It’s often been told; the Wyoming way of life is like no other. Wyomingites are full of grit and determination. Most of them work long hours and most of them do whatever it takes to keep their families safe and taken care of. Just like David Santoyo of Gillette. 

Santoyo has lived in Wyoming for 17 years and for the vast majority of his adult life, he has worked in Wyoming’s energy sector between coal mines, oil, gas and is currently at the power plant. Although Santoyo didn’t have writing experience, he turned to illustrating and writing his own children’s book, My Wyoming Dad, which Santoyo hopes young children understand how hard Wyoming fathers work to provide for their families.

“My Wyoming Dad – it’s an idea that I have had for a couple of years. Maybe six years ago, I used to work at the coal mine at NARM here in Gillette,” Santoyo explained. “And with a job like that, you know, it’s like it was very demanding of my time. At the time, I had my little boy, he’s five years old now and I have a daughter too. This job was very demanding. I leave at four in the morning and get back home at 7:30 at night and that was my regular schedule.”

Santoyo felt guilty for leaving his wife Rachel and the couple’s two children while he worked such a demanding profession. 

“I felt guilty, working so long with a job that’s so demanding,” Santoyo explained. “That is what inspired me to get the idea going up – a book dedicated to the children that will maybe help them understand why we do the things that we do, work long hours. And at the end, it is so we can provide for our family.”

Currently, the short book is available for pre-order on Santoyo’s website and Santoyo has been working with local businesses about marketing his book.

“With my family, things we enjoy, our summer seeing Wyoming. We do a lot of camping in the Big Horns. That’s where our favorite spot is. We do fishing and we started hunting, which is so new for me, but I’ve been learning a lot,” Santoyo explained. “We like doing things in our community, which is in my book. I’m including activities that we do in the community, such as going to eat ice cream and we go to the jumping pace.”

Santoyo expressed being a part of his community, with his family, has helped the working father stay in tune with his wife and children. He also has recently been invited to read his book during the local library story time in Moorcoft. 

“It was nice. It was my first time presenting my book as a story time [book] and I have been invited to go to Sundance,” Santoyo explained. “They opened their doors.” 

Santoyo hopes to reach more readers at other local libraries across the state of Wyoming.

“I put a lot of love writing this book and illustrating this book,” Santoyo said. “I did the illustrations as well. I put a lot of thought into it and it’s purely with a lot of love and dedication to the hard-working dads out there that work in Wyoming industries.” 

Santoyo and his children enjoy drawing and it was during one of their days drawing, Santoyo began to put his visions into words. He also mentioned he did add a special touch to his book.

“I have a page where I show the power plant here in Gillette. I put a little drawing of a black goat. People from Gillette might know what the little goat is but the people that are not around here, this goat lives in the front of the power plant and it’s probably been wandering for the last 15 years people say,” Santoyo explained. “People around the community, just random people, they just stop by and feed the goat. They check on the goat every day.”

Santoyo is working on a few more Wyoming-based children’s books in the future.

“I have two more books that I’ll be dedicating to Wyoming. One of them is actually based on the little goat, a little side story on it. The other is a Christmas story that I haven’t started yet but that’ll be based on the Christmas theme for Wyoming,” Santoyo explained.

Santoyo expressed his gratitude for the support, explaining it came as a surprise. 

“I just want to say thank you to all the people that have supported the book so far. I just know that I was not expecting this much support,” Santoyo concluded. 

A copy of My Wyoming Dad can be purchased on Santoyo’s website at: www.davidsantoyostore.com.