JENKS, Okla. — Sam W. Mays, Jr., 65, passed away peacefully at his home in Jenks, Okla., on Sept. 14. He was born in Pryor, Okla., July 6, 1945, the eldest child of Sam W. and Marcine McGouldrick Mays. Sam attended St. Rose Catholic School and graduated from Great Bend High School in 1963. In 1966 he married Cammy McCray of Great Bend. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree at Kansas State University in 1972.
Sam served in Vietnam during 1967 as a tank captain in the 11th Armored Cavalry, Vietnam-Cambodia Black Horse Division. While in Vietnam, he earned two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and an Army Commendation Medal for Heroism in Action. In honor of his service, he will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
Sam was a lifelong supporter of the Kansas oil and gas industry. He owned and operated Pro-Chem, Inc. and Sam Mays Petroleum Services, operating out of Great Bend in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a proud, independent oil and gas producer in several areas of Kansas and recently in Oklahoma.
Sam was a member of the Fraternal Order of Free Masons and a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Member. He was active in the Sunflower Shrine Club in Great Bend, where he served in many capacities including president. He served as the 1987 president of the Kansas Shrine Bowl Board of Directors and was the 1991 Potentate of the Isis Shrine Temple in Salina.
In 2001 Sam moved to Tulsa, Okla., where he operated Sam W. Mays, Jr., LLC Oil and Gas Production. In 2002 he married Jan Kowalsky of Great Bend and the couple built a home in south Jenks where they still reside.
Sam is survived by Jan as well as two sons, Sam W. Mays III and fiancée Kendra of Tulsa and Patrick and Alexandra Mays; two stepchildren, Penny and Scott Zimmerman and Kris and Michelle Kowalsky of Ellinwood; two granddaughters, two stepgranddaughters, one grandson, three stepgrandsons, and one great-grandson. Also surviving are brothers Pat of Emporia, Mike of Edmond, Okla., and Mark of Tulsa, Okla.
Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, and funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Friday, both in Fitzgerald’s Southwood Colonial Chapel at 3612 East 91st St. South, Tulsa, Okla. Military burial rites will be held at Arlington National Cemetery, with the time and date to be determined. In honor of Sam’s longtime endorsement of the Shriners’ Crippled and Burned Children’s Hospitals, a memorial has been established to the Great Bend Sunflower Shrine Children’s Travel Fund. Anyone desiring to make a contribution to that fund in Sam’s memory may do so in care of Fitzgerald’s Southwood Colonial Chapel.
Funeral arrangements provided by
Fitzgerald’s Southwood Colonial Chapel*
3612 East 91st St. South
Tulsa, Okla
918-291-3500 www.fitzgeraldsouthwoodchapel.com
Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, Sept. 16, 2010
