This eulogy can be found in the Summer/Fall issue of the Sundial on pages 10-13.
Sam Ross died on Friday afternoon, July 29, at Myrtle Beach after a great round of golf and a bit of lunch.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die.”
Age 57 is several moments short of the allotted three-score and ten, but then the length of life has only a small relationship to the quality of life.
Thos of you who knew Sam Ross know that he lived life wholly, completely, enthusiastically, and well. How fortunate we are that the greatest part of his adult life was actually lived on the Wesleyan campus and within this community. A community which mourns his departure and pays tribute to his memory.
Enthusiastic, competitive, joyful living — this is the “peral of great price” which was Sam Ross’.
It is not that living is quite important; living is all important! We must strip away all the extraneous matter — the material possessions, the fame, the ower, the honor — and deal with basic human qualities; to be true to oneself, and, in turn, to be true to family and friends in order to live completely. Sam Ross understood this; he practiced it faithfully dring the 47 years given him as his allotment of time on earth.
Ls Friday evening as the shock of Sam’s death began to grip Buckhannon, I heard several people try to cope with the loss by referring to Sam’s history of health problems. “He had a bad heart.” one person said.
Well, I disagree! In spite of the medical facts, Sam Ross had a wonderful heart! Oh, he may have had some difficulty with his heart’s mechanical operation, but you would too if you asked it, as Sam did, to pump alternate cycles of orange and black platelets, rather than the normal crimson flow.
Sam Ross had a wonderful heart! Ask the thousands of students whom he coached or taught.Ask the coaches against whom he competed. Ask the faculty and staff with whom he spent 32 years at Wesleyan.Ask the neightbood kids on Smithfield Street whom he took for ice cream and to ball games.As my son, Ryan,who every time he came to town, got to drive Sam’s golf cart. Ask the members of his family. Ask Ace and Bill Knox. Ask Nancy and Jane. Ask Mary. Ask me. Sam Ross had a wonderful heart!
Everyone in education — teachers and administrators — hope to influence the lives of others; few of us enjoy Sam’s success at it, and nowhere was he better able to demonstrate the lasting quality of that influence than in his work as Wesleyan’s alumni director.
I have admired the affection offered by Wesleyan graduates of every era, as they greeted Sam at alumni get-togethers. Warm handshakes, fond embraces, and spirited conversation were symbolic of a deep and abiding love that Wesleyan people held for Sam Ross.
The same impact could be found among his colleagues. At last spring’s state basketball tournament, athletic director after coach after fellow teacher approached him with the same admiration.
Two weeks ago today, I announced that Sam had been promoted to a new position, assistant to the president and alumni director. The best combination possible to bring his Wesleyan wisdom, his excellent advice, and his striking intimacy with this institution’s heritage to a place where it would have the greatest impact on the most people.
And this personal note: Sam enjoyed running things, and nearly two years after my arrival, he still introduced me as the 16th president of West Virginia Wesleyan College. I know he did so to provide historical perspective, but he had a way of saying it that made it sound as though, if this were 16, could 17 be far behind? He denied knowing something I didn’t.
In point of fact, I couldn’t have asked for more unyielding or uncompromising support. Steeped in Wesleyan tradition, it would have been easy to be skepital of a new person and his potentially harebrained ideas. Others have, but not Sam Ross!
He said it this way last winter at a Florida alumni meeting. I remember it vividly: “Before I tintroduce Wesleyan’s new president,: he said, “let me tell you that although he has been with us only a short time, the college is moving ahead. I am excited abut what is happening, and ladies and gentlemen, I’m here to tell you I’m ready to play the second half.”
Loyalty was a quality so deeply imbedded in the fabric of this man, that it couldn’t find a way out, even if it tried.
Well, Sam, it looks like we’ll have to play that second half without you. Like members of most good teams, each of us can probably reach for that “little something extra” in order to win the game.
It won’t be as much fun without you, and the prospects of having you out for the rest of the season would demoralize most teams. Not this one. We’ve all learned too much from you to let that happen and you leave so much of yourself with us — so much of your fine gentlemanly character, so much of your clear insights, so much of your good judgement — that we will go on as though you were here standing right there on the sidelines. Later this fall, we will find a way and a time to retire your number, but that, too, will be merely symbolic — symbolic of your enduring impact.
Our service for Sam Ross Says much about the person he was, but it says more, much more, to the Wesleyan community to which he gave so much and of which he was such a significant part. It is to us, the living, that the active complete life of Sam Ross must have importance.
It is reassuring to know that he considered Wesleyan a caring and loving community. We grieve at our loss, but we also rejoice that Sam lived and worked and played among us. Let our sorrow clear our hearts, and let our remembrance motivate our conscience.
For what the life of Sam Ross has meant to us is this — active, full, joyful living is our reason for existence. No other reason is good enough to serve the memory of him who lived as part of our Wesleyan community. Let us raise our hearts above the sorrow of this moment and let us raise our heads and rejoice. It is for us, the living, to give meaning to the life of Sam Ross.
Amen.