Rural Farmer's Life Story Is Indisputable Proof America Is The Greatest Country On Earth

A simple wink.

That's something I often think about when I think about my grandfather, Dwight Hookstead. A simple wink. A simple smile. A simple comment. A wisecrack.

A larger-than-life human.

Today is the 4th of July. It's America's birthday. It's the one day when all people in this country come together to celebrate the fact this is the greatest nation on the planet.

We will never apologize for it, we will never back down and we will never surrender an inch. That's the mindset that built this country, and it's a mindset we have to protect.

This piece is a celebration of what America can be at its best, and Dwight Hookstead is a representation of a sphere of this country most people will never understand.

Dwight Hookstead is proof the American dream is real.

I love this country. It's my home. It's where I was born. It's where I will die. My family is here. Our blood and lives have been offered up for this country. People sometimes jab me about my extreme patriotism. I'm not offended. I wear it as a badge of honor for one simple reason:

My family's life story wouldn't be possible in any other country.

My Grandpa Hookstead was born near the start of the Great Depression into the kind of poverty modern Americans can't imagine. We're talking about a man born in 1930 in rural Wisconsin. People there never had much.  They definitely didn't have much during the Great Depression. It was being born into an incredibly tough circumstance.

In most places, that would be the beginning and end of the story. You're never getting out of that hole.

Not in America.

Not for Dwight Hookstead

My grandfather had an eighth grade education. You read that correctly. My grandfather never graduated high school or even got close. He dropped out of school so he could work, along with his twin brother.

He told me once that his mother went ballistic when he quit school to farm and work, but while his father never admitted it, he knew my great-grandfather was happy. He needed the help.

Yet, my grandfather had aspirations far bigger than just working a field. He wanted to grow and expand, and that's exactly what he did. A young man with essentially no formal education started building a small empire in Wisconsin. Whether it was farming or milk deliveries, he just kept growing and growing. In any other country, he would have been doomed to a life of limited opportunities. Not in the amazing country we all call home.

He worked his ass off.

My grandfather Dwight Hookstead is a family legend. (Credit: Hookstead Family)

Dwight Hookstead was something not even Taylor Sheridan could have cooked up in "Yellowstone."

There are some stories I've never told publicly about my grandfather. It might surprise some people, but I'm actually pretty guarded about my family, but I feel that's selfish at this point. We have people in this country who don't understand how grateful we should all be. We're blessed every single day we wake up in the USA, and my grandfather - a man who never came close to a high school diploma - is proof of that fact. So, I need our great OutKick readers to understand I'm in uncharted territory with what I'm sharing here.

Okay, we're all on the same page? Good. Let's roll.

The last time I ever saw my grandfather alive was Christmas Eve 2021. He was in his 90s and his brain was still sharp as hell. I'll be honest with everyone, I don't get to see my grandparents and other family members very often since I left Wisconsin (I'm very close with my grandparents on my mom's side as well) due to the fact that I don't often return to Wisconsin.

I walked into my grandpa Hookstead's house like I had countless times on December 24, 2021, and he was sitting in his usual spot at the head of the table. What you need to understand is my grandfather was a pretty built person for his era. He was several inches taller than me and built like a brick shit house. I can only imagine what he looked like in his prime.

He had a chair at the head of the table where he would hold court with conversations, play cards, eat and captivate the room with story after story about the old days.

I didn't know it at the time, but this would be very different. My grandfather asked me to sit down right next to him, and he started pulling out papers. He told me they were tax documents from the 1940s. Judging from the shape of the papers, it was clear the timeline matched up.

"They told me I'd never make it. I keep these to prove I was right, and they were wrong."

For roughly eight decades, my grandfather - a school dropout - had kept financial records going back to shortly after WWII ended in order to prove he was right, and his critics were wrong. He started reading through them, chuckling and laughing, clearly happy with himself for having an engaged audience.

We're talking about a man born into a situation where the entire deck was stacked against him. There's no reason why my grandfather would have succeeded in life.

None.

Dwight Hookstead is proof the American dream is alive. (Credit: Hookstead Family)

It would have been totally reasonable and expected for a man in his situation to flounder and fail. Yet, that's not what happened. In any other country it absolutely would have. Not in America. Not for the Hooksteads.

Here was a man who on paper had no real education pulling out tax records from shortly after the worst war the world had ever seen. In his 90s, he still had such a smile on his face. He was so unbelievably proud of himself and what he had built. That's America. That's what it means to pull yourself up by the bootstraps.

My grandfather was born into poverty, and died in 2022 having secured the future of entire generations. More on that last point later.

My grandfather was an amazing human to me. He loved Butterfinger candy bars, was OBSESSED with stories and inside jokes and was genuinely hilarious.

However, I understand that's not the same experience my father - an incredible human and American and his own right - and all his siblings had.

My grandfather treated his grandchildren like angels, but he was insanely tough on his own children. That's simply reality. That's how the world worked back then. He needed to build his children up to take care of themselves and everyone who would come next. That requires a certain attitude some young people today will never understand.

Yet, it worked. The man who was born into nothing created a system where generations were secured moving forward. My dad's comments at his funeral - which featured regular Americans who love our flag and country - summed it up perfectly.

"My dad had one singular mission in his life...And that was to work hard, be smart, to get ahead and to help his kids and he did that. And then he wanted us to take those values he taught us and to work hard, be smart, get ahead and help our kids. We've pretty much accomplished that as well. In that regard, he accomplished everything he wanted to do," my father told the crowd at my grandfather's funeral.

People also shared some absolutely hysterical stories at his funeral that I damn near cry at looking back on.

The story I'm about to tell has never been told publicly ever, and it's also never been shared privately with my family. Apologies to my mom and dad - love you both - if you're reading.

I almost shot my favorite dog by accident, and the only human on the planet I ever told was my grandpa Hookstead.

We had an incredible German Shorthaired pointer named Jake growing up. He was born around 9/11 and he died during my last year of college. I miss that dog all the time. I've never had a dog like him since. Jake was a weapon in the field hunting and was insanely well-trained, obedient and loyal. I doubt I'll ever have another dog that matches him the rest of my life. I'm almost tearing up just writing about him.

I also almost shot him.

My parents were gone near the end of my days in high school, and I was home alone just doing my thing. Before they left for their trip, my mom tried to convince me to go hang out in the town where all our other family lives. I refused. She said something could happen. I couldn't have cared less. We have a bunch of guns and two amazing dogs (Jake and his mother Bailey). I can take care of myself.

In the middle of the night, I heard what I thought were footsteps above me and grabbed a Remington 870 shotgun I had put in my room thanks to my mom trying to scare me, and went to the stairwell, terrified my mom's concerns would soon be justified.

I had the barrel leveled off at the threshold at the top of the stairs, praying what I was hearing coming wouldn't be a human. It wasn't.

Jake had somehow gotten out of his massive in-home kennel area and was roaming around enjoying himself in the early morning hours. I immediately pulled my finger off the trigger and put the gun down, sighing relief.

There's one human on the planet I have ever told that story to. My grandpa Hookstead.

As far as I know (he promised!), he never told another person on the planet, but every time I saw him after that - *LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE TIME* - he asked me if any dogs had been shot. He would wait for a clear moment when people weren't listening, lean over, ask and then wink.

I also once crashed an ATV with a trailer in front of my grandfather and that earned me the name "sideshow" for a solid three or four years.

People ask me why I love this country so much. This article is proof of why I love the USA, and the 4th of July is the best time to share it.

Anything is possible in this country. You can be born into extreme poverty and die a man who has taken care of entire generations.

Where else does that happen? It doesn't. That's the simple answer.

I also need to note that my family has been through some very difficult times. We've lost multiple family members earlier than we should have. I'm still not comfortable really talking about that publicly. I probably never will be. There's one death that just haunts my mind more than two decades later, but I will say my grandparents on the Hookstead side never wavered. They were always a sign of strength - my grandfather and grandmother. Let me also give my grandma Hookstead her praise as well. An unmatched kind of hero for our family who I love and respect deeply.

Grandpa Hookstead died in early 2022 after rising from the depths of poverty and building something that couldn't happen anywhere else. I've also never told this story, but I will now because I think it speaks to the greatness of America on the 4th of July.

I never cried when my grandpa died.

Not one tear.

How could I? Dwight Hookstead rose up out of a situation he should have immediately failed in, and died a man where you could look out at rolling fields and it was all controlled by his family. That is something to celebrate - not cry over. He died with a mind as sharp as possible, and he went fast.

I didn't view my grandfather's death as a tragedy. That's the truth. Yes, I miss him. I miss his smartass remarks and jabs at the Christmas Eve table for lunch. I miss his insane stories (I could easily write a book), but I never cried when he passed away. The man lived into his 90s living a life the average American couldn't imagine. How selfish would I have to be to think my emotions are more important than looking at, remembering and honoring the life of Dwight Hookstead? He lived a life that 99.99999% of people couldn't dream of achieving. That's something to celebrate.

The only person I've ever told that to was my dad, and he understood.

He was a man born into a situation where everything should have gone wrong, but it didn't. Why didn't it go wrong?  Because my grandfather worked his butt off to climb the ladder.

So, when people ask me why I love this country so much, Dwight Hookstead is the answer. My family's story isn't possible in any other country. It's simply not. So, on this day, crack a beer and raise a toast to my grandfather and all the men out there like him. Born into extreme poverty. Died being able to look out the back porch and everything he saw was his.

I'm a Hookstead to my core, filled with pride words will never express and the only reason that is possible is because of my grandfather. He's an example of what America can be at its best. He is an example of the American dream. I couldn't exist in a different country. My father and his siblings couldn't exist in another country. This only happens in America. Never give up hope. Fight to the end. That's what Dwight Hookstead would have done, and that's why I'm here today. Let me know what you think at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.