March 27, 1950 - October 21, 2022
In loving memory ~
"We are never truly gone, while someone still tells our stories"
The world lost an epic storyteller and man of many adventures. Sam Whitehead left for greener pastures on Oct 21, 2022.
Sam built his first log cabin in the Chilcotin in 1973 on a road trip from his home in Burnaby on what was considered the infamous Highway 20 and settled in the mountains that became his passion. He populated the surrounding areas with hand-built log homes of his own design, ran a successful ski touring business through the Pantheon mountains carving telemark turns through deep powder, guided horseback riding groups through blazed trails to hidden valleys, and later saw those same mountain ranges from the sea as he fished the coast for salmon from Bella Coola south to the Fraser River and all points in between.
Sam and his first wife, Eve, navigated all of those endeavors while raising two children (that he fondly referred to as "the sucking dependents") on a small farm in Kleena Kleene, carving a life for their little family out of jack pine and alfalfa meadows with a team of Sam's prized draft horses. His son, Eric, and his daughter, Sally, will treasure forever the childhood memories their dad created for them with his gruff chuckle, amazing creativity and a sharp-as-a-tack mind.
Later in life, in the spirit of his early adventures that included sailing across the Pacific to Hawaii, exploring off the beaten tracks of northern Japan in the 1970s, and crossing borders and boundaries in Southeast Asia, Sam and his wife, Susan McQuirter, made tracks in the sands of the Baja peninsula of Mexico. Sam & Sue, 'the prettiest girl this side of the Pecos River,' built a sodroof cabin in the valley of Tatlayoko creating the simple life that Sam loved most and adventured together down the Baja to Todos Santos, Mexico. Over the last 15 years, Sam focused his creative energies on rebuilding a historic adobe home in the village of San Miguel de Comondu in the Baja mountains, raising it from a crumbled facade to become his favorite place to have a mesquite fire with a tin cup of cowboy coffee in hand.
Sam Stories will continue to be told by all who knew & loved him; his friends and family including his only grandchild, Milla, his beloved baby sister, Janet, his brother, Jake, his sister, Cathy, and his many nieces and nephews.
For those with many memories of Sam enjoying a good discussion around a fire, in countries across the globe, in lieu of flowers the family asks that you share a story or two and keep his memory alive in your hearts.
A ceremony of remembrance in Tatla Lake will be scheduled in the Spring.
"I'll wait for you in the library
I will love you through all eternity"