Samuel Freeman Sipe II ’39

A STROKE SENT SAM to the hospital in Dec. 1992, where he remained in a coma until he died Jan. 30, 1993. For the past 30 years, he had been, in his own words, nursing a bad heart. However, his was not the sedentary life it may sound. He turned his special hobby, gardening, into a real vocation in 1973, when he and his wife, Carolyn, settled in Kinneagh House, County Kildare, Ireland. There, in "retirement," he established a nursery. In 1980, he moved back to the eastern shore of Maryland. At his home in Easton, he founded the Catalpa Nursery, specializing in the unique Leyland Cypress. By 1990, he could report that the business had doubled every year. "I have retired 5 times in my life, and every time I do; something like this happens. And my health seems to improve with age."

In spite of losing both his wife and his only brother, Glenn '34, within days of each other in 1985, Sam carried on, buoyed by the growth of his business and his optimistic outlook for the future. Though his health prevented returning to recent reunions, he corresponded with us regularly. We shall miss his lively reports and his unwavering high spirits.

The Class of 1939