Otis “Sam” May left his earthly home for his Heavenly Home on November 28 th , 2023. He was born on January 6th , 1958 and resided in Sparkman, along with his family, where he knew all the good hunting spots, water meters and county roads were. He was a Deacon of Sparkman First Baptist Church. He is preceded in death by his parents, Otis and Virty May; brother Steve and sister in law Amy, and father-in-law Mike Wilkins.
He is survived by his loving wife, Kathy Lynn Wilkins May, of almost 45 years; two daughters Brooke May and Lauren (Richard) Franks; and two grandkids Sawyer and Charlee, that he referred to as “Pa’s Boy” and “Pa’s Monkey;” brothers Joe (Lou) May and David (Barbara) May; mother-in-law Betty Wilkins; Sisters-in-law Kim Wilkins and Donna (Johnny) Barnes and a host of nieces and nephews, friends and church family, as well as a lifelong best friend Jack Keeling.
Sam was a graduate of Sparkman High School in 1976, where he enjoyed playing football. He spent his extra time in the woods or on the river hunting and fishing. Hunting squirrel with his dog Bobbi or later hogs and squirrels with Blue and Buddy always ended with something coming home dead. He had some of the best hunting dogs around. He loved walking thru the bottoms until you heard that certain bark, then he would yell “they got one!” Fishing was always a competition but he was always more excited about his kids or grandkids catching one than himself. Deer hunting was his quiet time to sit and watch God’s creation come to life. He would always be listening for whose gun in the bottoms would sound first based on where the stand was. He knew the river bottoms better than anyone, he never got turned around, but for the rest of us he had to come up with names so we could find him if needed. These included “The Big Oak”, “The Big Slew”, “The Old Slew”, “The Critter Stand”, and “The old Barn.” He may have loved hunting and fishing, but his all time favorite was scuba diving and spear fishing. He won state championship in spear fishing 3 years running. He and Jack would win almost every place in every division. After 3 years they had to change the rules because if that big ole purple Barney boat was there, no one would enter the tournament.
Over the years he had many hats and jobs. He was a member of the Sparkman Volunteer Fire Dept and Rescue Unit for a number of years. He worked as a butcher at Piggly Wiggly, worked at international paper company, and then was the Water and Sewer Superintendant in Sparkman and Tulip/Princeton Water Systems. In 2002, he was asked to come and work for Dallas County Sheriff Office as a Deputy. He loved this job as it allowed him to try and keep everyone safe, give encouragement and the promise of Jesus to the ones that had went down a dark path in life, and sometimes a prayer and Roman Road with the speeding ticket they got. He and Kathy also built and opened “The Fried Pie” in late 2004. Their love for fellowship, people and food brought people from miles away to eat. After he decided to hang up his Deputy Hat, he worked for himself as a heavy equipment operator. He could do anything whether small or large with his tractor, excavator, dump truck, and trailer, and do it like he had been doing it since he was “knee high to a grasshopper.”
In the last few years, he retired and was able to buy a small sawmill. He loved seeing the patterns of the wood with each board. He raised a beautiful garden, where a few rows of anything was out of the question. It was more like 20 rows of corn, 40 rows of peas, 20 squash plants. He even once pulled and shucked over 1200 ears of corn in the living room, while Mom was at church camp. He grew enough so that he could share with others, because that was who he was. He was a giver. He and Kathy started raising chickens and added goats and ducks to Happy Hill Farm. In the last few years, giving eggs out at church was an every Sunday occurrence, and he loved placing a dozen on your car hood for you to find. He loved the simple things, the gifts that can only be made by the toil of his hands. He lived a life that was full. He was as someone said “Larger than life.” He loved with everything he was and that was a lot, all 6 ft 7 inches and 350lbs of him. Everything he did was because of his faith and family, and everyone he met knew that his family and his faith were the most important. He always invited people to come home for a meal; a piece of pie or a cup of coffee. He and Kathy were made for each other, because he invited them and Kathy would feed them because she has God’s gift of hospitality. He loved her homemade apple pie, “cathead” biscuits and chocolate oleo cake. He would say words like “larapin” or “it takes a lot of fuel to run this high powered piece of equipment” to describe her cooking. While the girls were in school he was the Sparkman Raider #1 fan as he would walk the sidelines yelling with his fist in the air “SPARK-MAN…. RAID-ERS.”
He would take Sawyer and Charlee to waffle house on Saturdays, then for a ride around the lake and then to Dollar Tree. After several times, he had to give them a time limit, because spending $2 took 30 minutes; so he changed it to $5 for 5 minutes. There were not a lot of family vacations, but there were a lot of Sunday morning breakfasts, front porch sitting, and singing around the piano and boardgame or card games. He gave the best hugs and always had a kind word to speak, but was also very sure to tell you the truth whether you wanted to hear it or not. He was not ashamed of Jesus and most people listened because when a giant has something to say everyone listens. He had many names…Honey, Dad, Pa, Uncle Sam, Mr. Sam, Big Sam, The Big Guy, and sometimes even OTIS SAMUEL! He loved to sing, and his big boisterous was always the one you could find in the church. He even went on his first mission trip 2 years ago, where Bro Chuck said “ it looked like Sam was wearing that plane instead of riding it.” I am sure that the people of Puerto Rico were not sure what country he had came from.
Sam was like an oak, he was massive, strong roots and branches long and wide. He could withstand the storms, and offer shelter and shade when needed. He spread God’s word just like the oak sheds leaves and acorns. Over his life there have been many of those that have sprouted to carry on his legacy of being a hero for the Faith.
Pallbearers: Chad Woods, Paul Robbins, Brent Walker, Bo Hearnsberger, Clint Walker, Lloyd Denton, James May, Ty Hearnsberger, Aaron May, and Rob Seale
Honorary Pallbearers: Bill Daniell, Donny Ford, Bob Launius, Silas Hartley, Jeff Ford, Donny White, Bill Wilbanks, Percy Goza, Murphy Manning, Doyle Sharp, Johnny Gordon, and Irwin Seale
Visitation: Sparkman First Baptist Church, 213 Broadway Ave, Sparkman, AR on Thursday, November 30th, 2023 from 5PM-7PM.
Funeral Services: Sparkman First Baptist Church, December 1st at 10 AM.
Interment will be in Holman Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Riverside Bank in Sparkman for Sam’s grandkids college fund.
Final arrangements are entrusted to The Welch Funeral Home of Arkadelphia. Visit www.welchfh.net to sign the guest book.