Samuel Louis Montgomery

Samuel Louis Montgomery passed away peacefully at his home in Fishers with his loving wife Mia by his side on March 16, 2022.  Sam lived a full and graceful life and left the world a better place than he found it.  Sam was born in Newport, Indiana where he grew up with his mother, Kathryn Pearman, his sisters Joyce Ann, Karen Eillis, Janet Fiock and brother Bobby.  Sam was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity where he graduated from Wabash College in 1964 with a degree in Biology.  Sam epitomized the Wabash college motto “Wabash Always Fights” until his last breath.

Sam married Stephanie Ann Netherton Montgomery in 1964.  She preceded him in death.  Sam and Stephanie lovingly raised three children, John Samuel Montgomery, William Louis Montgomery, and Katherine Ann Montgomery.  Sam had a nearly 30-year career with Eli Lilly starting in sales in Santa Maria, California.  Sam’s Eli Lilly career sent him to Indianapolis, Greenfield, Massachusetts and Geneva, Switzerland.  He held significant roles in Sales, Human Resources, and Distribution before retirement in 1993.  Sam always said, “I failed retirement 3 times”.  After Eli Lilly and Company, he had success in business development at his startup Wabash Trading, as well as the established firms of George S. Olive, Arthur Anderson and retirement from Deloitte and KPMG.

Sam married Mia Thomas in 2007 and thus began a new chapter in life and love.  She survives.  Sam was a fervent golfer, an avid skier and fierce competitor.  Sam and Mia spent many hours on the golf course together as well as traveling and living life to the fullest.  Some of his greatest achievements in golf came late in his life with three hole-in-ones, shooting his age multiple times, and wining the harry knuckles, member guest and the couples club championship, at The Strand in Naples in March of 2021.

Sam was a wonderful father who empowered his children to become the adults they wanted to be.  He loved his friends and was eager to share stories of his friends’ and children’s successes more than his own.  Sam was most proud to call himself a child of God.  Sam’s faith was strong to the end even during some of his most difficult days.

Sam was also proud of his many years of volunteered hours coaching his sons’ little league baseball teams, serving as an elder at Northminster Presbyterian Church, building a health clinic in rural Guatemala with his family members, being a Board member of the Villages of Indiana, a foster care advocacy charity and so much more.

In additional to his wife Stephanie, Sam was also preceded in death by his mother Kathryn Pearman, his foster parents, Otto and Margarite Albright, his brother Bobby and his sister Joyce Ann.

A private graveside ceremony will be held at Flanner Buchanan Funeral Center – Washington Park North, where he will be laid to rest with his late wife Stephanie.  A ‘Celebration of Life’ gathering is being planned early summer.

In lieu of flowers, friends may make a memorial donation in Sam’s name to:

Wabash College (by mail to 301 W. Wabash Avenue, Crawfordsville, IN 47933; online at www.wabash.edu/giving; or by calling 800-345-5385).

The Villages of Indiana, a Foster Care and Adoption advocacy Group

www.villageskids.org