Funeral homes often submit obituaries as a service to the families they are assisting. However, we will be happy to accept obituaries from family members pending proper verification of the death.
Sam was born on Aug. 10, 1931, in Bend, the youngest of five brothers. He spent his first 12 years of life on a horse ranch in Fort Rock, where he attended school. His favorite memories there were raising bummer lambs the shepherds would give him as they moved their herds to the summer range. Also two of his brothers had found a 1,200-plus year old pair of grass sandals in one of the nearby caves. He dreamt of finding another pair, scouring the hills and caves, but never did.
His family left Fort Rock in 1943, moving to Eagle Creek, where he finished school and in 1950, he joined the Navy. During his four years of service, he visited Japan, the Philippines and the Aleutians, among other places. In 1954, he returned home, entered and completed barber school, but soon after deciding he'd rather cut women's hair, so he entered the Hollywood Beauty School in Portland, where met his future wife, Carol Marie Briggs. Sam and Carol were married Feb. 15, 1956, and a second ceremony at the Wasco Methodist Church on June 24, 1956.
In 1957, he purchased the Heights Beauty Salon in Hood River and later the The Kalo-Kam House of Beauty in The Dalles. He lived in Hood River for 17 years and left to work for Redken Laboratories and later, Ireland Beauty Supply in Portland. He moved his family to Molalla for a couple of years, and then on to Redland, where he retired the first time in 1986.
When Carol retired, they moved back to her hometown of Wasco. Soon after, he became bored with retirement and opened the Dream Catcher Salon, working part time until his second retirement in 2010.
Sam was preceded in death by his eldest son Ridge, his four brothers Orin, Leon, Donald and Edward, as well as his parents Sam Olmstead and Ruth (McCullum) Olmstead.
A memorial will be held Sunday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. at the Hood River Saddle Club, 4384 Belmont Drive, Hood River.
To plant a tree in memory of Samie Olmstead as a living tribute, please visit Tribute Store.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
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Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.