Lots of Okie's went on to settle in CA so I'm not surprised that Will was remembered so fondly there. He died prematurely in a plane crash in Alaska.
That brings to mind Steinbeck's epic novel, The Grapes of Wrath. It's such a hard story to read about this Oklahoma family struggling against all odds to preserve their dignity, but it was the story of so many Oklahoma farming families during the "dust bowl" and depression. It's been a while since I read the book, but the story ends with what's left of the Joad family living in a freight train car in Tipton (if I recall correctly) which is a little town about 10 miles south of here.
Many of our friends and neighbors have roots in Oklahoma and no doubt their grandparents share similar stories about their migration to the San Joaquin Valley.