Fr. Samuel: ‘We Never Appreciated Him Enough’
Our Archives Department provided some wonderful “reminiscences” about Father Samuel by people who knew him personally. One long reminiscence by Sister Vincentia Williams (1844–1927) recalls what she knew of him when she was a teenager at St. Clara Academy, Benton. His vital personality is evident in her memories of both his personal and private austerity and his warm, delightful interaction with young people. She recalled Father Samuel as “a saintly gentleman . . . about 5 ½ feet tall, a high forehead over which he combed his hair, keen eyes―dark and mild, an aquiline nose, and a small mouth. . . . His personal habits were as exact as his writing. . . . In Lent, one meal a day at noon and a little cereal in the evening. He didn’t use the little luxuries that other priests enjoy. He never used tobacco, snuff, or stimulants.”
But with the students, she noted this: “All loved Father Samuel. Often during recreation hours, he would sit out on the front walk in the big iron chair by the sun dial, and have a bevy of the younger children sitting around him. He entertained and amused them―kept them in roars of laughter―usually he had a happy smile on his face and his eyes twinkled with pleasure. We never, never appreciated him enough, nor realized the blessed treasure we had in such a father.”