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Tributes by
Simon Perkins' Speech

Christchurch Press
Rangi Old Girls Mag
Ken Robinson
Liz Studholme
Lucy Gould
Little Sam
Anne Warden
Rangi Ruru Girls School
Megan Matthews
Joanna Robinson
Vaughan Matthews
Emma and Greg Kelley

Lucy Gould

My tribute to Sam

Here I sit, pondering how one is to encapsulate into words what Sam meant to myself and to so many others. With the eve of Sam’s time of passing anniversary only a week away, I force myself to attempt this epic task. My dread is not through lack of wanting or thought but more through fear that the words I write will do an injustice to our dear Sam who meant so many things to so many people.

I hope some of these stories will make you laugh in memory of Sam. I know she would like it to be so.

Had for example the roles been reversed and it was Sam trying to put pen to paper I know she would have the ink flowing onto Nepalese hand made paper like no tomorrow. One of her many talents was the ability to write the funniest and most eloquent letters. Gilly has shown she could write a speech to be made to the Old Girls Association on her way into school. Things that would take most people hours to prepare she could churn out in a heartbeat.

So, Sammy. Here was a girl who adored the country life, who loved nothing more than to wake up on a high country farm and “going for a walk in wellies and Swandri – ooohhhh the country life” she once wrote in a letter to me. Equally, here was a girl who loved the cosmopolitan buzz of Melbourne city who would agonise over the purchase of a $400- pair of shoes.

I remember during our teenage years one afternoon we were milling about up at Totoranui during our summer holidays. Sam, who seemed blissfully ignorant of all the teenage “do’s and don’ts” happily put on some Mozart concerto. There was an exclaim of horror from the crowd at this intrusion into our teenage insecurities and potential threat to our ‘cool’ status. Such was Sam’s confidence this all washed over here completely.

Let me remind you of Sammy time. More often than not (when Sam was on her way somewhere) her attention would wander to something much more interesting, or she would be absorbed in something so completely she would lose track of time. This would result in her being late, or as it was known, on Sammy time. Somehow she managed to do this in a way that was completely forgivable. I recall her story of her trip across too the wedding of Nic Butler. She left Worlingham, Cust North Canterbury headed for Tai Tapu, a trip normally expected to take about 50 minutes to an hour. Sam left home only 30 minutes before the wedding was due to start and sped across the Canterbury Plains at the speed of lightening to get there just before the wedding party - of course!

Somehow Sam always seems to transcend the boring realities of life. Things such as parking tickets, overdue library books, phone bills and speeding tickets never really registered in Sam’s world. They were the trivia of the world that were really just not called for at all.

During Sam’s illness she displayed strength, bravery and selflessness that few are capable of. She used her intelligence and unfaltering positive nature to lead her through the most scary and difficult times. She dealt with cruel blows with a calm realism and low key manner, always preferring to focus more on the good fortunes of others. Her selflessness was so extreme at times it was unhealthy. I remember she always had so many visitors, cards, phone calls etc…it was a full time job for her just keeping up with it all.

Her illness never seemed to make her weaker, only stronger. Even when her body may have failed, her spirit and resolve to get better would grow.

This was a girl who was so determined to go to her dear friend Sarah Buxton’s wedding that she timed her Chemo therapy around the wedding. One day she was having treatment, and only a matter of days later she was being bridesmaid for her friend as though it was the most natural thing in the world. While there she was to deliver the most brilliant speech that left everyone completely spellbound.

Suffice to say, before I babble on too long, that Sammy was one of those people that put life back into life. She saw our complex world with a clarity that most of us lack.

She was so unique but never appeared to realise it or acknowledge that this was so.

So, it only seems like yesterday that I had a note in my diary to call Sam at the hospital on extension 89259, wondering when was a good time to call that she might have time to chat.

But as Sammy would never want any of us to live in the past we must all carry on in the future as she would have wanted us to.

I swear I will write on hand made Nepalese paper more often!

As she herself often said,

“Yesterday is history
Tomorrow is a mystery
Today is a gift, that’s why they call it the present!”

And finally a word to Sam. Thanks for being Sam.

Lucy Gould

July 2004