NH Steve said:
You guys are great -- do either of you happen to have any access to Sam's obituary or maybe to someone in Sam's family, like the cousin Roy, who might have that kind of info?
Thanks
You know, I am 99.9-percent sure that Sam was born in Bristol, but whether it was Bristol, VA or Bristol, TN is confusing to me. For sure, he spent a large part of his life there. That, I am sure about.
I remember being on the road with Geese in the '80s era in Bristol. We met up with Sam. He steered us to what could have been a good action spot in town, but with Geese's sparking personality, we only got a little bone with not much meat on it. Geese was a great one-pocket player, his best game, but he didn't have the gift of gab to get the games going. In fact, he hated playing pool in bars, always wanting to go to the pool rooms instead. He was a great one-pocket and the best one-handed player I've ever seen in my life, bar none. He could draw his rock the length of the table without the cue ever touching a rail. You had to see it to believe it.
I remember thinking at the time that it was odd that Bristol was divided between Virginia and Tennessee, like the State lines went right through the town.
I did a cursory review on Google news archives looking for an obit. Apparently, there's MANY, MANY, MANY Trivetts who live in Bristol. I'd venture to guess that one of those Trivetts knows more about Sam's funeral, if there was one. I don't think Sam had a lot of assets, materialistically speaking, when he died.
Like many road warriors from the Woodstock generation, Sam did engage in altering his state of consciousness at will, and, in fact, I think that's how he passed. He also smoked cigarettes and was overweight, which probably contributed to his passing as well.
BTW, Geese birthday was yesterday, Halloween, and he would have been 59 years old if he lived. He, too, lived his life in the fast lane, smoking filterless Lucky Strikes for years. He got cancer and couldn't beat it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that if this person wants to track down more info on Seattle Sam, they might do a Google search for Trivetts in Bristol. I found a slew of them with e-mail addresses. It is time consuming, but it just might work.
In an effort to seek data about Keith's family background, I found Keith's long lost aunt and uncle this way, searching for the McCready name, starting out with a hit in Southern Virginia. I'm hoping to get some more data from them. Believe or not, one of Keith's uncle is a man of strong faith, a minister. When Keith spoke to his aunt, the first time in almost 30 years, he got emotional, as did I.
I hope that the person who needs more info about Seattle Sam finds what they are looking for. If you would like to give them my e-mail address, it is RailbirdJAM-at-AOL-dot-com. I may be able to dig up some more Sam info when time allows, but their best bet, I think, is to start contacting the Trivetts from Bristol. They might end up striking gold.