Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Arkansas will miss him ...

October 20, 2009

In the year 2000, B.J. Sams was named the Arkansas Associated Press Broadcaster of the year. In 2003, KTHV's studio was renamed B.J. Sams Studio. In 2007, B.J. Was inducted into the Arkansas Entertainers' Hall of Fame.

Now, after 56 years in broadcasting, Arkansas' best known and most beloved anchorman has retired.

Another chapter has ended in a life filled with gloriously high mountaintops and deep dark valleys.

More than half a century has gone by since B.J. Sams graduated from University of Tennessee with a Business and Administration degree. After that long-ago graduation he entered the Army where he went through basic training at Fort Hood, Texas with Elvis Presley.

Years passed. B.J. married, had a son and watched helplessly as his wife's unstable mental condition pulled a family of three down to destruction. Finally, when he had no other choice, B.J. became a divorced father who fought for and finally gained custody of his only child.

With sorrow and relief, B.J. turned from the lost years and fastened his hopes on a bright and happy future. He and his son relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii to start a new life.

Just two short months after they arrived in Hawaii, a small plane carrying them on a sight-seeing trip over the islands crashed and burned. B.J. survived. His beloved son did not.

A few years later I had the privilege of sitting at B.J.'s kitchen table, listening to his memories ...
Those memories became a tribute to his son.



Billy Jack Sams, II
September 28, 1961 - April 21, 1973

"Hush now ... Don't cry, Son,
You've nothing to fear,
The Master's arms hold you
... and Daddy is near."

I gazed into his wrinkled new-born face and my mind rapidly assembled all data pertinent to a small child's safekeeping.

A lock on the medicine cabinet door ... fenced-in back yard ... sturdy training wheels on his first bike ... careful instructions for crossing streets safely ... stern lectures against taking candy from strangers

As his miniature hand closed tightly around my finger,I vowed ...with new father fierceness ... to shield him from all harm.

Eleven years later that vow lay broken
in the wreckage of a small private plane.

Standing at his graveside, I watched the best part of my dreams lowered into the springtime earth, and when I walked away that day, I carried with me the visible scars that would someday grow dim ... the hidden scars that would never fade ... and a vision ...'

... a vision of a laughing boy running to meet me
as I approach Heaven's gate ... reaching for my hand ... eager to show me everything at once.
His words tumble over each other as he points out the big fish jumping high in the sparkling waters
of the river Jordan ... golden stairs with wide curving banisters just right for sliding ... and his favorite angel ... the one who never scolded when he slipped away to press his nose against a Heavenly window ... the one who understood a small boy's need to watch for his daddy's homecoming ...


"Hush now ... Don't cry, Son.
You've nothing to fear.
The Master's arms hold you ...
... and Daddy is near.

The words of B.J.Sams
as written by Jonelle



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