Merle Evelyn Sample

Merle Evelyn Sample was born 6 March 1921 in New Richmond, Wisconsin to Fred and Ethel Loucks. Her family moved to Spring Valley, Minnesota when she was 5, and she attended a country school and then graduated from Spring Valley High School in 1939. She married Ralph Sample in 1940, and they had two daughters (Sheila, born in 1942 and Eva born in 1945). They left their Minnesota farm in 1950 and moved to Coolidge, Arizona, and then to Tempe in 1953.

Merle studied at Arizona State University in Tempe and received a Bachelor of Education degree in 1961. She was an enthusiastic third-grade teacher at Holdeman School in Tempe until she retired in 1981. She also enjoyed being part of the teacher’s sorority, Alpha Delta Kappa.

Merle was a member of the Tempe Congregational Church until 1987 when she and Ralph joined the Apache Wells church and several clubs at Leisure World. Merle was a strong capable woman who was a good friend, colleague and homemaker. She was devoted to her family to whom her passing feels like the end of an era.

Merle is survived by daughter Sheila and son-in-law Paul, grandson Scott and his wife Artemiza, granddaughter Ann-Marie, and four great-grandchildren, Toby and Hanna, Ellise and Brett.

She is preceded in death by her husband Ralph and daughter Eva, her sister and three brothers.

The family would like to acknowledge Izetta Ndaiye and her group of carers who made Merle’s life in her final years as pleasant as possible.

A burial service will be held at Resthaven Cemetery, on Monday, 20 March at 1:00 pm.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.mariposagardens.com for the Sample family.