In Memoriam: Don Samples

Many of you may have heard about Donny Samples, who died Thursday evening. Donny was an incredibly kind and outgoing person, and enjoyed hanging out with his friends and playing pool at the Zone.

The obituary from GoErie.Com is below. Please note that there are viewings Burton West Lake Funeral Home, 3801 W 26th St, Erie PA today (Saturday) from 2 to 4 PM and 7 to 9 PM an also on Sunday from 7 to 9 PM. The funeral service will also be there on Monday at 1 PM.

Also on Monday, the Zone, 133 W 18th St, Erie PA, will be having a wake in Donny's memory. It was his specific request that folks wear rainbow stuff.

From the Erie Times News:

Donald E. Samples, 50, of Erie, died Thursday, May 17, 2007 at his residence. He was born in Erie, June 29, 1956, the son of Charlie and Pat Brown. He attended Fort LeBoeuf High School and studied on-line college courses through Verizon where he worked for many years. Donald was a member of Demolay and the Christian Spiritualist Church. He also loved dancing, shooting pool, bingo, reading tarot cards and telling jokes. Donald’s greatest idol was Marilyn Monroe. He loved his pooches, Bell and Pudge and his bird Fluffy. He was preceded in death by his grandparents Ruth and Russell Bliss, three aunts; Shirley Bowersox, Ruby Meyers, and Dodie Horne; and two uncles Bob and Elmer Bliss. He was loved by the world and will be sorely missed by his parents, brothers Ed Bowersox and his wife Cindy of Somerset, Pa. and Bill Brown and his wife Julie of Waterford, Pa.; as well as sisters, Ruth Ortiz and her husband Richard, of Erie, Donna Snyder and her husband William of Waterford, Pa. and Dee Samples of Erie; an uncle Russell Bliss of Upper St. Clair, Pa., and an aunt, Joyce Bayle and her husband Jerry of Waterford, Pa.. He is further survived by many special cousins, nieces, nephews, and tons of other family as well as an abundance of friends. A special thanks to DJ from the family. Friends may call at the new Burton West Lake Funeral Home, 3801 West 26th Street, on Saturday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. and are invited to a service there on Monday, at 1 p.m. with Rev. Harry H. Johns, III. and Rev. Dan officiating. Memorials may be made to the family in care of Burton Funeral Home, 602 West 10th Street, Erie, Pa. 16502. Send condolences and flowers at www.burtonfuneralhome.com. Sign the guestbook at www.GoErie.com/obits