Last Tuesday, Sam Allen, a long time friend and member of the XyUser community passed away. I wanted to start a blog to allow people to share their stories about Sam in his memory.
I well remember attending my first XyUser group meeting in June of 1992 in Burlington and attending a session on tabular. Those of you who know Facts and Comparisons (now WKHealth), know that we live for comparative tables and the new system (XPP 4.1/PDM 1.0) would need to support that. I remember sitting there in awe of Sam’s technical expertise while trying to interpret his accent. I will miss him and his sense of humor at future conferences.
Chuck
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Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThe last time I talked with Sam we were sharing a pint (Black and Tan’s) at a bar on the Savannah waterfront. He always had a sense of humor to go along with his smarts.
I remember Sam organising a night out in San Diego – his idea was a local pub that had been recommended – he of course was not drinking by then – we ended up in a bar with more draft beers that I have ever seen anywhere else. The noise was incredible – how the others understood Sam’s Irish accent (or my English one) I will never know. He will be sorely missed.
Chris
AAA was the last place Sam worked and he will be greatly missed.
Sam visited AAA a couple of times after he retired and used a scooter to get around when visiting people.
He was so weak and had lost a lot of weight.
Note: Sam was not a big guy to begin with.
He kept his personal to the end and was always up beat.
He shared a great deal of his tabular knowledge with us and we still use today.
Sam loved macros and we have a bunch of them in our spec bundles.
When we got the news today, associates in several departments expressed sorrow at Sam’s passing.
Best to you Sam and your family.
Janice Simmons
I just pulled out an old copy of Horizons July-August 1992 with a great picture of Sam with Mike Tusko on the cover. User Conference 92. That’s how I remember Sam – always a smile!
Wanted to share the following:
Sam’s former AAA Manager, Scott Chrisien, sent these kinds words via email company wide this afternoon:
It’s with great sadness that we’ve learned Sam Allen, a member of the AAA Publishing family, passed away comfortably after a valiant effort fighting lung cancer.
Sam came to AAA with many years of experience in manual/automated typography. He was instrumental in automating many of the routines that are used to produce AAA’s TourBooks, CampBooks and Maps.
Sam first worked his way to the US from Ireland holding various apprentice printing positions that eventually transitioned from manual typography to computer based composition. Ultimately he became an expert with the Xyvision software which is used at AAA to produce TourBooks, CampBooks and Map indexes and won many Xyvision international product composition awards.
It was through these job experiences that Sam came to know so many in his ‘extended’ family. He was actively involved with the Xyusers group and often taught classes at their conferences. It was there that he touched so many people through his passion for his trade and his overall desire to help and get to know others. At AAA, so many people came to know Sam through his warm and outgoing nature.
For those of us that were lucky enough to know Sam, we’ll all remember his clever Irish wit and wonderful smile. Sam will be truly missed.
Funeral arrangements will be provided when they are available.
(message approved by Jeff Zimmerman, Director Of Travel Information)
Janice
I will truly miss Sam, his lovely Irish accent, his XPP wisdom and his humor. At every conference, I always looked forward to meet up and have a chat with Sam…
The following picture taken at the San Diego conference (2005) tells it all:
Taken from Orlando Sentinel Newspaper:
Samuel Allen, 67, Orlando, died Tuesday.
Newcomer Family Funeral Home,
East Orlando Chapel
407-277-4227
895 S Goldenrod Rd 32822