Dr. Helen Fletcher Sams was often in close proximity to her husband; not because either demanded it, but it just worked out that way.
They graduated from Emory’s medical school a year apart, they practiced medicine together for 55 years, they even retired within weeks of each other.
Who dreamed they’d almost die together?
Saturday, not quite four weeks after Dr. Ferrol “Sambo” Sams Jr. died, the woman known throughout Fayette County as Dr. Helen, followed suit. She was 89. Dr. Ferrol Sams III, said his mother had been ill for some time, but her health rapidly declined after her husband’s funeral, adding “It was the longest they’d been apart in more than 64 years of marriage.”
A funeral is planned for 3 p.m., Wednesday at Fayetteville First United Methodist Church. Her remains will be cremated after the service and her ashes will be buried beside her husband’s. Carl J. Mowell & Son Funeral Home, Fayetteville is in charge of arrangements.
As a pre-teen, growing up in Greensboro, Fla., Sams knew she wanted to be a physician. Her parents thought an extended summer visit with an uncle, at his doctor's office, might help her steer clear of the predominately male career choice; but it made her more determined, said Ellen Sams Nichol, the couple's daughter.
Sams enrolled in, and in 1945 graduated from, the former Florida State College for Women. She began her studies at Emory University Medical School with the goal of being a doctor, but by the time she graduated, Sams not only had a medical degree, but a husband and their first baby boy. A year later, after her medical residency, when Sams and her husband started their Fayetteville practice in 1951, the family had grown to include their daughter. The couple eventually added two more children to their family.
“What I will always remember about Dr. Helen is that she achieved balance in her life,” said Dr. Charlotte Grayson, who took over Sams’ patients when she retired in 2006. “I think that was probably a very difficult task but she did it really well and with grace.”
Described by her son as “the world’s most feminist feminist,” Sams believed women could do anything they desired. She encouraged her daughter to find what is was she loved to do in life, and not be deterred, “because I am a girl, and not a boy,” Nichol said.
“After my brother was born, 14 months after me – and the fourth child came 18 months later – but, mama asked Sambo if he wanted her to stay home and take care of the children,” their daughter said. “And he told her, ‘You have wanted to be a physician for longer than you have ever wanted to be my wife, and I would never take that away from you.’ So from that point on, they marched in step, not only as partners in a beautiful marriage, but partners in a medical practice that took care of generations of families in this community.”
In addition to her son and daughter, Sams is survived by sons, Jim Sams and Fletcher Sams, both of Fayetteville; three brothers, Dr. T. Bert Fletcher, Dr. John Fletcher and Max Fletcher, all of Florida; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
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