"Patience of Job"
~ likable
~ sentimental
~ favorite music: anything - Nat King Cole
~ favorite flower: the yellow rose
~ lifelong love of trains
~ MY DAD ~ Just look at that wonderful grin!
My father, Sam G. Wahl, came up in an era when you could go to work in the hotel business, start on the ground floor and rise to make it your life's career. And that he did, except for his employment as a traveling salesman during the ten years that he lived in California & Oregon. Even in the course of that period, there were many classic old hotels at which he stayed along the way of his sales routes.
My dad loved the hotel business and worked until his health prevented him from continuing. Throughout his years of hotel employment, he met many interesting people. I have an old photo of him taken when the then-Mayor of Oklahoma City, presented Ed Sullivan with the "key" to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It shows the three of them in that photograph, the Mayor, Ed Sullivan & Sam Wahl. I also have another photo of Dad that is dated Dec. 13, 1955, and is labeled, Oklahoma Biltmore Hotel, Fraternal Order of Jesters Xmas Party. He was the Assistant Catering Manager at the Biltmore. I think it was not much after that period when he went to work as Assistant Manager, for the Allis Hotel, in Wichita. Two of his famous guests at the Allis during the middle 1950s were Nat King Cole and Elvis Presley.
Sam worked full time at various establishments in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas until he was 67 years of age. Only then did he semi-retire. He continued to work on a limited basis until the age of 76. Although "limited" was many times 4 & 5 days a week, it was only in the last three years of his life, after heart by-pass surgery, that his condition required him to stay home and be "content" with giving up his job. Contentment with that situation never occurred. His letters to me during that period tell of his longing to be working and his missing being among people.
Your cat, Sebastian, and your dog, Sheila, helped to ease the daytime loneliness, as you waited for Eleanor to return home, from her weekly work schedule.
Dad had joked with me about his last moments on this earth. He always said he would be in the process of handing a room key to one of his hotel guests.
As the years passed by, Sam Wahl accumulated age, but he never got "old" so to speak. He was always interested in every aspect of life, a most adaptable, happy, sweet guy, with a good old-fashioned work ethic. His relaxation came when tending to his yard and flower garden. Roses were his favorites!
My dad was also a very wonderful, loving, father and grandfather. Sam was 79 years of age when he died.
"Best father, sweetest friend..."
~ Lucy Robinson
"Oh, Dad, if I could turn back time
and once more hear your voice;
I'd tell you that out of all the dads
you would still be my choice."
~ Judy Burnette
*NOTE* from a friend:
"I would love to read anything you have written about your father. He is really fascinating, some people "live" more than others. I see that in your dad, he lived every moment. I feel the same way about my dad, he was always thinking, laughing, moving, planning.... I wish we could have had them forever."
ღ Our sentimental journey in 1953!
"Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories
Got my bag, got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
Long to hear that "All aboard"
Seven, that's the time we leave, at seven
I'll be waitin' up for heaven
Countin' every mile of railroad track
That takes me back
Never thought my heart could be so yearny
Why did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home"
Daddy - I remember it so well...
~ likable
~ sentimental
~ favorite music: anything - Nat King Cole
~ favorite flower: the yellow rose
~ lifelong love of trains
~ MY DAD ~ Just look at that wonderful grin!
My father, Sam G. Wahl, came up in an era when you could go to work in the hotel business, start on the ground floor and rise to make it your life's career. And that he did, except for his employment as a traveling salesman during the ten years that he lived in California & Oregon. Even in the course of that period, there were many classic old hotels at which he stayed along the way of his sales routes.
My dad loved the hotel business and worked until his health prevented him from continuing. Throughout his years of hotel employment, he met many interesting people. I have an old photo of him taken when the then-Mayor of Oklahoma City, presented Ed Sullivan with the "key" to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It shows the three of them in that photograph, the Mayor, Ed Sullivan & Sam Wahl. I also have another photo of Dad that is dated Dec. 13, 1955, and is labeled, Oklahoma Biltmore Hotel, Fraternal Order of Jesters Xmas Party. He was the Assistant Catering Manager at the Biltmore. I think it was not much after that period when he went to work as Assistant Manager, for the Allis Hotel, in Wichita. Two of his famous guests at the Allis during the middle 1950s were Nat King Cole and Elvis Presley.
Sam worked full time at various establishments in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas until he was 67 years of age. Only then did he semi-retire. He continued to work on a limited basis until the age of 76. Although "limited" was many times 4 & 5 days a week, it was only in the last three years of his life, after heart by-pass surgery, that his condition required him to stay home and be "content" with giving up his job. Contentment with that situation never occurred. His letters to me during that period tell of his longing to be working and his missing being among people.
Your cat, Sebastian, and your dog, Sheila, helped to ease the daytime loneliness, as you waited for Eleanor to return home, from her weekly work schedule.
Dad had joked with me about his last moments on this earth. He always said he would be in the process of handing a room key to one of his hotel guests.
As the years passed by, Sam Wahl accumulated age, but he never got "old" so to speak. He was always interested in every aspect of life, a most adaptable, happy, sweet guy, with a good old-fashioned work ethic. His relaxation came when tending to his yard and flower garden. Roses were his favorites!
My dad was also a very wonderful, loving, father and grandfather. Sam was 79 years of age when he died.
"Best father, sweetest friend..."
~ Lucy Robinson
"Oh, Dad, if I could turn back time
and once more hear your voice;
I'd tell you that out of all the dads
you would still be my choice."
~ Judy Burnette
*NOTE* from a friend:
"I would love to read anything you have written about your father. He is really fascinating, some people "live" more than others. I see that in your dad, he lived every moment. I feel the same way about my dad, he was always thinking, laughing, moving, planning.... I wish we could have had them forever."
ღ Our sentimental journey in 1953!
"Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories
Got my bag, got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
Long to hear that "All aboard"
Seven, that's the time we leave, at seven
I'll be waitin' up for heaven
Countin' every mile of railroad track
That takes me back
Never thought my heart could be so yearny
Why did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home"
Daddy - I remember it so well...
"Patience of Job"
~ likable
~ sentimental
~ favorite music: anything - Nat King Cole
~ favorite flower: the yellow rose
~ lifelong love of trains
~ MY DAD ~ Just look at that wonderful grin!
My father, Sam G. Wahl, came up in an era when you could go to work in the hotel business, start on the ground floor and rise to make it your life's career. And that he did, except for his employment as a traveling salesman during the ten years that he lived in California & Oregon. Even in the course of that period, there were many classic old hotels at which he stayed along the way of his sales routes.
My dad loved the hotel business and worked until his health prevented him from continuing. Throughout his years of hotel employment, he met many interesting people. I have an old photo of him taken when the then-Mayor of Oklahoma City, presented Ed Sullivan with the "key" to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It shows the three of them in that photograph, the Mayor, Ed Sullivan & Sam Wahl. I also have another photo of Dad that is dated Dec. 13, 1955, and is labeled, Oklahoma Biltmore Hotel, Fraternal Order of Jesters Xmas Party. He was the Assistant Catering Manager at the Biltmore. I think it was not much after that period when he went to work as Assistant Manager, for the Allis Hotel, in Wichita. Two of his famous guests at the Allis during the middle 1950s were Nat King Cole and Elvis Presley.
Sam worked full time at various establishments in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas until he was 67 years of age. Only then did he semi-retire. He continued to work on a limited basis until the age of 76. Although "limited" was many times 4 & 5 days a week, it was only in the last three years of his life, after heart by-pass surgery, that his condition required him to stay home and be "content" with giving up his job. Contentment with that situation never occurred. His letters to me during that period tell of his longing to be working and his missing being among people.
Your cat, Sebastian, and your dog, Sheila, helped to ease the daytime loneliness, as you waited for Eleanor to return home, from her weekly work schedule.
Dad had joked with me about his last moments on this earth. He always said he would be in the process of handing a room key to one of his hotel guests.
As the years passed by, Sam Wahl accumulated age, but he never got "old" so to speak. He was always interested in every aspect of life, a most adaptable, happy, sweet guy, with a good old-fashioned work ethic. His relaxation came when tending to his yard and flower garden. Roses were his favorites!
My dad was also a very wonderful, loving, father and grandfather. Sam was 79 years of age when he died.
"Best father, sweetest friend..."
~ Lucy Robinson
"Oh, Dad, if I could turn back time
and once more hear your voice;
I'd tell you that out of all the dads
you would still be my choice."
~ Judy Burnette
*NOTE* from a friend:
"I would love to read anything you have written about your father. He is really fascinating, some people "live" more than others. I see that in your dad, he lived every moment. I feel the same way about my dad, he was always thinking, laughing, moving, planning.... I wish we could have had them forever."
ღ Our sentimental journey in 1953!
"Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories
Got my bag, got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
Long to hear that "All aboard"
Seven, that's the time we leave, at seven
I'll be waitin' up for heaven
Countin' every mile of railroad track
That takes me back
Never thought my heart could be so yearny
Why did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home"
Daddy - I remember it so well...
~ likable
~ sentimental
~ favorite music: anything - Nat King Cole
~ favorite flower: the yellow rose
~ lifelong love of trains
~ MY DAD ~ Just look at that wonderful grin!
My father, Sam G. Wahl, came up in an era when you could go to work in the hotel business, start on the ground floor and rise to make it your life's career. And that he did, except for his employment as a traveling salesman during the ten years that he lived in California & Oregon. Even in the course of that period, there were many classic old hotels at which he stayed along the way of his sales routes.
My dad loved the hotel business and worked until his health prevented him from continuing. Throughout his years of hotel employment, he met many interesting people. I have an old photo of him taken when the then-Mayor of Oklahoma City, presented Ed Sullivan with the "key" to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It shows the three of them in that photograph, the Mayor, Ed Sullivan & Sam Wahl. I also have another photo of Dad that is dated Dec. 13, 1955, and is labeled, Oklahoma Biltmore Hotel, Fraternal Order of Jesters Xmas Party. He was the Assistant Catering Manager at the Biltmore. I think it was not much after that period when he went to work as Assistant Manager, for the Allis Hotel, in Wichita. Two of his famous guests at the Allis during the middle 1950s were Nat King Cole and Elvis Presley.
Sam worked full time at various establishments in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas until he was 67 years of age. Only then did he semi-retire. He continued to work on a limited basis until the age of 76. Although "limited" was many times 4 & 5 days a week, it was only in the last three years of his life, after heart by-pass surgery, that his condition required him to stay home and be "content" with giving up his job. Contentment with that situation never occurred. His letters to me during that period tell of his longing to be working and his missing being among people.
Your cat, Sebastian, and your dog, Sheila, helped to ease the daytime loneliness, as you waited for Eleanor to return home, from her weekly work schedule.
Dad had joked with me about his last moments on this earth. He always said he would be in the process of handing a room key to one of his hotel guests.
As the years passed by, Sam Wahl accumulated age, but he never got "old" so to speak. He was always interested in every aspect of life, a most adaptable, happy, sweet guy, with a good old-fashioned work ethic. His relaxation came when tending to his yard and flower garden. Roses were his favorites!
My dad was also a very wonderful, loving, father and grandfather. Sam was 79 years of age when he died.
"Best father, sweetest friend..."
~ Lucy Robinson
"Oh, Dad, if I could turn back time
and once more hear your voice;
I'd tell you that out of all the dads
you would still be my choice."
~ Judy Burnette
*NOTE* from a friend:
"I would love to read anything you have written about your father. He is really fascinating, some people "live" more than others. I see that in your dad, he lived every moment. I feel the same way about my dad, he was always thinking, laughing, moving, planning.... I wish we could have had them forever."
ღ Our sentimental journey in 1953!
"Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories
Got my bag, got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
Long to hear that "All aboard"
Seven, that's the time we leave, at seven
I'll be waitin' up for heaven
Countin' every mile of railroad track
That takes me back
Never thought my heart could be so yearny
Why did I decide to roam?
Gotta take that sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home"
Daddy - I remember it so well...
Gravesite Details
Birth date on headstone is in error. Correct birth date is May 19, 1909
