Linda Antonelli

Sams

Linda was born in New London, Connecticut on October 8,1948 to Jane Sullivan Antonelli and Charles John Antonelli.   

She attended New London public schools, graduating from New London High School in 1966. Her lifelong love of the beach started with her childhood summers spent on New London’s Ocean Beach Park.

After graduating, she enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps on the buddy system with her best childhood friend, Cynthia Tunucci, (now Cynthia Barnard). After her stint in the Army she went to work as a secretary for Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. Her next move was to Atlanta, Georgia where she began her Civil Service career with the Internal Revenue Service. She was promoted from an administrative position to a professional position in Savannah, Georgia in the early eighties. 

An office romance eventually resulted in marriage in 1991 to Jim Sams. She found a marsh-front lot halfway between their work and Tybee Island, and they built a house in 1995. It isn’t ocean front, but does have a wide variety of her favorite “people,” actually critters, including blue herons, egrets, wood storks, occasional bald eagles, and an abundance of raccoons, (all named “Rocky” due to her husband’s influence).

She was very proud of her service to her country in the Army and was able to tour numerous European countries while she was single and stationed in Frankfort. 

Her favorite activity in the past two decades was touring some of those same places, and many more, with her husband after they had both retired from Civil Service.

She was not a professional photographer but had the unique ability to take amazing pictures. She was also a talented craftsperson, making ingenious mosaic mirrors, clocks, and globes. During Covid she took up quilting, starting with turning Jim’s old unused neckties into her first beautiful quilt. Luckily she found old silk ties by the pound at Goodwill and continued the necktie theme. She then made one out of Jim’s retired T-shirts, and it came out so well he decided to “allow her” to make one out of his retired Beatle T-shirts. Of course, it remains his favorite.

She made many, many more out of more conventional materials. In short, she was an incredibly creative person.

Linda is survived by her husband James Hagood Sams, Jr., her sisters Susan Snyder of New London and Jane

Antonelli in Simi Valley, California. She is also survived by Jim’s brother Gerald, his partner Cynthia Barnard from California (who met at Linda & Jim’s wedding), her niece Kristine Gigliotti and husband Tim, their children Julia and Nicholas, her nephew Steven Andrews, his partner Beth and daughter Makayla, her nieces Rebecca Brown and Lisa Antonelli-Clunis.

As mentioned earlier, she was wild for critters, so any organization supporting wildlife such as World Wildlife Fund would be an appropriate contribution to make in lieu of flowers. She also supported charities addressing hunger, cancer and specifically the Make-a-Wish Foundation.