From Switzerland, England, and Ireland they came and landed on the east coast of the New World. When the West beckoned, they answered the clarion call. By boat, on horseback, in covered wagons, and on foot they came to Texas and New Mexico. Their trials, struggles, successes, failures, and tragedies are my legacy. The value system of these western pioneers-adventurers, soldiers, ranchers, miners, cowboys, cowgirls, and entrepreneurs-formed the warp and woof of my life which began in the New Mexico Territory one year before New Mexico became a state. New Mexico and I grew up together; our histories are intertwined. Marguerite Harrington Benedict