Samuel Lester Hatfield

A descendant of the family involved in the Hatfield-McCoy feud, Sam was born on August 30, 1920, in the family home in Mingo County, West Virginia, the fifth of ten children of Robert Lee Hatfield and Sarah Curry Hatfield. Sam was the quintessential self-made man. His twenty years of active service in the U.S. Navy coincided with World War II and the Korean conflict. Upon leaving military service, he worked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard before starting his own painting contracting company. He continued working until well into his eighties, was active until very recently in the Fair Oaks Hunt Club of Williamsburg, Virginia, and was a healthy, robust member of his community until his health began to fail in recent months.

He is preceded in death by his wife of over fifty years, June Isabel Venable Hatfield, who died in 2005, with whom he had two sons: Kenneth David Hatfield of Astoria, New York, and Michael Samuel Hatfield of Norfolk, Virginia. Sam also had two children from a previous marriage to the late Elaine Adrey Hatfield: Carol Hatfield Sarasohn of Desert Hot Springs, California, and the late Michael Richard Hatfield of Brooklyn, New York. In addition to his children listed above, Sam is survived by three siblings: Donald Lee Hatfield, Harold Hatfield, and Lois Gay Bias; three grandchildren: Matthew Patrick Hatfield of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Danielle Sarasohn and Zachary Sarasohn, both of Desert Hot Springs, California; and two great-grandchildren: Evan Sarasohn and Flynn Reppert, also of Desert Hot Springs, California.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, May 5, at 2:00 pm at Woodlawn Funeral Home. 6329 E. Virginia Beach Blvd. Norfolk. Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.woodlawngroup.com

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Norfolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.