Godfrey, George Amos, 1885-1973.

Animas Valley, N.M., rancher prominent in the state's cattle industry. Godfrey served three terms as vice president of the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association and two terms as the organization's president. He also served as an officer on the American National Cattleman's Association and on the Border States Foot and Mouth Disease Board.

George Amos Godfrey was born in Newton, Kansas, on December 20, 1886. He worked as a cowboy on the Maria River, near Shelby, Montana, from 1904-1908. In 1909 he went to Hachita, New Mexico, to work for the Diamond A Cattle Company and homesteaded in New Mexico's Animas Valley that same year. In 1914 he leased one school section in the Animas Mountains, 25 miles south of Animas, and gradually increased his ranch by buying out homesteaders and small ranchers as they left the area. Godfrey married Thelma Gibson, of Deming, New Mexico, in 1918. They had one son, William Godfrey.

In his ranching activities Godfrey cooperated with the United States Department of Agriculture in rat control, and with New Mexico State University in experiments on land and grass testing, pregnancy testing, Vitamin A testing, and parasite control. He was also an honorary member of the Future Farmers of America.

He received the following awards and recognitions: Swift Meat Company Award, 1951; New Mexico Cattle Growers' Cattleman of the Year, 1959; the District Federal Land Bank Outstanding Man of Agriculture, 1968; and the New Mexico State University Agriculturist of Distinction, 1970.

George Godfrey died May 5, 1973.