Cora Sams Remembered

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Publisher John Sheley, Virginia Marmaduke and Cora Sams were the very best of Pinckneyville.

Cora passed away in January 1986, and so this is the 25th anniversary of her death.

Cora was Pinckneyville's original "Golden Girl" who died on Monday, January 27 at the age of 88.

She is the woman for whom the late, great George Burns sang, "I wish I were 80 again."

She was a close friend to my late mother, Virginia Croessman, and later a close friend of mine.

She was a brash and beautiful woman who wasn't afraid of anyone or anything. She was a Republican who grew up in the trenches of Perry County politics by working for her dad in the precincts at the age of 18. She was a close friend of the late Ralph Dunn. She liked "about half" the governors of Illinois and crossed over to befriend then Sen. Paul Simon. She wasn't a Jim Thompson fan.

Cora was sort of an Andy Rooney in knee highs with a pinch of Dr. Ruth. She could talk about anything and you could take what she said to the bank.

One of her greatest joys in her life was her 50-year involvement in Pinckneyville's Mardi Gras celebration.

She worked very hard through the Pinckneyville Chamber of Commerce to make it the success that it was and still is.

Cora was the daughter of J. Sherman and Lucy Wilkerson. She married Jack Sams who preceded her in death in 1966. A son also preceded her in death. I remember that at the death of her daughter-in-law she brought four grandchildren into her home to help raise. Cora actually graduated from Sparta High School and later Brown Business College.

She once worked as a mail censor for the Menard prison.

She held several secretarial and community positions and was Perry County Relief administrator. She organized the Perry County Republican Woman's Club. She was a member of the Du Quoin Study Club and was instrumental in turning grounds alongside the IC tracks in Pinckneyville into a park. She was honored in 1985 as the most outstanding member of the chamber.

Remembering Cora on this silver anniversary seemed like a good way to end the week, and to her family members it can be said without any hesitation that you can be very proud.