Growing up for George was hard. George was less fortunate than most people because he grew up without knowing his mother. His mother, Ethel Peckham Frey, died just shortly after giving birth to George. He was lucky to have a caring father who was always there for him. George had to learn how to wash his own clothes, iron his own clothes and wash the dishes on his own because those were the things his mother would have done for him. George said, "I didn’t really suffer much, my brothers and my father and I sometimes went to Reno to visit my aunts, uncles and many cousins."

When George was younger he had to work. Every day when he got home from school he would have to go and herd sheep over where the golf course is now located. He would also have to carry water out to the work crew in the hay fields. George recalls, "I was the youngest of the family, so I had to haul the water." When George worked at home he didn’t get paid with money, he just got the beans and the taters. When he started working on farms he would make a dollar a day. That was nothing compared to now days. Back then that was a whole lot of money. He could buy one cent candy and five cent candy bars. They were pretty lucky if they found a penny laying on the ground.

George went to school like a normal kid would do. He went to school at Stillwater for the first two years and then he moved to Consolidated B School. He graduated from Churchill County High School and then went to college at the University of Nevada Reno. He graduated from college in 1943 with a degree in Animal Science.

George lived in a hole in the ground when he was in his late teens. He said, "Living in a dugout was a real experience." There was always company like snakes and mice. The snakes and mice would burrow in the straw and make themselves a warm new home. The dugout was made of mud, brush and straw. Inside the dugout, it was warmer than it was outside in the winter and cooler in the summer. George had to wash up in a bucket of water at the wash bench. When they were done taking their bath they would dump the water out on the ground.

George told me a story of when his Aunt Anna and her parents and bothers and sisters washed up. He said, "Anna’s Ma and Pa took their bath then all the children took their baths, then they would wash all the clothes in the bath water and then throw the water on the bushes. All with only one tub of water."

George was in World War II as an Army combat medic. "It was quite the experience," George said. He trained at Camp Roberts in December of 1943 for four months. He then went overseas to New Guinea and was there for a year. He then went to Moriti in the East Indies and then to the Phillippines when the war ended. When George went to war he was about 26 years old. While he was at war, his brother Charlie and his father Joseph stayed home and worked on the Douglass farm. His brother Joseph was in the Air Force, in and out of Africa and England. When George left for the war he said it was kind of an empty feeling. He did it because he knew that he would be serving his country for liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That’s what he thought when he went off to war.

The scariest thing he saw happen was people getting shot, people wounded and people dying. He saw a lot of his friends hurt. One of his good friends got caught in the boogie wheels of a half track when it crashed. George went to save him when it blew up and his friend was killed. The happiest event in the war for George was when the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan and they surrendered. He was also happy to be coming home. George received a medal for Action Beyond the Call of Duty.

George was a Nevada State Assemblymen for one term in 1947. He said that the people were kind of selfish. They wouldn’t vote for your bill if you didn’t vote for their bill. He said it wasn’t much fun. He just did what he thought was right for his community.

He also did some things for the community like being a Nevada State Farm Bureau President. They would have to do different projects. George helped name all of the roads in Churchill County. He said it was hard because there were almost as many roads as there are today. In Farm Bureau they would serve on different committees. He served on the National Dairy Committee and helped get Soil Conservation Service (SCS) started. SCS would set up county committees to help local farmers conserve soil and water. He also helped out his community by being on the Churchill County School Board for 12 years and served as its president and he was president of the Federal Land Bank for 12 years.

George has traveled a lot in life, mostly with his wife Irene. They have probably traveled the whole world! They have traveled to Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean Islands, Europe, Azores Islands and many, many more. George’s favorite place he has traveled is Alaska. He went there with his wife, Irene, his brother Charles and his wife Judy, and a few of their friends. They went to Anchorage, Alaska and went on boat rides. They did a lot of sight seeing while they were there. As you can see my Grandpa has accomplished lots in his life and is still accomplishing more and more every day.