January 18, 1957-January 15, 2026
Sam was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Edward Tallman and Sarita Southgate. He lived his early years in Pacific Palisades, California, spending a month each summer at his family’s cabin in Falcon Cove, Oregon. Sam graduated from Lewis and Clark College and completed a Masters in Social Work from Portland State University. After college he moved to Nehalem where he worked in private practice as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker until shortly before his death.
In his early teens, Sam began to show signs of retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic eye disease that steadily progressed until by the time he was in his 50’s he was fully blind. Sam enjoyed cooking, skiing, playing golf and fishing–he was a big proponent of setting the hook at the slightest hint of a bite. Sam continued to use power tools to build furniture even as his vision declined. He was an avid football and baseball fan. Sam enjoyed creative writing, eventually self-publishing a novel. He was proud of his achievements and insistent about maintaining his independence.
Sam married Raechel Massie in 2000, and they divorced in 2004.
Sam was open about his alcoholism and proud of his twenty years of sobriety. He died from complications of diabetes.
Sam was preceded in death by his parents, and is survived by his siblings Brian, Abigail, Ben and Hank, stepmother Vivi, and good friend Cynthia Palmer.
There will be a gathering to honor Sam at Handy Creek Bakery in Wheeler on Saturday, April 18, from 2-4pm.
