Before we get started telling about Sam’s life……. If Sam was here right now…. for all of you that shaved your heads in memory of Sam….. I can hear him saying……. “Dang… you all really look funny with no hair”…… But Thanks!……. and by the way… you all look so sexy!
Samuel James Garrison
Was born on September 16, 1988 in Warren Michigan…… and by the way he didn’t have any hair when he was born either.
Sam was our second child….. He has an older brother Robert, and a younger brother Timothy. Sam idealized both of his brothers and they idealized him.
As a Youth Sam’s favorite things to do was play basketball. Fortunately we lived on a cul-de-sac,…… just a fancy name for a dead end street….. and we lived on the very end….. Our home became the place to go to play….
Sam also liked playing video games…. Counterstrike was his favorite. According to Tim…. Sam had accumulated pages and pages of notes on the different maps and strategies…… Sam knew how long it would take to get from point A to point B, where are the best places to set up ambushes, etc etc etc….. I believe Sam could have been a great General….. Sam was unbeatable according to Robert….. that was before Robert figured out you could use hacks to see thru walls and then shoot thru the walls……..… Sam had the skills…… but Robert figured out how to hack the game……. According to Robert….. Sam was really impressed at how Roberts game had improved…… That was until Sam looked over at Roberts screen and said…… thats not how my screen looks…. Robert was Busted! ……Everyone got a good laugh.
Sam, as well as his brothers, were all home schooled….… They all graduated top of their class…… If you don’t get that joke right now you will figure it out later…….. I’m sure you all heard the “they are going to be loners with no friends, where are they going to get socialization?” The Wife and I have always said there is good socialization and bad socialization…. God only knows what a bunch of pre-adolescents will and can get into.
The wife related a story about Sam one day….. She was working with Robert on his lesson, thinking that Sam was off playing somewhere….. Well when she started asking Robert the review questions…. Sam was answering the questions. He wasn’t off playing; he was actually listening to the lesson.
Sam’s Teenage Years
Sam’s Mom was a great teacher…. She did an amazing Job with all the boys!….. She would see what interested the boys and focus their learning in that direction…. well guess what Sam was really into….. insects….I thank God his Mom wasn’t to afraid of them…..she would buy insect eggs, Butterfly’s, and Praying Mantis – watch them emerge and release them into the backyard. When spring came around each year Sam and his brothers would be assigned an area of the yard. They would go and get seeds and plants, to put in their assigned areas. Prior to him going to Georgia Sam wanted to make sure that the brick borders and mulch were placed down in his mom’s yard before he left for Georgia…….. This is where Sam developed his love of gardening………….… I believe he would have been happy with 1000 acres of land and just be a farmer. He always talked about going with Scott to his land….and one day he was going to get more land….
Sam loved camping and we did a lot of camping Spring Summer Fall and Winter…. He loved it when we would go to Seven Lakes State Park in Holly MI, Addison Oaks in Rochester MI, and Collier Seminole Sate Park located in Florida right by the everglades. He loved to Fish, walking the beaches collecting whatever washed up on the beaches, hiking and bike riding. One day we were out biking and Tim notices a big coconut on the ground, of course he wants to take it back…. so Tim asked Sam if he would carry it for him… Sam being the helper said sure…. we all hopped on our bikes and off we go…… Sam one hand on the bike handlebars and one hand holding the coconut…. Not exactly sure what happened next…. but Sam had hit something and went flying over the handle bars….. Sam flying one way and the coconut the other….. Tim saw this and immediately said….. “is my coconut Ok?”…… We checked on Sam he was Ok…… and Tim’s coconut was ok too…..… Sam dusted himself off grabbed the handle bar in one hand and coconut in the other. Camping is how Sam developed his love for the outdoors.
Remember How I Said Sam loved to fish….. I recall an incident that happened ….. one of the boys had come back to the camper in a panic saying that Sam had hooked himself…. Well this is when Momma bears instincts kicked in….. she immediately grabs 3 huge bath towels…..at the time I’m thinking how much blood is she expecting to see from a fish hook,……. but i thought don’t mess with a mama bear and her cubs…… well we get in the car and off we go…. when we pull up we see Sam hooked to a pretty good size bass……one hand that was hooked to the fish pushing down on the fishes head and his other hand pushing down on its tail so it couldn’t flop around……. Im guessing he had been in this position for at least 20 minutes….. What had happened was Sam was using an lure that had two set of treble hooks,…. when he had went to grab the bass it flops…… setting one set of hooks in his finger and other set is in the fishes lip……Fortunately the hooks barb was all the way thru his finger and we were able to cut the barb off and pulled the hook out….…. and yes he did go fishing later….He was just a little more careful removing the hooks…..
Sam’s Adult Years
By the time Sam had turned 18 he said he was going to be a firefighter…… He was a focused young man…..
Sam graduated high school (remember the top of his class)…. completed his one-year firefighter program at Schoolcraft College, enrolled in Macomb Community College EMT, and Paramedic programs graduating top of his classes (Magna Cum Laude). He got his first job working on an Advanced Life Support unit covering Detroit and Wayne county.
Sam worked the longest time trying to find a job as a firefighter in Michigan…..Michigan just wasn’t hiring.….. I remember when the city of Warren posted they would be hiring he was all excited….. till it listed all the requirement ….. must have firefighter 1 & 2 training….. Check,…… EMT…… Check,…… Paramedic…. Check,….. experience on med unit …..Check…. and be 21 at time of application (at this time he was just 20)…. So we looked else where…. Gwinnett County, was looking to hire……. You all know the rest of the story…. he got the job and was so excited..
Sam and Jenna move to Georgia to start their life together…. They were married on August 14, 2011, Had the most beautiful daughter Aubree on December 3, 2013 (which is the same birthday date as her Great Grand Father Robert T Garrison Sr) had the next most beautiful daughter Kaylee on August 17, 2015…… We were so thankful for all the friends they had made here and we were happy that his family had increased from all his new brothers.
Sam was most proud of his girls. During our visits, he was always so excited to show us all the things he did to the yards. Sam planted fruit trees, and berry bushes, and garden vegetables because of all his memories of eating fruits and vegetables from his grand parents and neighbors homes,……. (we are sure that the neighbors said it was Ok) …..those where such fond memories that Sam wanted to create them for his little girls….. Not sure how it came up but Sam had asked Aubree….are you a Southern Girl?…… Aubree Promptly replied ….. “I Ain’t No Southern Girl”….. We laughed thinking you are a southern girl and a very pretty one at that.
I remember the first time he had showed us the numerous certificates he got for bring people back to life. To see how his face would light up with joy as he was telling us about how much it meant….. And that he also would have more but they could never officially confirm it……. Helping people meant so much to Sam. He was always the person to go out of his way for everyone else. You could see it so clearly…… I remember when he did the driver test and scored really well….… He was so excited to get to be put on the list to be promoted for Driver/Engineer, but also to get to spend even more time on the engine…….. He would always talk about it, telling us about how many years it had been and what rank he could try to be next…… He knew where he wanted to be….… He had it all down to a plan….. It was just a matter of waiting for him. He would always be so excited to tell us when he was getting to go for more training……. To Sam that was just one more thing he could use to be able to help people even more……… He was always wanting to learn more……. Always memorizing things down to the last detail…….. He was always bettering himself…….. Always wanting to be even better every day….… He was like a vast trove of knowledge.
We Just want all his Georgia family to know that Sam officially turned into a Georgia Boy…. he used to like Michigan & Michigan State (I Think he still did)….. but he turned Bulldog Red…. Now the Dogs are one of our favorite teams also….
He sure did love those Georgia mountains……. He would love going hiking in the mountains, alone, or with his friends or brother Tim…… Sam asked Robert to go also…. Robert said he isn’t built for hiking….. Sam told him we can work on that….. Sam was always so excited to try out His newest addition to His collection of hiking toys….… Always telling us about how cool some of the stuff was, like a water filter bag that could purify even the dirtiest, muckiest water…… or His little mini stove that could boil water in minutes with just a tiny fuel cube…… Always trying to have an excuse to use one of his toys. It could be the smallest possible thing like whittling some sticks into a makeshift rotisserie to slow cook a piece of meat for his meal. His excitement was just infectious. He could make you excited to do something as simple and as boring as taking out the trash.
We are all going to miss that infectious smile and witty humor….
On March 9th, 2017 Sam went to be with all of those who have passed on before us…… This is The day our hearts broke…..
I LOVE the picture of Sam when you go on the page!!!