Obituary of Samuel P. Price

Samuel Penfield Price, 95, of Chautauqua, New York, died at his home on Sunday morning, March 26, 2017, in the company of his family. Sam was born on December 18, 1921 in Jamestown, New York, the son and third child of Wilson C. Price and Theodora Penfield Price of 317 Crossman Street in the city. He was predeceased by his brother Charles Price and sister Barbara Chadwick. He attended local schools through Jamestown High School, Class of 1939, before entering Amherst College that fall. The war caused him to accelerate his studies, and he completed requirements for his B.A. degree in January of 1943 before his induction into the U.S. Army a few weeks later on February 4th. Sam was trained as a cryptographer and served for the duration of the war in that capacity on the USS Ancon, an intelligence ship, which saw duty, among other locations, at the D-day landings and the Italian and Pacific campaigns. His war experiences are detailed in his book Letters Home. In the fall of 1945, Sam entered Yale Law School, from which he graduated with a J.D. in 1948. He married Martha Jane (Petey) Tinkham on October 12, 1946. After law school, Sam and Petey settled at 132 Hotchkiss Street in Jamestown and started a family, which had grown at the time of his death to 6 children, 19 grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren, all of whom survive him. His children are Clark, Marty (Young), Tom, Sam Jr., Theo (Nelson), and Norman. His beloved wife of 67 years, Petey, his "heartbeat" as he called her, died on October 6, 2013. Sam joined his father and brother in the firm of Price & Miller in 1948 where he practiced, specializing in estates and trust law, until his retirement from the firm in 1986. He also served as General Counsel of Chautauqua Institution for approximately 25 years and as Director of the Chautauqua Foundation from 1962 until 1996, continuing a chain of legal service to the Institution that began with his father Wilson Price in 1914. The Price family has deep roots in the City of Jamestown, Sam's great-grandfather having moved to the then Village of Jamestown in 1839. Sam himself had a great love for his native town, expressed over the years by extensive service within the community in capacities too numerous to detail. He did have a particular love for and commitment to the Prendergast Library, serving as its President for some years and playing a key role in the formation of the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System and the recruitment of its first Executive Director in the 1960s. During the administration of Mayor Stan Lundine, Sam, with his lifelong friend Miles Lasser among others, became very involved in the extensive urban renewal projects the City of Jamestown undertook in the 1970s. In 1968, Sam and Petey purchased a summer home on Whittier Avenue in Chautauqua Institution, which location became their year-round residence in 1983 and the epicenter of countless family gatherings and activities, the last of which he hosted in his usual spot at the head of the dining room table the evening before his death. Sam and Petey were enthusiastic Chautauquans and from their perch above center field at Sharpe Field watched three generations of their family enjoy Chautauqua Lake and the Boys & Girls Club, where Sam himself had his first experience of overnight camp in the 1920s. Generous as he was with his time and advice for various organizations throughout his career, the driving force in Sam's life was his wife Petey and his children and extended family. It was with them and the friends they, in turn, invited to visit, with whom the riches of his deep culture, humor and practical wisdom were shared in his unassuming way, usually in one of his favorite venues: in the sunlight of his morning room, perhaps while coaxing a bluebird family to settle on one of the birdhouses he had constructed for them in the yard, or on the porch or back deck at 17 Whittier enjoying another beautiful summer evening, martini cocktail in hand, his attention turned toward the person across from him. A private family graveside service will be held at Chautauqua Cemetery. Friends will be received from 3-6 p.m. Thursday March 30th in the Lind Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to James Prendergast Library Association, 509 Cherry St, Jamestown, NY 14701 or Chautauqua Foundation, PO Box 28, Chautauqua, NY 14722. You may leave words of condolence for the family at www.lindfuneralhome.com.