WLM Winter 2013-14 | Page 14

WLM

| business

Wayne Baker, © June Johnston

FREEDOM
R E VO LV E R S
Fit for a King
by June Johnston
photography courtesy Freedom Arms
and June Johntson

N

ear the tiny town of Freedom, Wyoming you will find
a small manufacturing plant – one that has the distinct
honor of making some of the finest firearms in the
world. It was through the determined efforts of Wayne
Baker and Dick Casull that it all happened.

Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy
the ongoing saga of a man who, with little
education, is still leaving his mark on the
world. Wayne was born and raised in
Afton, Wyoming and was not particularly
interested in school during the lower grades.
It didn’t help that one teacher told some of
the children (him included) that “we weren’t

14

worth wasting her time on. Therefore,
she would spend her time with the more
intelligent kids in the class.”
At the start of high school he was in an
automobile accident that caused him to be
out of school for about a month. The
principle told him he would have to continue
for the rest of the year but wouldn’t get
any credit for it. Taking the grade over
didn’t set well with Wayne so he went to
California with the intention of earning
some money and coming back to school the
next year. Then the war hit.
When Wayne was 18 years old he began
basic training in Fresno, California to
become an aircraft mechanic and gunner.
Later, while on furlough, he made a stop
in Ogden, Utah where he met Mariam,
the girl who would become his wife. She
was a mechanic on B-24 planes at Hill Air
Force Base.

Wyoming Lifestyle Magazine | Winter 2013

After the Japanese surrender in 1945 the
military started scheduling discharges for
the soldiers. Wayne had enough points
to be released but it had to be done in
Sacramento where he was inducted.
He had a three-day stopover in Ogden
so Mariam and Wayne decided to get
married. It was October 4, 1945. Wayne
says, “That was the smartest move I ever
made in my life.” They have been married
68 years, with 40 grandchildren and
seventy-plus great grandchildren.
In the mid-1960’s Wayne owned land with
a substantial coal seam near Price, Utah, but
did not have the necessary funds to develop
it. He had heard that Art Linkletter was
interested in investing in the coal mining
industry; so Wayne called Art’s geologist
in Beverly Hills, California, they discussed
it, and a meeting with Linkletter was
arranged. By the end of the meeting they