, Jr. of Kansas City dreamed of being a cowboy from
his earliest years. Not until an abrupt disillusionment with college athletics
in 1975 did he drop out of school and move to Wyoming to pursue his dream at
age 19. There, he met and worked for Grant Beck at the Two Bar Spear Ranch in
Pinedale, WY, which had a life-changing impact on the author's life. His
experiences in Wyoming and subsequent relationship with Grant Beck over the
next 30 years inspired Sullivan to share the remarkable story of Grant Beck
with others.
Review
5 stars!
A fascinating, humor-filled, but most of all, loving tribute
to a cowboy mentor and friend.
Camp Coffee: Tales of a Wyoming Cowboy by Bob
Sullivan is a fascinating, humous, and loving tribute to a real-life cowboy hero.
Grant Beck was a hero, not because of overt acts of derring-do, though there
are some mentioned throughout the collection of stories, but for the positive
impact he made on so many people with whom he crossed paths.
The author met Beck in the summer of 1976 in a Pinedale,
Wyoming bar; a young man at loose ends, and the older man offered him a job
with his hunting guide business. Their serendipitous meeting resulted in a
lifelong friendship. The author soaked up Beck’s many tales of his life growing
up in Idaho, losing his parents at a young age, striking out on his own at age
13, and eventually ending up cowboying in Wyoming in the early 1940s, his
marriages, and his 50-years of successful dude ranch and guiding operations.
Beck’s stories are warm and wonderful, telling of a different time, a simpler
life, and how he was able to share that with the hundreds of children who
participated in his summer dude ranch experiences. He had a deep and true
desire to give urban-reared children an understanding and appreciation of the
great outdoors and the natural world and to build self-reliance and confidence
in themselves. Grant Beck was known for his serious respect for all wildlife,
especially his horses, and many of the collected tales feature one or more of
his beloved mounts.
The author’s own storytelling is vivid, easy to read, and a
sincere tribute to a man who clearly meant a lot to him and many others.
Sullivan includes the reminiscences of Beck from mutual friends and lots of
candid photos of the man and the beautiful Wyoming scenery. Every page of the
book is imbued with their deep regard for this singular man and readers will
come away knowing that they missed out by never having crossed Beck’s path.
I recommend CAMP COFFEE to readers of biographies, memoirs, and
cowboy stories, especially those with an affinity for horses and the beautiful natural
spaces in Wyoming.
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