He didn't stop there. After graduation from Quincy High School, Hobart went to Knox College and was commissioned a second lieutenant on graduation in 1917. He went on to serve as Chief of Staff of Patton's 7' Army and Patton's 3rd Army in World War II. He was one of the most decorated men in the service but was so modest that not even his wife knew he had so many awards until he had to give the government a list of them. In September of 1945, the General planned to visit his mother, Mrs. Josephine Gay, in Rockport and the town planned a huge celebration to honor him and other servicemen. The Pike County Democrat-Times newspaper of Sept. 19, 1945 described the preparations and the parade line up was listed as the following:

"The Famous Camp Grant Military Band with a platoon escort and two official cars, the Scott Field Military Band will be there as well as several other bands and ones from Pittsfield and New Canton Community high schools. The. Sons of American Legion Drum Corps from Quincy will be present if they can get excused from school. General Gay is scheduled to leave Paris on the September 19th by plane and arrive in the states on the 20th. He and his wife will probably fly to Lambert Field near St. Louis, and then come to Rockport by auto. The speakers for the program will be Circuit Judge A. Clay Williams, County Judge Lee Capps, Lieutenant Governor, Hugh Cross, and State Senator Frank Dick who attended Quincy High with General Gay."

The paper then lists General Gay's military record. He was in eight campaigns: Moroccan, Tunisian and Sicilian when he was Chief of Staff of Patton's 7th Army. After his service achievements, the article lists Gay's family ending with "two brothers, Lawrence and Henry live at Rockport." The next week's paper (9-26-1945) did not depict the wonderful celebration.
It started with, "A huge but patient crowd awaited arrival of Major General Gay from Lambert Field on Tuesday....Bad weather grounded his plane in Dayton, Ohio so he was enroute home by car and couldn't get to Rockport until sometime Tuesday night, too late for the celebration.

Some of the crowd left, but many stayed to hear the speakers. Judge Williams said in his speech, "Never in the history of the county have we welcomed home a Major General of the U. S. Army." Not only didn't the guest of honor show up, but the plans were disrupted in many ways. The weather threatened rain several times. The Camp Grant band and escort couldn't come. The Scott Field band developed car trouble on the way and a truck went from Rockport to bring the band members to the celebration. They arrived late but played in the parade.

The October 5" issue of the Democrat Times had a front-page article about General Gay being at the Rotary club. He told the Rotarians, "History would prove General Patton was one of the 'fighting­est' generals of the war." Today, a biography of General Hobart Raymond Gay can be found on the intemet encyclopedia, wikipedia. He is represented in the film, "The Last Days of Patton" by actor Murray Hamilton. Riding the "Jerk" to high school was rough and uncomfortable as the train meandered through the Mississippi River Bottoms from Horton Station to Quincy. As Wayne Ator said, "you needed a strong constitution" and Hobart Gay of Rockport developed that character trait to become a great general.