Sam Manocchia (1987

MANY Thanks & Love to All OUR FRIENDS & FAMILY for your continued Love and Support. We couldn't do it without You!!!  SPECIAL THANX TO SAM'S MANY FRIENDS for the continued phone calls, visits, text messages, the invites out, etc. We always knew Sam had special friends, SAM LOVED YOU like family & would do anything for any of you! We also saw the Loyalty and Commitment that you all gave to Sam many times over! WE ARE HONORED THAT YOU ARE STILL KEEPING IN TOUCH WITH US.  EACH & EVERYONE OF YOU REPRESENTS A PIECE OF SAM, WE LOVE ALL OF YOU VERY MUCH!! (Sam's other website ~ http://www.sammanocchia.com )

John's Amazing tribute to his Son! 4/16/07

"There was just Something About Sam"
(written & shared by Mrs. Susan Allen at Sam's service)

I noticed it first when I looked at his photograph. Sam had just come to us at Oak View H.S., and I had to take a picture of him for the yearbook. I usually don't encourage the kids to smile. Mostly, they do on their own. And the ones who don't reveal more about themselves, and that's a good thing too.

Well, Sam didn't smile, of course. When I looked at the photo to see if it had turned out, what I saw was a look of such sadness and bewilderment, that I had to try again, and encourage him to try to smile for the camera this time. He just couldn't.

After that, I watched him more closely and came to see that Sam was a man of few words, but once you got to know him, he let you know in other ways how he felt.

We had our battles. Everyday, he would tell me he could not do the work. He could not analyze the literature, he could not figure out the questions, he could not write a paragraph. I'd tell him that of course he could and would do the assignment. That he was smart enough to figure it out. I'd review the steps to go through and the purpose of the task.... and he would sit there with his head cocked to one side, and his arms crossed ... and that look on his face, sort of like the stone monoliths on Easter Island .... and then I'd walk away ..... and he would watch me ..... and wait until I was out of earshot ... and then he would do the assignment .... or not.

But, I never minded- we were fighting the good fight. He wanted to believe in his ability and intelligence and needed to know if I was just blowing smoke. And I had the patience and the courage of my convictions .... so every day, we danced the dance.

Over time he began to do more and more and he began to respond more. He did come to believe he was capable and he did come to know that he was smart. He came to see there was something about Sam.

When Sam came to us, he was like a boxer who has fought himself into exhaustion without a prayer of winning. I think the reason he was so sad when we first met is that he wasn't sure what he was fighting and who was on his side. It was always so clear to the staff at Oak View how faithfully his family supported him and fought for him and how greatly they loved him. I know that over time, he learned to see that and value it.

There was something about Sam that prompted others to stick by him. Maybe it was because he was himself a true and faithful friend. I have seen time and again the intense loyalty he showed to and was given back by others. He could bring out another person's best qualities. Maybe it was because so many of us saw that Sam had so very much in himself that was worthy of faith and encouragement, and that he just needed to see us believing that for him to learn to believe it himself.

Maybe it was the way he looked at the world with his head tilted to one side, but I felt Sam saw things in a way we didn't always understand. Maybe that's why he struggled with things most of us take for granted, that he questioned things most of us accept as a given, that he was so willing to walk up to the edge and peer into the abyss.

One of the greatest joys I've had as a teacher was watching Sam's gradual transformation. Seeing him be more accepting of himself, of the love that others had for him, and being able to have faith in others. Seeing him .... smile. Observing him experience joy giving his gift to one of the kids at West Valley. Sharing a moment talking with him about his plans after graduation or for snowboarding. Knowing that he had begun to see all that life was offering him and all that he was capable of doing.

And now Sam is gone from us. I've thought a lot about him over these past days. Wondering how to feel and what to make of his passing from us. I find myself tilting my head and trying to see things as he would have. Keeping silent, just obseving, listening and thinking as he would have.

And I know that, also like Sam, it will take me a while to fight my way through all of the feelings and thoughts I have about his death and his life ......... but there are some things I know right now.

There was Something About Sam.

Something good and strong and true. There was a depth of feeling that matched every feeling each of us had about him.

There was a deep appreciation for the faith and patience each of us gave to him.

There was a strength and spirit and a goodness of heart.

Only Sam knows if he made peace with himself, but I believe he had made peace with his world. He knew who was on his side, and he knew he was worth fighting for. He knew he was loved.

In a life cut short, the sadness is in what could have been.

But I choose to see Sam's life not for that, but for what it was, a blessing to all of us.

For every moment of worry or care or attention we spent on him, he gave so much back.

In helping him in his struggles I learned to have a deeper faith in and patience with other people.

In seeing the genuine, whole-hearted joy Sam experienced, I learned that no low, no depth of sadness does not have its equal happiness that is well worth fighting for.

In seeing Sam come to value the belief and love others had for him and the lengths they were willing to go for him, I have come to be more accepting of help myself.

In participating in Sam's transformation from that sad, exhausted fighter to the more centered, hopeful man he became, he showed me the better person I am capable of becoming if only I will try.

He taught us all that the struggle, the fight to fully live, is always worth the effort.

What Sam gave to us all is so much more than he took.

There was just something about Sam.