Dave Sample |
| Posted 2008-03-13 by Judy Wight Branson |
| Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona Friday, March 7, 2008 Master pistolsmith Dave Sample, 75, of Prescott died Feb. 24, 2008, at the Arizona Heart Institute in Phoenix five days after a massive heart attack suffered after surgery to implant a stent. He was born on May 22, 1932, in Ashtabula, Ohio, and joined the Navy out of high school as an aircraft ordinance man in the Korean War. He moved to Colorado in the 1960s and worked as a bartender, musician, sheriff’s deputy, private security director and owned a successful real estate company. In the 1980s, he began working on firearms and became an expert on the Colt single-action Army revolver and the Colt 1911 .45 semi-automatic pistol. His friends knew him by his Single-Action Shooting Society alias, “Captain Eagle.” He tuned and repaired handguns for people throughout the country and built custom 1911s. Dave gave liberally of his skills to create or tune firearms for raffles or auctions to benefit the Happy Trails Foundation and ailing cowboy action shooters. In 2002, he pioneered an Internet pistolsmithing course in which students would acquire a set of raw parts for a 1911 pistol and, in 13 lessons, Dave would teach them how to fit and assemble a valuable custom firearm. His students’ pistols went on display at the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show. At the time of his death, he had taught more than 140 students. The course will continue under two former students. Dave also wrote articles for American Handgunner and Shoot! magazines. Steven A. Camp, author of “The Shooter’s Guide to the 1911 Pattern Pistol,” quotes him frequently throughout the book. Dave joined Alcoholics Anonymous in 1966 and from then until his death he gave liberally of his time and talent to lead countless others to sobriety. Surviving Dave are his wife, Helen Sample of Aurora, Colo.; a daughter, Elizabeth Sample, also in Aurora; and a son, Bill Sample, who lives with his wife, Bobbi, and children Trevor, 11, and Jennifer, 7, in Evans, Colo. Dave also leaves many dear friends who will miss his irreverent sense of humor, his passion for perfection and his aversion to suffering fools of any kind. “Dave was among a dying generation of true American patriots,” says Sherryl Masterman, a local computer consultant who helped Dave conduct his course. “He knew right from wrong and had plain old common sense. He cared more about others and the greater good than himself.” “Dave was the big brother I never had,” said Prescott Newspapers Inc. Executive Editor Ben Hansen. “He suffered my mistakes in the class and went out of his way to help me in ways I never can repay. He had an enviable ability to say the right thing at the right time – often to the everlasting misery of the foolish, pompous, ignorant and self-important.” Dave chose cremation, and later this spring, his family will spread his ashes and those of his beloved dog, Suzie, on his ranch near Tyrone, Colo. His friends will meet in a few weeks for a special evening of remembrance. Anyone who wants to attend should e-mail benhansen@cableone.net. They will receive notification of the time and date. Information provided by survivors. |
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