Bill Text: VA SJR368 | 2019 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Celebrating the life of Donald Robert McCaig.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2019-02-23 - Bill text as passed Senate and House (SJ368ER) [SJR368 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2019-SJR368-Enrolled.html
WHEREAS, Donald Robert McCaig, a prolific and award-winning writer, author, sheep farmer, and dog breeder, died on November 11, 2018; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig was born in Butte, Montana, graduated from the University of Montana, and served two years in the United State Marine Corps where he was a weapons instructor; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig's early employment included teaching philosophy at Wayne State University in Detroit and working as a producer for Murray the K, the influential rock radio DJ; after settling into a lucrative copywriting position at a Madison Avenue advertising agency, Donald McCaig grew restless and decided to reinvent himself as a farmer and a writer; and
WHEREAS, affectionately known as Snee to his friends and family, Donald McCaig was drawn to his Highland County property during the 1970s back-to-the-land movement with his girlfriend, later his wife, Anne Ashley; and
WHEREAS, with no agricultural or construction experience, Donald McCaig experienced numerous fits and starts in his agrarian pursuits; he learned to master the techniques on his property, which he called Yucatec Farm, through trial and error and with help from his rural neighbors in Bath and Highland Counties who, over the years, related to him as an adopted son; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig and his wife raised Rambouillet sheep and sheepdogs, in particular Border Collies, becoming experts in shepherding and in breeding and raising sheepdogs; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig was drawn to writing because of the influence of an uncle who was a writer; his writing career began to take off on his Williamsville farm, and he produced articles and early books such as Nop's Trial about a Border Collie and its sequel, Nop's Hope; other titles included An American Homeplace, The Bamboo Cannon, and The Man Who Made the Devil Glad; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig continued to explore the lives of Border Collies in Mr. and Mrs. Dog in 2013, about training two pups, Luke and June, for the World Sheepdog Trials in Wales, and the subject of Virginia history in Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War, which covers, in rich detail, the fractious years between Lee's surrender at Appomattox and Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig received approval from the Margaret Mitchell estate to further imagine her works with the 2014 book Ruth's Journey, a prequel telling the story of the character Mammy from Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, and Rhett Butler's People in 2017, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig's books received numerous awards and accolades; Jacob's Ladder: A Story of Virginia During the War won the Library of Virginia Literary Award for fiction in 1999 and also garnered the American Library Association's top honor for military fiction and the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig established himself as one of America's leading chroniclers of rural life, a master stylist whose understated prose was often featured in the National Public Radio program All Things Considered; and
WHEREAS, Donald McCaig will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by his wife, Anne; his son, Jon; and numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby note with great sadness the loss of Donald Robert McCaig, a prolific and award-winning writer, author, sheep farmer, and dog breeder; and, be it
RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Donald Robert McCaig as an expression of the General Assembly's admiration for his literary and community contributions and respect for his memory.
