Sam
R. Mason, Jr. December 24, 2020 Sam R. Mason, Jr., of Skaneateles and
formerly of Homer, N.Y., the dear husband of Mary Lou Mason, and beloved
father of Sam III, Linda, David, John, and Lisa, passed away peacefully
on the morning of Christmas Eve, December 24. All who knew Sam, loved
him. His warm smile and kindness graced family, friends, and strangers
alike. He often talked of all the rich blessings of his life and had
deep gratitude for a life well-lived. He grieved deeply for Mary Lou
every day since her death, after 66 years of marriage, in April 2017.
Their wedding anniversary is December 27. We rejoice that they are
together again in their eternal love. Sam was born on August 15, 1926 in
Erie, Pennsylvania to Samuel Rankin Mason and Gertrude Graf Mason. His
brother, Terry, was born in 1930. Sam, from an early age, was a
disciplined and talented student and athlete. He was the captain of his
high school swim team and led them to win the Erie city swim tournament
every year he was in high school. He was also an accomplished tennis
player and competed in the Youth US Open in high school. He graduated
Salutatorian of his senior class. Sam went to Swarthmore College in
Pennsylvania on a Navy scholarship and majored in Biology and Psychology
and swam on the college swim team. The Navy sent him on to medical
school at the University of Pennsylvania. He continued to excel
academically and was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical
Society. After his third year of medical school, he went home to Erie
for a few weeks. He was introduced to Mary Lou by his mother. They went
for a walk on their first date. While getting to know each other, Mary
Lou, an avid reader, asked Sam if he liked to read anything besides
medical textbooks. He replied that he had just finished War and Peace.
Sam claimed that Mary Lou stopped in her tracks and gave him a long
look. He always said that he owes his marriage to his mother and
Tolstoy! Sam and Mary Lou were soulmates and best friends. Their joy in
each other was inspiration to all of us. After Sam's medical residency
in Syracuse University Hospital, he was assigned by the Navy to Camp
Pendleton in California for two years. After his Navy service, Sam
wanted to practice medicine in an area where his efforts could make a
big difference. They also wanted to live in central NY to be close to
Mary Lou's family and chose to settle down in the village of Homer, NY
in the Finger Lakes Region of central NY. He set up a private practice
that grew to cover a large area in Cortland County and worked in
Cortland Memorial Hospital for decades. He was ultimately appointed
Chief of Cardiology at Cortland Memorial Hospital and Clinical Assistant
Professor of Medicine at the Health Science Center in Syracuse. Sam was
inspired to help Cortland Memorial Hospital become one of the best in
the region. He was committed to creating a new service in the hospital
every few years. Among the medical units and centers he created were the
first ICU in upstate NY, a psychiatric ward, a radioisotope laboratory,
a telemetry coronary care unit, and a cardiac rehabilitation unit. He
was a continual learner and nearly every year went to medical
conferences and trainings. He took the national medical boards twice
throughout his career "just for fun." In the 1970's he created a
Bio-Medical Ethics Committee. He chose a nurse, a college philosophy
professor, a Catholic priest, and a social worker to serve on the
committee with him. Sam also brought hospice (the Caring Community of
Cortland County) to the area. He served on the boards of the American
Cancer Society and the Special Children's Center. As Sam often said, he
worked in the "golden age of medicine". He was passionate about his
vocation, did house calls until the day he retired, got to know the
families of his patients, and had a renowned kind and warm bedside
manner. Every few years, Sam took time off from his medical practice to
volunteer elsewhere. He worked for the Navajo Nation on their
reservation in Arizona. He worked in Zaire, now Congo, in a remote
missionary hospital. He worked with CARE Medico in Honduras, CARE on the
Cambodian/Thai border, and with Save the Children in Sudan. Sam touched
countless lives with his kindness, intelligence, and humor. He was an
inspiration to many, and especially to his children and grandchildren.
His greatest pleasure was to spend time with and hear about his
children, and especially his grandchildren. The family all looked
forward to his speeches at every family gathering. He would work for
weeks on his remarks and would write multiple rough drafts. They were
always sentimental, appreciative, and witty. And of course, they always
started with a loving ode to Mary Lou. Sam and Mary Lou had a joyful
retirement, spending half the year in Naples, Florida with many family
members, and half the year in central New York. In his retirement Sam
became an avid cook and told Mary Lou that, after cooking for a family
of seven for years, that she would never have to cook another meal. He
took great pleasure in pampering Mary Lou, doing all the shopping and
errands in addition to cooking. They did everything together – exercised
every morning, took walks, sat side by side while they read their books,
and watched a movie in the evening. They stopped every day at 5 pm when
Sam would prepare a delicious hors d'oeuvre and pour Mary Lou a half
glass of red wine (for good health!). Sam is survived by his brother,
Terry, his children and their spouses, Sam and Sally, Linda and Roger,
David and Jacqui, John and Margaret, and Lisa and Dan; his grandchildren
Miggy, Sammy, Eliza, Farrell, Lucas, Gracie, David, Samantha, Holly,
Olivia, Eli, Avery, and Jackson; and his great-grandchildren Jack, Will,
Louisa, Frances, Alice, Mason, Charley, and Joey. His memory will live
on with all of us. In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for
donations to the St. James Episcopal Church, 96 East Genesee Street,
Skaneateles, NY 13152. We will hold a memorial service once we are safe
from Covid so that we can gather together to celebrate Sam's life. You
are welcome to offer your thoughts about Sam at
robertdgrayfuneralhome.comPublished by Syracuse Post Standard from Dec. 29, 2020 to Jan. 3, 2021.