Sam Winters

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Bill Anderson
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Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:52 am

Sam Winters

Post by Bill Anderson »

Sam Winters, a life long fly fisher and founding member of the Little Juniata River Association has died of cancer at the age of 75. Sam was a quiet, humble man who always thought about the impact of his words and always looked for the good in all. When it was time to carry fingerling trout in a bucket, or walk a float tank down the river, or haul trash up a bank, Sam was always there. Born in Birmingham just a few hundred yards from his beloved Little Juniata, Sam was a wealth of information about the river. He knew every pool, every bridge, its springs and the area surrounding them. When he came out of the Navy in 1951, he helped to build the very first water treatment plant for Tyrone. Up until then, raw sewage ran, untreated, in at Tyrone and from towns upstream. Sam was an accomplished local historian, his written compilation and testimony regarding the historic navigability of the "j" in the Huntingdon County court, may have helped persuade the judge in favour of public access. I am convinced it did.
Sam, with his wife, Suzy, took annual camping trips to the western Mecca’s for fly fishing. The Bighorn River was his favourite Montana Stream, but he always loved coming back to the "j". A month from now I’ll fish the Grannom caddis hatch under the double bridges above Pemberton. For several recent years, this was an annual ritual for Sam and me. I‘ll be there and I’ll look to the deep end of the pool and see Sam standing waist deep, waiting patiently, fly in hand for the next riser. I plan to dedicate my first Grannom caught trout to Sam. Those of us, who knew Sam, lost a very good friend and so did the Little Juniata River.

Bill Anderson
Something to say
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Re: Sam Winters

Post by Something to say »

Wow...what a touching memorial. I did not know Sam, but after reading your post... wish I would have. It sounds like you both brought a lot to each other's lives and I would like to offer my condolences to you, Bill, and to all his family and friends.
Leep
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Sam Winters

Post by Leep »

I loved Sam..His Dad and my Grandma..Ella Mae were brother and sister but I always called Sam my uncle..He is about the same age as my uncle Dave Keith, also from Birmingham.... They were friends from early childhood .I remember visiting "unc" one day when I was back home in Birmingham visiting..He said, after i told him yet another tale of my love for the western lands, the high blue mountains, the clear, cold rivers and streams, he stood for a second and then in his quiet, thoughtful voice said, "You really love it out there don't you Nork"..I allowed that I did. Some years later he taught me how to nymph fish standing waist deep in the famed Madison River, tied on two of his hand made nymphs and sent me under the old iron bridge that spanned the river..After two or three casts i saw a flash in the deeper water and set the hook. This was a big trout..After running me up and down the river a few times,, Sam strode deeper in the river and scooped up a 3 1/2 pound Rainbow Trout in his net... With a smile he said, "well, look at that Nork and your first time nymphing..I was hooked from then on...Several times we would get together and either camp and fish together with him, and the wife and Susie would talk about our friends and family back in Birmingham..while we tried our hands at new pools and deeper runs...If he couldn't stop he and Susie always called and let us know they were in the area...
The last time we camped together was just outside of West Yellowstone, the campground I used for my story, "A Bad Night In Yellowstone."

I grew up around Sam and my Uncle Dave, when I was small they took me with them whenever they went for drives out to Eden Hill..or groundhog hunting.
It was right up the hill at Gene and Betty Cowers home where they were playing horseshoes and I, being about 5 or 6, disregarded their warning and ran off the hill right in front of a pitched horseshoe. Unc said the horseshoe slammed me right in the head and they had to catch me before they could survey the damage. Unc said there was so much blood they though they had cut my jugular.. Thankfully it just split my skull, I still have a long crease there. Sam said, "I thought we had lost you for sure, Nork."
I never questioned my unusual name until I was older and one day asked Grandma how i got the nickname..She said, My aunt, Janeen Butler, eight months my senior, couldn't pronounce my name Norm and when she tried it it came out "Nork" So "Nork" I was to all my family, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins...There are only about 5 or 6 left anymore that know me by that name...Sad somehow.
Sam was a quiet, thoughtful man.who loved the mountains and streams and rivers, whether out here or back in Pennsylvania and I feel humbled to have been his friend, to have shared his love for this high , wild country, to have been related to him by blood.
When next I go home I shall walk down off the hill from my brothers home and go see Susie and hug her and tell her just how sorry I am, both for her loss and my loss of a man I loved and respected...
I hope someday to see Sam again, standing side by side as our fly lines flash in the sunlight, making figure eights in the air as we once again wait for that old familiar tug on our lines...Sam was a Christian, a quiet man and I too share that distinction, and I shall miss this man. my "Unc" until I see him again one day in a far better place , a far more beautiful land than we have here.
Good By Sam...I miss you..
Nork.
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