Sam Saliba

Sam Saliba, Sr. went home to the Lord July 15, 2017, at the age of 90. He was preceded in death by his mother, Mamie Ann Lisa (Evans) Saliba, his father Gabriel Namon Saliba, his brother Russell Gabriel Saliba, all of Georgetown, GA, and his sister Mildred Eufara (Saliba) Gay, of Quitman, MS. Sam is survived by his wife of 68 years, Victoria Viola (Blackstone) Saliba, their four children, Sam Saliba, Jr. (Faye), Vicky Johnson (Gregg), Nancy May (fiancé Steve), and Laura Allen (Terry), six grandchildren, one great grandchild, and his brother, Dr. Norman R. Saliba, of Murfreesboro, TN. Born in Ozark, AL Sept. 11, 1926 and raised in Georgetown, GA, Sam was Valedictorian of his Georgetown High School senior class and served stateside in the Navy during WWII. He met Victoria Blackstone in Atlanta while he was a student at Emory University. They married Dec. 2, 1948. Sam also studied at GA Tech. He graduated from GA State University in 1959. He joined Lockheed in 1951. Initially hired to keep timecards, he eventually traveled all over the world with Lockheed, taking his family to Tehran, Iran from 1973 to Dec. 1978, as Vice President of Lockheed Mid-East Corporation. When the Islamic Revolution overwhelmed Tehran, Sam used his ingenuity to get his family safely out the day before the airport closed. Returning to their home in Marietta, Sam continued with Lockheed in Marietta and Burbank, CA before retiring in 1990. Sam’s father, Gabriel Saliba, sailed from Lebanon to the U.S. in 1914, entering through Ellis Island, and Sam was proud of his Christian Lebanese heritage, as the name Saliba means “Of The Cross”. A faithful churchgoer and lover of music, his family loved to hear him play Amazing Grace on his harmonica. He enjoyed singing, and writing poems. A great storyteller, his children and grandchildren enjoyed his many stories of boyhood days on the farm and Navy boot camp antics. Sam was a green thumb gardener, canning everything he grew, from green beans and pears to his unrivaled fig preserves. He loved to make cakes and pies from scratch using his mother’s recipes, and was an excellent cook, making abundant Southern meals for holidays and Sunday dinners. Sam and Victoria never missed an opportunity to dance together, always with eye-catching style and big smiles. Married to a wife with eight sisters, he enjoyed the special camaraderie of the “BIL Club”; the Blackstone Family brother-in-laws. His grandchildren have many special memories of fishing with Granddaddy, helping him in the garden, and recording songs and music with him. Many nieces and nephews have fond memories of Uncle Sam. He lived a full life that touched many, and he will be missed. Memorial Services to be held at a later date.