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Samuel Smith Lord, Jr.
April 10, 1927 - May 27, 2011 |
Samuel Smith Lord, Jr. of Beaumont, 84, died on Friday, May 27, 2011 at Harbor Hospice in Beaumont. He was born, April 10, 1927, in Rockland, Maine to Samuel Smith and Dorothy Sinclair Lord. The family moved shortly thereafter to Gardner, Massachusetts, where Sam grew up and went to school through his junior year of high school. His father, mother, Sam and younger sister Diane then moved to Newton, Massachusetts where Sam graduated from Newton High School at the age of 16 and enlisted in the United States Navy. The Navy placed him in the Naval R.O.T.C. program at Tuffs University in Medford, Massachusetts. Sam graduated from Tuffs in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering, membership in Tau Beta Pi and was commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy. (He later retired from the Naval Reserve with the rank of full Lieutenant.) He then went to work for E.I. DuPont de Nemours as a chemist in Parlin, New Jersey. He left DuPont in 1949 to return to school and receive his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1952. He was, in 1951, initiated into Sigma Xi, an honorary society of research scientists and engineers. From 1952 to 1959 he was a research chemist at DuPont’s Jackson Laboratory in Deepwater, New Jersey and from 1959 to 1965 a Division Head at the DuPont Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1965 the company transferred him to Louisville, Kentucky where he served as Superintendent of General Production. From there he was sent, in 1971, to Londonderry, Northern Ireland as Assistant Works Director at DuPont’s Maydown Works.His transfer back to the States was in 1975 where he served as Manager of the Beaumont Works in Beaumont, Texas until 1984. He then returned to Northern Ireland as Works Director at the Maydown Plant in Londonderry. Sam retired from DuPont in 1988 as Managing Director of DuPont United Kingdom and, after more than forty years with the company, he returned to reside in Beaumont, Texas, where both he and his wife Evelyn had many friends and happy memories. His civic activities and involvement were many. In Kentucky, he had served on the Kentucky Air Pollution Commission and as its chairman from 1968 to 1970. He also was a member of Kentucky’s Comprehensive Health Planning Commission from 1967 to 1971. His activities in Beaumont included: Allied Bank Director 1975-83; St. Elizabeth Hospital Board of Counselors 1975-84; Junior Achievement President 1976-77 and Chairman of the Board 1977-78; Texas Association of Businessman Board of Directors 1975-84; Regional Chairman 1980 and Executive Committee 1977 and 1980; United Way President 1982 and Lifetime Trustee; Beaumont Community Foundation Board of Directors 1982-83; Beaumont Chamber of Commerce Director 1976-83; Beaumont Red Cross Board of Directors 1976-1983 and Chairman 1983; Beaumont Rotary Club Board of Directors 1980-84 and 1990-92, Treasurer 1990-91and Secretary 1991-92; Lamar 2000 Research Task Group Chairman 1991; Some Other Place Executive Committee 1989-1998; Beaumont Neurological Hospital Board of Trustees 1989-1992; Beaumont Medical and Surgical Hospital Board of Trustees 1992-1999; “I Have a Dream” Program Board of Directors 1991-1999; and the Police Activities League 1994-2000. He also served as chairman of Goodwill Industries and on the Board of the Tyrrell Historical Library Association. He was a member of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church. Sam’s main interest was in the Boy Scout movement. He was himself an Eagle Scout and a member of the Order of the Arrow. His four sons and two grandsons also obtained the Eagle rank. He has been on the Three Rivers Council BSA Executive Board 1976-84, 1989-97 and 2000-2011. He was the Council President 1982-83 and Chairman of the local chapter of the National Eagle Scout Association from 1977 to 1980. Before coming to Texas, he was active in the Delmarva Council in Delaware and the Old Kentucky Home Council in Kentucky. He was recently made an honorary member of the Three Rivers Council Executive Board. He met Evelyn Marlin in 1945 while he was still in the R.O.T.C. and attending Tufts University. They married in February1948. He is survived by Evelyn, his devoted wife of sixty-three years; a daughter, Victoria and her husband William David Murphy of Tyler, Texas; sons, Steven Arthur of Batavia, Ohio, Jonathan Peter and his wife, Diane of Louisville, Kentucky, and William Kenneth and his wife, Angela of Fannett, Texas. He was predeceased by his parents; his younger sister, Diane; and Sam and Evelyn’s son, Nathaniel Edward Lord of Claremont, California. Grandchildren include, Christopher Samuel Lord, Nathan Samuel Lord, Peter Jacob Lord, Emma Marie Lord, Megan Marlin Fontenot, William Kenneth Lord, Jr., Samuel Lee Lord; and step-grandsons, Jason Cunningham and Clint Brake. There are four great grandchildren. Sam was a gentle, caring and loving man, devoted to his wife and family as well as to the members of his DuPont family who were always on his mind and in his heart. He enjoyed fishing and growing beautiful roses. The family would like to thank the staffs at Calder Woods, Baptist Hospital, and Harbor Hospice as well as his several caregivers for their care and concern over the past weeks. Their many kindnesses eased the otherwise difficult time. His funeral service will be 4:00 p.m., Sunday, May 29, 2011, at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, 1350 North 23rd Street, with a gathering of his family and friends to begin at 3:00 p.m. in the church parlor, under the direction of Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin Avenue, Beaumont. A private family committal will follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Evelyn and Sam Lord Endowed Fund at the Foundation for Southeast Texas, 700 North Street, Beaumont, Texas 77701 or to the charity of one’s choice.
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