Samantha was born on Tuesday November 6,1984. She weighed 6lbs.and 30z. The youngest of four girls,Missy,Crystal and Miranda. She was a happy little baby and didn't cry very much. Boy was it hard to get that bottle from her! I think that was her security. I guess with her being the baby I let her get away with much more than her sisters. Not meaning to , it just happened that way.
Sam loved school. When she wasn't at school she was playing school. She loved to read and of course I had to buy more than one book at the book fair every time she went. Sam was a honor roll student. She began cheering at the age of four.She loved it! Sam also loved to sing. She sang in church and once she sang at a benefit for someone needing a kidney. She was always just so bubbly and full of energy. Always wanting to help someone. She learned to cook on her on with books the family gave her. This was another one of her loves.Once she had me to take her to some elderly peoples house to take them some of her homemade dishes. She was always calling me if I was in town to pick up some ingredient that I never heard of.
Samantha competed in pageants most of her little short life and she absolutely loved it. The scholarships were great but the fun and excitement and meeting new friends was what she loved most. She always left that stage still smiling. Her smile and the love she had for people is what everyone says they remember most. You didn't walk down the hall at school without a smile and a Hey from Sambo. That's what everyone at school called her. It was also what her Daddy called her. Her sisters mostly called her Sam and SammyJo.
"The Samantha Joy Sullivan Scholarship" was set up in 2001 to help pageant contestants with their education.
I wish you could have heard her laugh. It was so loud but oh so sweet. Sometimes she could get a little feisty ,but the other good things about her made up for that.
Samantha would have been 16 the day after the tragic car wreck that took her life. We had Sam's sweet 16 party that night. She was so happy! And she had just got her license the day before.
Sam was a sophomore,president of her class,cheerleader captain a member of SADD and journalism staff .Sam loved to organize bake sells.Some of her favorite foods were noodles,pizza,egg sandwich and strewberry strewdals. Her favorite resturant was "La Feista and she loved the color purple and liked pink and baby blue.
Sam's favorite place to go was the beach. she absolutly loved the ocean!
And of course Sam loved riding her 4-wheeler!
Samantha was also the proud Aunt of Matthew and Joshua. And looking so forward to having her first niece. She was born one month after we lost Sam and was named after her ( Anna Joy) Now she has another niece, born 2003 named Allison Rose.
Samantha had so much to look forward to.She had everything all planned, even though she was young,like her sisters who all knew very early what they wanted in life. The closeness that Sam and her three sisters had was very rare. They didn't just say "I love you" they showed it when they were together. Sam was going to graduate high school in 2003. She wanted to get a physicians assistant degree in physical therapy. She would have graduated in 2005 or 2006. Sam's next step was to marry Jeremy, have 5 babies and live happily ever after. These were her goals and her dreams. Only they were taken away from her by the carelessness of others.
Sam had an ability to love and when she loved someone it was for life. The bonds she made could not be broken. No matter what. Samantha put her heart and soul into everything she did. She touched many lives in her short years. I would like my SammyJo to be remembered as a caring, helpful,kind, giving and sweet girl who was always smiling, always laughing, always with love in her heart, enough for everyone. I love and miss her with all my heart and soul!!!! I am so very proud to say,"I Am Samantha's Mother."