Sam was born March 3, 1919, shortly after the death of his father from the swine flu. His widowed mother became blind and raised her five children on a small farm and ran a boarding house in Plattsburg, Mo. As the youngest child, Sam went with her to the blind school in St. Joseph, Mo., learned to make brooms and baskets and sold them on the streets. He helped her burn bedbugs off steel bedsprings and his first job was making molasses with the neighbor. At age eight, he journeyed with a local stonemason and learned to play a wicked croquet game in Roosterville. His idyllic days hunting squirrels, eating papaws and studying to be a doctor in Kansas City were interrupted by the radio announcement of Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941.
He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and spent 3½ years patrolling the Pacific Rim, forming a lifelong love of Australia. As a Navy Pharmacist Mate First Class, he received the Silver Star, Purple Heart and a Presidential Unit Citation for heroic service. He survived the battles of Tassafaronga, where the front of his ship was torpedoed at midnight, and Iwo Jima, where his deeds of lifesaving are legendary. He turned down the Navy Cross so no one would die retrieving his body under the line of fire.
On June 10, 1944, he married Jacintha George of Raytown, Mo., after a whirlwind courtship on shore leave. They honeymooned at Camp Pendleton as he trained to be the medic for Heavy Weapons Company, Headquarters Battalion of the 28th Marines. After the war, he changed to veterinary medicine, saying he had seen too many men die to become a doctor.
He graduated from Iowa State University in 1951, and practiced 53 years in Wessington Springs and Aberdeen. He is a lifetime member of the American and South Dakota Veterinary Associations. He served on the S.D. Livestock Sanitary Board. He also served his community as the Jerauld County coroner and proud Democrat. A fellow veterinarian said "It will be a long time before S.D. has someone who will work so hard to solve so many problems for so many people." Sam loved to shake hands, never met a stranger and made sure no one was alone. He used scientific knowledge to show mercy to every living thing. Life was his business and he was good at it.
He, Jacintha and Tandy saved Easton's Castle from demolition for 46 years by making it a family home and prosperous veterinary clinic, putting it on the National Register of Historic places.
Sam is survived by his wife, Jacintha; five children; six grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; and fifteen nieces and nephews.
A summer burial at Arlington National Cemetery will be announced this spring with full arrangements available after March on arlingtoncemetery.mil.
The family is humbled by your generous outpouring of love and support and wish to say the same to you. We are so sorry for your loss.