Sammie Jean (Mcwhorter) Black

Sammie Jean Black, age 94 of Whitney, TX, passed away Tuesday, May 25, 2021, at Country Club Retirement Community in Whitney surrounded by her loved ones.  A graveside service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 2, 2021, at Marlow City Cemetery in Marlow, Oklahoma. She will lie in state from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, June 1, 2021, at Marshall and Marshall Funeral Directors in Whitney. A memorial service will be held in Whitney at a later date.

Sammie was born July 8, 1926, to Lucinda Alice and George Franklin McWhorter, in her parents’ house near Marlow, Oklahoma.  She shared stories of living through the depression years, such as going barefoot all summer and getting a new pair of shoes from the Sears catalog when school started, her mother swapping chickens for material to make her clothes, and when she first stayed in a house with an inside bath and running water.  Life for Sammie changed a lot during her 94 years from oil lamps to electric lights, from “Outies” to inside bathrooms, carrying well water to inside, ice trucks to refrigerators, and her list goes on and on.  During World War II, Sammie worked at Kaiser Yard in Portland as a torch burner building ships while waiting for her sweetheart to return home from the war.  She was 19 when she married Jake O. Black of Amarillo, TX on July 25, 1945.  Sammie became an Air Force wife and followed Jake to stations all over the United States and even packed up their four children and spent 1957-1959 in Vietnam, where he was stationed as an advisor prior to the war.  Sammie was married to Jake for 45 years and they raised five children together.  She enjoyed sewing, embroidery, and making quilts.  She was an optimist and looked at life with a glass half full attitude.  After sharing her many stories, Sammie would laugh and always said her life was never boring!  She will be greatly missed by her loving family and friends.

Sammie was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Jake O. Black; sisters, Ruth Collier, Marcella Cearlock, Marilea Bible, and Joyce Ware Cobb; brother, JB Smith; and son-in-law, Larry Bryant.

Sammie is survived by her sons, Jake O. Black, Jr. and wife, Karen of Valley Mills, TX, David B. Black and wife, Libbie of Alba, TX, and Randy Black and wife, Rose of Gholson, TX; daughters, Sherrian Bryant of Whitney, TX, and Marilea Witte and husband, Larry of Waco, TX; grandchildren, Tonya Kelley, Dainen Bryant, Sean Black, Heath Witte, Stacie Black, Heather Raithel, Rachael Maxwell, Rebecca Black, Sarah Black, Jermy Black, Amy Briggs, Genny Busbice, Briana Bridger, and Brett Castanon; 25 great-grandchildren; and with many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to Sammie’s favorite charity, St. Jude Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.