Me being married to Chuck Shelton, Sam’s cousin, allowed me to hear stories of young Sam and Chuck and some of the experiences they had growing up together.   One of my favorites was the time they decided to do a marketing survey to see which beverage was the best seller.  They did this by going to service stations and collecting the bottle caps from the drink coolers.   Then they lined the various caps up in rows on the front porch.  They had a perfect graph of the results from the best selling beverage down to the least.  They were both enterprising and business minded even as young boys. Their relationship was always so close and interestingly enough both ended up with health and nutrition as their focus, with Sam in the research area and Chuck in the marketing end. It is sweet to think of Chuck and Sam together again in Heaven.  

Sam, without a doubt,  entered Heaven’s gates hearing, “Well done thou good and faithful servant”, and what a remarkable life he lived.   Brilliant, but with a quiet humble spirit, he touched lives in such a positive way and I know his life‘s work will continue through individuals who have been taught and inspired by him.  And speaking of inspiring, Sam and Betty were always cheering me on after Chuck’s death.   So thankful for and proud of our Cousin Sam and Betty I love you so much. God bless you and all the family. 

I had forgotten the details, but just came across Sam's handwritten explanation this evening:

" 'Sam' was a name assigned to me by chance. People in the egg industry in the 1960's looked to one person in Chicago to establish the daily price of eggs 'on the street'. His name was Sam and I was assigned the job of phoning Sam each morning to get a base price. Soon, people referred to me as 'Sam'. I hesitated to keep the name, but being a fan of writer Charles Dickens...the character Sam Weller seemed fitting of my own character. So, 'Sam' it became."

(For anyone who didn't know, Sam traded eggs in the 1960's.)