Altar Call – Opelika-Auburn News
Walter Albritton
June 30, 2019
He spent his life serving
others
Sam McGlamry died in Texas June 14. He was 92. His last two years were difficult. Medical issues. The kind that come with old age. He did not suffer alone. His daughter Pat and his husband Miles took care of him. They loved him dearly, just like his son Ernie and his wife Carolyn loved him.
They brought his body back to Montgomery. He was born in Alabama. He wanted to be buried in Alabama. So, after the celebration of his life at Leak-Memory Funeral Home, we had a police escort to Wetumpka. There we laid Sam to rest in Pineview Cemetery.
When I sat down with Sam’s family to plan the celebration of his life, I
asked them the question I ask every grieving family: What begs to be said about
Sam? They shared some good stories about the dad they had loved. But one
salient sentence got my attention. They said, “Dad spent his life serving
others and he always did it with a smile.” That is about as remarkable a
tribute as I have ever heard children pay their father. So we explored what
they meant by “serving others.”
Sam’s service to others began on the Alabama
farm where he grew up, a farm that was a family farm for over 100 years. In the
early 1940’s Sam’s father, Sam McGlamry Sr., was one
of the founders of the Montgomery Farmers Market. His dad’s picture still hangs
there today. Sam spent his teen years helping bring and sell his family’s
famous peaches and other produce from the McGlamry
family farm. It was at the farmer’s market where Sam met Virginia Warren, his
future wife, with whom he shared 67 years of faithful marriage.
Sam’s family helped me understand that Sam’s
desire to serve others began when he was a boy. I realized it was a story they
loved to tell. Sam was one of several children on a school bus when one day the
regular school bus driver just pulled over and parked the bus. He told the
children he was joining the Army and would not be driving the bus any more. The
children sat there, stranded without a driver. That’s when Sam got up, climbed
in the driver’s seat and, at age 15, and drove the bus until all the children
were home safely.
The next day Sam drove the usual route,
picked up all the kids and got them to school on time. Later that day Sam
figured he was in big trouble when the principal called him to the office. The
principal said, “Sam, I hear you drove the school bus today.” Sam said,
“Yessir, they needed to get to school.” The principal said, “Well, Sam, from
now on you’ve got the job of driving that school bus.” So, at 15, Sam was
serving – his community and his school.
In
August, 1944, at the age of 17, Sam dropped out of school and enlisted in the
Navy. From September, 1944, until June of 1946, Sam served his country aboard a
ship in the South Pacific during WW II. After returning home from his service
in the Navy, Sam married Virginia. Two years later God blessed them with their
first child, Patricia, and in November, 1959, the Lord blessed them again with
the arrival of a son, Earnest.
Sam’s desire to serve others led him to acquire what back then was called
a “service station,” located in the Forest Hills area of the Atlanta Highway.
There Sam spent 30 years providing “service with a smile” for his customers. In
those days at a service station you got more than gas, you got service for your
car. Sam pumped gas, changed oil, fixed tires, did all kinds of repairs and
cleaned windshields with much pride in the service of his customers.
After retiring from his service
station business, Sam found a retirement job he loved, working for his friends
Robert and David Funderburk at Little Mountain Nursery. There, working with
both plants and people, he helped customers select plants and gave them
guidance for the best care of their plants. Sam loved plants and he had a green
thumb.
I seldom pick
up an orange without thinking about Sam. The first time I visited in his home,
he soon led me to his back yard. He wanted to show me his big orange tree and
his lemon tree. I was amazed. Oranges and lemons growing beautifully in
Montgomery! For several years Sam made my face light up by bringing me a basket
of those delicious, sweet oranges – and sometimes a lemon or two.
After his working days came to an
end, Sam continued to serve others. Though in his eighties, Sam was still able
to drive. So he would faithfully pick up members of his Sunday School Class,
women who could no longer drive, and chauffer them to and from church.
I have presided over hundreds of
funerals. Each one is a sacred event. But the one for Sam last Monday was
special. It is not often one has the honor of celebrating the life of a veteran
of WW II who was a member of the Greatest Generation. Sixteen million Americans
fought in the Second World War and less than a million are alive today. An
average of 362 veterans are dying every day.
There were not many dry eyes in the
chapel when Corine Free touched our hearts by playing “America the Beautiful.”
The American flag was draped over Sam’s coffin. We gave thanks for Sam’s
service to his country and remembered the thousands who paid the supreme
sacrifice for the freedom we enjoy today.
Sam was not a community leader. He
was not a public figure. His opinions were never printed on the first page of
the newspaper. But Sam was as good a man as you will ever meet. He was a “salt
of the earth” Christian. He modeled how to live a humble life in the service of
others. His life style reminded me of that old gospel song, “Others.” I love
the refrain: “Others, Lord, yes, others, let this my motto be, help me to live
for others, that I might live like Thee.”
I drove away from that cemetery
thanking the Lord for the privilege of celebrating the life of a humble man
whose children could say, “Dad spent his life serving others and he always did
it with a smile.” Rest in peace, Sam, until I see you again. + + +