Samuel Winfrey

Samuel S. Winfrey passed away on August 12, 2004. He was 95 years old and a resident of Brenham, Texas until last year when he moved to Phoenix, Arizona for health reasons. His wife, Fay Bateman Winfrey, precedes him in death. He is survived by daughter Yvonne Hastings of Brenham and his son, Donald, and daughter-in-law, Maria Winfrey of Phoenix, as well as his grandchildren, Lindi Surovik, Donald and Cynthia Goree, Kelli and Mike Brennan, Yvette and Rob Kirkland, John and Brooke Winfrey, Donald C. and Courtney Winfrey, James Winfrey and Nicholas Winfrey. He also leaves fourteen great grandchildren.

Sam Winfrey was born in 1908 in Temple, Texas, and then moved to the family ranch in Troy, Texas in 1909. He worked for Coca-Cola in Beeville for seven years, and then moved to Houston in 1933 to go to work for Gulf Oil when the streetcars serviced downtown, the police were on horses and Hermann Hospital was a ways outside of town. In 1937, after watching the effects of war, he wrote a nineteen-point outline on the development of a world peace organization that he called “The United Nations” and sent it to the then current senator from Texas, Thomas Connally. He received in return a thank you letter and acknowledgments. In 1945 the United Nations was formed and Senator Tom Connally was credited with being one of the major architects of the plan. It wasn’t until 1994 that Sam Winfrey’s original documents were credited and cataloged into the Library of Congress.

Sam Winfrey leaves behind a rich, dramatic legacy that befits a Texan and an American who loved his family and his country. His body will be cremated and brought back to Brenham where his children and loved ones will hold a Memorial Service on Sunday, August 29, 2004 at 1:00 p.m. in Brenham Memorial Chapel, 2300 Stringer Street, Brenham, Texas. 979/836-3611 www.brenham-memorial-chapel.com