Goodbye, Dr. Sams

You may not know it, but Dr. Ferrol Sams was every bit the story teller that Lewis Grizzard was. While Grizzard captured they way we approached life in his humor, Dr. Sams did so in a way that used more esoteric and intellectual descriptive of white Southern life. In a way, his voice was the ying to Lewis' yang for a certain subset of Georgians.

He passed away at the age of 90 this week.

When I first read Run with the Horsemen, it was apparent this man had a great grasp on a way of life many of us had heard about from our grandparents. He also managed to do so without romanticism of some things or obfuscating others. In short, he captured what it was like for a farm boy to go to college without making light of or short selling the (now obvious) shortcomings of Georgia's society from the times he is writing about.

Take the opportunity to read his books. You'll not be sorry for doing so.

TD

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