James Samuel Warnick

In loving memory…

James Samuel Warnick, a man with charisma who brought laughter and joy to so many, died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, on February Seventeenth, Twenty Twenty-Six. James preferred to be called Sammy by most who knew him except for his two loving sons, Mitchell and Eli, to whom he was simply called “Dad”. Sammy was born on the Twenty-Second of August, Nineteen Fifty-Five to Lillian Dot Newton and Charles Leonard Warnick into a family already rich with two sisters, Charlene and Sylvia-Ann. Lillian was a tough and independent woman. Sammy’s biological father, Leonard, died an early death leaving Lillian a single mother in the mid-fifties. For the early lives of the three children, they lived in a small unit in the Birmingham Projects with the help Lillian’s mother and Sammy’s loving grandmother, Ada Inez Newton, called Dina. Sammy would admit that his grandmother was quite partial to him being the youngest child and the only boy. Another wonderful talent Sammy possessed in spades—Sammy could spin any tale into a yarn that would leave the room slapping their legs or wiping their eyes or squeaking the very breath from their lungs.

In July of Nineteen Seventy-One, Lillian would find love again with Clyde Cureton and remarry. Clyde, a veteran of the Korean War, and Lillian would go on to open a restaurant and make a loving home in Morris, Alabama. Clyde became a much cherished member of the family and was loved by Charlene, Sylvia and Sammy, but especially by his Grandchildren.

Sammy graduated from Phillips High School in Nineteen Seventy-Three and he would go on to a storied career in the sale of industrial pumps and air compressors. His co-workers will remember him as a wonderful salesman whose communicative strengths left him with no shortage of friends or customers.

Most tightly held to Sammy’s chest, though, were his two sons Mitchell and Eli. Sammy would maintain contact with his sons so long as it was physically possible to do so. He was a perpetually gentle father, and his children would think of him for his strong morals and his memorable moral lessons. Finally, Sammy leaves a little Boston Terrier, who he calls his grandson, Kobe.