Pataki/Donohue for New York

Growing up on the Farm
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As George tells it, his family wasn't what you would call rich in monetary things, but it had everything else. His childhood was "in virtually every aspect, a magical and wonderful childhood. Yes, in economic terms, we may have been poor - the kind of poverty that didn't realize the Depression was over - but we had everything we needed." His family lived off of what they grew and the salary his father earned from his job at the Peekskill post office. His father would get up before dawn, and get the farm ready for his father to work on that day. Then, he would go to work at the post office, and come home at night to help finish the day's farm work. It was a kind of work ethic that teaches a valuable lesson: "Above all, family farming teaches you to be real. You can't fake it or do a job halfway. You can't weed just half a patch or plant half a field. When a field is ready to be picked, it must be picked - all of it, right away - or the crops will rot, after months of hard work. You don't keep time. You don't keep score. You don't punch out at five o'clock. You just get the job done."

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