Helen Lucile Sample

Helen Lucile Sample of Beaumont, TX passed from this life on May 13, 2017 having recently celebrated her 98th birthday. Born in Bryan, TX, she met her future husband Ernest L Sample, Sr. while taking piano lessons from the same teacher when they were teenagers. She finished her time at Bryan High School as the valedictorian of her class, and later graduated from Texas State College for Women with degrees in French, Spanish, and English. After her husband returned from WWII and he completed law school, she and Ernest settled permanently in Beaumont. Several years after the birth of her youngest child, she began a long career teaching at Beaumont High School. During her time as an educator, she was honored as Teacher of the Year by the Beaumont A&M Club. Helen and Ernest were members of North End Methodist Church (later Wesley Methodist Church) where they both sang in the choir. She enjoyed a full and rich life with her husband and three children, going on many camping, boating, and fishing adventures. She was an avid gardener, loved music, and stayed extremely active attending exercise classes at church well into her 70’s. For the last years of her life, following Ernest’s passing, she lived at home with her daughter Helen Lynette, being lovingly cared for by her family. Helen was preceded in death by Ernest L Sample Sr., her husband, her parents Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Miller, her brother Thomas E Miller, her sister, Eugenia Ann Miller Hunt and her husband Hubert Hunt. She is survived by her daughter Helen L. Sample, her son Ernest Lynn Sample, Jr. and his wife Elaine Sample, her son Donald E. Sample and his wife Mary Jane Sample, her grandchildren Kathleen, Kelly, Michael Scott, Jennifer, Rebecca, and Laura Beth, her great-grandchildren Matthew, Stephen, Hannah, Hayden, Julia, Ellie, Fiona, Colin, and James. “An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain. … Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying: ‘Many daughters have done nobly, But you excel them all.’” [Proverbs 31:10-11; 25-29 NASB) Funeral services will be conducted by Claybar Funeral Home of Beaumont, with the visitation from 5-7 P.M. on Thursday, May 18th, and the funeral service at Wesley United Methodist Church of Beaumont on Friday, May 19th at 11:00 A.M.