One day my aunt, Mary Acee, called to ask me if I wanted a dog that looked like the one I had when I was a teenager. It seems as though the couple that had him in a different town wanted to get rid of him because he went through the neighborhood every day ripping up their newspapers. He was about 10 months old and he did look like the dog I had as a youth. It wasn't easy getting him to mind at first but the finally came around and was a great dog for close to 20 years. Deborah, Jim and Kim grew up and left home before he died. He had the run of the town and everyone knew Sam. The families around town would leave leftovers for him and he would make his rounds every night after his dinner at home. Roger Fowler said he could tell time by Sam - he was there every night at 6:00.

Sam would follow Jimmy wherever he went. They would go down the tracks to the river where Jim would fish and always had a companion with him. He also used to go hunting with us and caught woodchucks.Sam used to know when the lady dogs were in heat and would camp out near their houses. One family used to call the dog warden and I would have to pay $10.00 to get him out of trouble. We joked that we had to get him out of jail.

One day he came home with a shattered front leg when he was about 16 years old. I took him to Dr. Briggs thinking that he would put him away because of his age. He said that he thought he could put the leg in a cast and that it would heal. After a few days I took him home and when he lifted his leg to pee he fell over sideways. He knew after that not to lift his leg while the cast was on.

He lived about three years after that. All the kids were then living in California and came home for Deborah's wedding. Sam was in his glory to have them all home again. Shortly after they went back to California, Sam started to slow down. One morning as I went out the front door, Sam was laying on the walk in front of the porch and as I walked by he looked up at me and I said "so long." That night when I got home from work I didn't see Sam there to greet me as he usually did. Later, I went out to the garage and saw him lying there. I called and he didn't respond. I went in and Sam, my friend, was dead. Marilyn and I took our long time family member out behind the house near the canal and buried him. We shed many tears out there remembering almost 20 years of memories. Sam was the best!

Marilyn Sherman on Sam

Jim talks about what a good idea you have and I will "prod" him again to write something to you.

Sam was a Black Lab and Setter mix. We got him from someone who could not control him and he was constantly running away from them. I know that much. He lived with us about 20 years. He was very old (in dog years) and one day Jim came home from work and asked me if I had seen Sam. I said when I came home from work I saw him laying in the garage. Jim went out and he was dead. He lived long enough to see all the kids at Deborah's wedding. The following week he died. Jim buried him out in back of our old house with a marker. Not sure it is still there.