My mother JoAnn Vogt Davis was born at the Vogt Ranch near Ramah, NM on December 30, 1922, the daughter of Shirley Bergman and Evon Zartman Vogt. She was the third of five siblings, the eldest having died as a baby. She grew up among Navajos, Zunis, Mexicans, artists, anthropologists, educators and celebrities that visited the Vogt Ranch. She attended secretarial college in Albuquerque. She married Lieutenant Paul Davis of Ramah under the pines in 1942, living in San Antonio TX, Fort Polk, LA while he was training. When he was discharged as a Major after WWII, they moved back to the Vogt Ranch where they made their own adobes and built a home near her parent's house. Pamela Kay was born in 1946, Kristeen in 1948, and Anita in 1949. Paul and JoAnn helped establish Ramah Land and Cattle Company with other local veterans purchasing 33 square
miles of land at the foot of the Zuni Mountains. Paul also ran the Davis Repair Shop and later established Davis Tractor Sales in Gallup, driving 90 miles every day to work for over 30 years. My mother did the bookkeeping for these enterprises while helping my grandmother with the Vogt Guest Ranch, serving as tour guide and horse wrangler. Like her father, who was a sheep rancher, Editor of the Gallup Gazette, photographer, and first Custodian of El Morro National Monument, Jo Ann was very interested in people and history. She took us on camping trips, where she and my father would strum up a two man band with violin and guitar and play Mexican and cowboy songs around the campfire. She took us on driving trips, hikes, picnics, horseback rides, swims in cow tanks or the lake, ice skating, art outings, and anything else she could think up to make life enjoyable. She liked to paint watercolor scenes and always had fresh flowers on the table. Her favorites were sweet peas and roses. She made bread every few days, worked in the vegetable garden, canned and preserved produce, sewed our clothes, took care of her mother and Grandpa Davis and still found time to entertain, give violin lessons, and lead a Boy Scout troup. She was also a knowledgeable rancher. She played violin in the Gallup Symphony Orchestra. She lived a life of inspiration and creativity and encouraged us to pursue our artistic talents. She and my father were excellent dancers. They traveled the world in their later years, visiting over 50 countries. She died in 2003 after complications from colon surgery. The day before the surgery, she was riding a horse to El Morro with the Conquistador reenactment group. She was laid to rest at the base of a glorious mesa here on the ranch.