Edna Samples

By Lillye Younger, Sun Correspondent

Home Calls Roaming Couple

PARSONS. Tcnn. - "There's no place like home could be the sentiment of Mrs. R. T. Samples, who has returned to Decatur County after 40 years in the western United States.

Mrs. Samples, the former Miss Edna Cruse, was working in a Kansas City department store when she met her husband in the 1920s.

They were married in Boulder, Colo., moved to Denver and later to Tulsa where they worked in Mr. Samples business of ornamental glass-making.

The Samples decided to retire in 1965. "Naturally, the place of my childhood was the spot I was interested in,'' Mrs. Samples said. And her husband liked a small town because "parking was easier."

A daughter, Mrs. -Dorothy Carden of Tulsa, is residing with the Samples. Mrs. Carden's husband died in 1964.

Mrs. Samples was born at Parkers Landing on the Tennessee River, daughter of the late Granville and Annie Collett Cruse.

In the American Bowling Congress season of 1924-25, he received a medal for winning the third highest game in the United States with better than a 246 average. He also won the Rocky Mountain sweepstakes.

"I shared in the entry fee and received enough from my husband's winnings to buy a fur coat," Mrs. Samples recalls. "I really did enjoy wearing that coat."

Mr. Samples says there's only one catch to living in retirement in Parsons: "I can't afford to talk about anyone in town, for they might be relatives and I'd be afraid to throw a stone for fear of hitting some of Edna's people."