Sam's Interests
- Sam enjoyed a variety of interests over the years--among them, baseball and baseball card collecting, skateboarding, snowboarding, photography, playing card games, doing magic tricks with cards and playing video games. He enjoyed personalizing his world by uniquely decorating his room and belongings, especially his skateboards. Spending time with friends, playing drums, and listening to music were his favorite pastimes. He loved animals, particularly our family dog Cristy and Tony, his pet lizard.
- Sam loved family vacations, in particular those where we got together with our friends and relatives. His all-time favorite destination was San Diego where we spent four family summer vacations in his last five years. He loved the scene at Mission and Pacific Beaches. He was also deeply interested in our visit to Hungary for the first time, just one year before his death, where he had the opportunity to see where his mother, Kathie, came from and to meet many warm Hungarian relatives.
- At the time of his death on April 9, 2008, Sam was two months shy of graduating from the eighth grade. His death left a tremendous hole in our lives and in the lives of his two younger sisters, Michelle and Natalie. Just a few months before his death, Sam and Michelle jointly celebrated their bar and bat mitzvahs in November of 2007. Being less than a year apart in age and always close friends, it was their choice to mark this milestone in their lives together. That day was very special for Sam and truly a shining moment in his brief life.
Sam as his family knew him
Our son, Sam, known as “Sammy” by his friends, was a friendly, sweet and funny young man who took his own life at the age of 13 on April 9, 2008. Sadly, Sam struggled to find his place in life, and the middle school years were particularly tough and stressful. He was also conflicted with the issues of identity common to adopted children.
Our family is extremely grateful for the opportunity to help deserving students achieve their higher education dreams — especially students like Sam who may not fit into a traditional mold. The scholarship fund will take into consideration a variety of factors that lead to success — besides grades — and we encourage all students who seek to pursue their dreams to apply.
Kathie and Doug Joseph
Our family is extremely grateful for the opportunity to help deserving students achieve their higher education dreams — especially students like Sam who may not fit into a traditional mold. The scholarship fund will take into consideration a variety of factors that lead to success — besides grades — and we encourage all students who seek to pursue their dreams to apply.
Kathie and Doug Joseph
A Testimonial to Sam by Michelle Joseph
Sam was less than a year older than me, so we were practically raised as twins. In the twelve and a half years that Sam was in my life, we shared everything - from strollers, to rooms, to toys, to birthday parties, to friends, to finally, just a few months before his death, our B’Nai Mitzvah. We shared nearly all of our childhood milestones, from losing training wheels, to traveling to a different country, to riding Superman at Six Flags. Thus when time came for our Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, the biggest milestone in our young teenage years, we knew without a doubt we would share that day too.
Sam loved to make people laugh; he was the class clown in school. He provided a constant supply of jokes and knew how to light up a room with his positive energy and dimpled smile. Although a troublemaker and jokester, I will never forget the months we spent working on our B’Nai Mitzvah material together and how seriously he worked to perfect it. It was during this time that I knew that when he put his mind to something he really cared about, he could achieve anything in the world. On this day, I got to not only witness, but also to be a part of, the proudest moments of my brother’s life. I always admired him, and looked up to him - Sam wasn’t just my friend and brother, he was my role model.
Learning to live without my big brother was once an impossible task, and still a battle I fight daily, but now an accepted part of my life I have learnt to live with. I have chosen to honor Sam’s life by living the best life I can. Every day I think of the courage and strength he possessed on the day of our B’Nai Mitzvah, and in that memory I find my own strength, too. His adventurous spirit is the biggest part of who I am, because Sam possessed the unique quality of truly living in the moment, and making the most of every day. Because of Sam, the first thing I ask myself when I wake up every morning, is what can I do to make today the best possible day it could be? What role can I play today in making the world a better place? I don’t have a doubt that with a smile on his face, Sam believed - If you smile, others will smile, and there isn't anything else that matters. This is the gift that Sam has given me; a gift that I hope his memory can give to others as well.
Being thirteen, Sam was at an age that we can all agree is a complex, confusing, and difficult time in our youth to navigate. Sam, like many young teens, was regularly seen with his bright smile, though he was internally fighting an unimaginable battle. Sam's memorial scholarship will honor him by helping teenagers going through their own battles, remember to know that life will always get better. I cannot think of a more fitting way to honor my brother, Sam, than to both live the happiest life I can, but also help other children do the same.
Sam loved to make people laugh; he was the class clown in school. He provided a constant supply of jokes and knew how to light up a room with his positive energy and dimpled smile. Although a troublemaker and jokester, I will never forget the months we spent working on our B’Nai Mitzvah material together and how seriously he worked to perfect it. It was during this time that I knew that when he put his mind to something he really cared about, he could achieve anything in the world. On this day, I got to not only witness, but also to be a part of, the proudest moments of my brother’s life. I always admired him, and looked up to him - Sam wasn’t just my friend and brother, he was my role model.
Learning to live without my big brother was once an impossible task, and still a battle I fight daily, but now an accepted part of my life I have learnt to live with. I have chosen to honor Sam’s life by living the best life I can. Every day I think of the courage and strength he possessed on the day of our B’Nai Mitzvah, and in that memory I find my own strength, too. His adventurous spirit is the biggest part of who I am, because Sam possessed the unique quality of truly living in the moment, and making the most of every day. Because of Sam, the first thing I ask myself when I wake up every morning, is what can I do to make today the best possible day it could be? What role can I play today in making the world a better place? I don’t have a doubt that with a smile on his face, Sam believed - If you smile, others will smile, and there isn't anything else that matters. This is the gift that Sam has given me; a gift that I hope his memory can give to others as well.
Being thirteen, Sam was at an age that we can all agree is a complex, confusing, and difficult time in our youth to navigate. Sam, like many young teens, was regularly seen with his bright smile, though he was internally fighting an unimaginable battle. Sam's memorial scholarship will honor him by helping teenagers going through their own battles, remember to know that life will always get better. I cannot think of a more fitting way to honor my brother, Sam, than to both live the happiest life I can, but also help other children do the same.
10 years later, in 2018, Sam's family and friends gather to remember Sam.