Profile written and provided courtesy Nowell Briscoe ( [email protected] )
ANITA
BUTTS SAMS
1913
– 1993
Every
time a person picks up a copy of the history of Walton County, Wayfarers in
Walton, they make friends with one of the most delightful ladies and dedicated
writers I have ever known, Anita Butts Sams.
When
I think of my friend Anita, I instantly recall to mind the quote author Peter De
Vries once penned. When asked his thoughts on being a writer, he replied, “I
love being a writer. What I can’t
stand is the paperwork!”
I feel sure that if Anita were still with us today, she would glory in
the advent of the computer screen and how using a computer has eliminated reams
and reams of paper that used to go along with being a writer. Back in the days
when she was an active writer, the tools of her trade were a typewriter, packs
of paper, pencils to make corrections and erasers to remove errors from the
pages. But, if questioned about
writing, she would say with that shy smile on her face. “Writing was not meant
to be easy. Unless you do battle
with what you are writing, it has no value.”
The gifted author of the 885 page history of Walton County was born in
Walton County on May 22, 1913 to Joel W. Butts and Elizabeth Launius Butts.
After graduation from Monroe High School Anita graduated with an ABJ in
journalism from the University of Georgia in 1936. During the summers she was at
Georgia, she worked part time for the Walton Tribune. She took a position in
Atlanta with Rawson-Morrill Advertising Agency prior to her marriage to Robert
S. (Bob) Sams on October 20, 1938. The
couple lived for a short time in Charlotte, NC before returning to Monroe in
1941. Bob Sams died in 1980.
Anita happily applied her unique talents as a writer for the Walton
Tribune, writing book reviews, society columns, obituaries and other interesting
columns for the paper until ill health forced her away from her ever present
typewriter.
It was her keen interest and devout fascination with history that led her
to write the all encompassing history of Walton County which still stands today
as “the Bible” of Walton history. It was during the late 1950’s that Anita
questioned the fact that there was no written account of Walton County’s
history. Describing how she came to be named county historian, she said,
“I’ve always been interested in its history.
I kept mouthing around how much we needed a county history and the next
thing I knew, I was in the business!” After
an exhausting ten years work on the book, it was published in 1967.
She told a friend, “The process of gathering data took a lot longer
than I thought. If I had known at the beginning how much time would be involved,
would I have taken on the task?” With a quick smile on her face, she added,
“Probably!” Her dedication and determination paid off to great acclaim.
In 1977, writing of the publication of this book, beloved Atlanta
Constitution columnist Celestine Sibley, a friend of Anita’s, said: “Anita
Sams, who will be remembered for her fine county history, Wayfarers in Walton,
says she was fascinated by the McDaniel letters when she read them more than a
decade ago. Through the generosity of her good friend, Emily Tichenor and the
Historical Society of Walton County, and the Walton Press, the book was
published to high acclaim as one of the most detailed accounts of the war as
seen through a soldier’s eyes. A Latin phrase recited in the book giving a
depiction of the deaths of some of the soldiers was translated by Anita to
reveal: ’Southern Soldiers KNOW how to die.’”
Anita was one of Monroe’s most devoted and treasured “Wayfarers”
and had a world of friends and fans. One
of her most prized letters was a handwritten letter from then Governor Jimmy
Carter, praising her literary achievement, saying it was one of the best county
histories he had ever read.
Anita Butts Sams died on July 6, 1993 at the Walton County Hospital after
a long decline in health. Her good
friend and long-time columnist at the Tribune, Wayne Shields, said of his
friend, “She was quite a woman and she will be sorely missed.”
Missed she is, to this very day. When
I remember Anita, I see a woman of style and class; one with a love and
appreciation of her hometown history which she unselfishly shared asking nothing
in return. To paraphrase a title from a favorite song, “Nobody Did It
Better!”