Dan West had no inkling that an idea implanted in his mind in 1938 would lead to the “trip of a lifetime” for some 7000 men ages 16 to 72 after World War II. This illustrated talk will tell the story of the Heifer Project which Dan West founded after his relief work during the Spanish Civil War. It will include the story of the “seagoing cowboys” who tended livestock shipped by the Heifer Project and the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration to devastated countries after World War II. We’ll look together at the legacy of these cowboys and the Heifer Project.

About the instructor: Peggy Reiff Miller

Peggy Reiff Miller is the author of the children’s picture book, The Seagoing Cowboy. She has been researching, writing, and speaking about the seagoing cowboys since 2002. She writes a twice-monthly blog about this history on her website at www.seagoingcowboys.com. She is currently working on a book about the first decade of the Heifer Project, today’s Heifer International, an organization for which she serves as a historical consultant. She lives with her husband, Rex, in Englewood, Ohio.