WILLCOX Cowboy Hall of Fame inductees

Gilbert S. “Sam” Edington (120)
November 1926 -  March 2013
2017 COWBOY HALL OF FAME

Sam Edington was born Nov. 11, 1926, in Douglas. He grew up in the Douglas, Bisbee and Apache areas. Sam attended Bisbee High School, and he enrolled in the Army just out of high school. He was a Sgt. Sharpshooter Marksman and a cook which is an interesting combination of skills. He prepared meals for the personnel. He cooked and seasoned meats, vegetables, desserts, soups, sauces and gravies in accordance with military methods of food preparation.

For 10 years, 1952-1962, Sam was a working cowboy. He, and his wife Betty, lived and worked on the John Cull Ranch east of Douglas. It was not a complicated life. There were no phones, no TV, and a Kohler plant generated their electricity. They rode daily looking for screwworms, and they always searched the many Indian camps for arrowheads. Betty cooked for the round-up crews. At night they listened to Dragnet and the Grand Old Opry on a tube radio, and when the tubes got too hot the radio went off.

In 1962, Sam was hired by the State Livestock Sanitary Board as a brand inspector. With a new job the Edington’s left the Cull Ranch and moved to Gleeson, AZ, and they eventually moved to the Sunsites area. Sam was a brand inspector for 37 years and worked with the ranchers in the Willcox, Douglas, Tombstone and Apache areas.

Sam and Betty had one son Fred, three grand kids and seven great grandchildren. Sam passed away on March 1, 2013, and was laid to rest in the Apache Cemetery in Apache.