“Mr. Sam”, long-time volunteer at the Round Barn in Arcadia, passes away
Mr. Sam standing in the doorway of the Arcadia Round Barn during the April 2012 "20 Years Restored Celebration" at the Barn. (Photo and caption by Shellee Graham)
Many folks that have made time to stop at the Round Barn in Arcadia, Oklahoma know Mr. Sam. For the last few decades, Samuel Gillaspy has been a constant presence at Oklahoma’s famous Route 66 landmark with his cowboy had, quick smile, and infectious energy. On August 19th, Mr. Sam passed away at 99 years of age.
When Sam was born, Route 66 wasn’t even a year old. At the age of 17, Sam enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served during World War II. “I was 17 and the United States needed men awful hard. So, I entered the Marines (enlisted on February 28, 1945, with a delayed report date) and I still had about three months of (high) school left,” Mr. Sam told Richard Stephens, Jr. in 2024 for an article in Senior News and Living. His parents gave permission to enlist and he chose the Marines because he felt they were the toughest service. He was put into active duty right after graduating and discharged in August of 1946.
Sam hired on at the Dolese cement company a few years later (a job he would hold for 40 years) and started a family in Oklahoma City. In 1961, a few years after the Turner Turnpike bypassed old Route 66, Sam bought a farm just east of Arcadia where he grew crops and tended cattle. The house he lived in was the original homesteader’s cabin from the 1889 land run, which he added to over the years. Not long after the Round Barn was restored in the 1990s, Sam started volunteering there and became a fixture for more than 20 years.
A natural storyteller and passionate volunteer, Mr. Sam became one of the Round Barn’s most beloved ambassadors. “He gave interviews to television stations and newspapers, danced the Texas Two-Step and waltz with visitors upstairs on the famous wooden dance floor, and always had another story—or colorful yarn—to share,” said Shellee Graham in a Facebook post. Shellee is an author and Route 66 historian as well as a volunteer at the Round Barn. “His love of bringing people together also extended to his Rock of Ages Farm, three miles east of Arcadia, where for nearly forty years he welcomed thousands of visitors for tours, fellowship, hayrides, and unforgettable adventures.” Sam was also President Emeritus of the Arcadia Historical and Preservation Society.
In 2024, the Round Barn began a Round Barn Dance fundraiser in Mr. Sam’s name. Today, there are artifacts and photographs donated by Mr. Sam in the lower level of the barn. And it’s hard to imagine a dance taking place on that iconic second floor loft without his boots tapping along with seemingly inexhaustible joy. The Oklahoma Route 66 Association sends our condolences to his family, friends, and the countless Route 66 travelers that will never forget him.
