Robert Samuel "Sam" Balcomb

Robert Samuel Balcomb died of natural causes at 3:45 on the morning of October 22. He was born Mar. 11, 1926 in Albuquerque NM, the son of Kenneth Chester Balcomb and Katharine Wise Johnson. After graduating from Albuquerque H.S. Sam was Signalman and gunner on the cargo ship SS Haiti Victory in the South Pacific during WWII. He then went to Chicago where he graduated as a technical illustrator from the American Academy of Art, and where he met his future wife, Mary Ann Nelson of Ontonagon MI. They were married July 3, 1948, in Albuquerque. Sam’s further education included a BsEd in Industrial Arts at UNM and a MaEd at UNC in Greeley CO. In 1956 he studied with master photographer William Mortensen in Laguna Beach CA, and proceeded to have a thriving portrait photography business for over 50 years. His book, “Me & Mortensen, Photography with the Master,” was published by Amphora Editions. Sam was the head of the shop department at Albuquerque HS, then moved the family to Bremerton WA where for 12 years he was the English teacher at the Apprentice School in Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. He became a member of the Bremerton Community Theater, starring in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Sunshine Boys,” “Oliver Twist,” “Arsenic and Old Lace,” and “You Can’t Take It With You,” which the company did take to London to perform. The creative world Sam and Mary lived in involved painting, etching, sculpting, photography, and writing, and their output was prodigious. His children and grandchildren continue to carry their mantle forward. Mary died in 2013, and Sam is survived by his son and daughter, Stuart and Amis; grandchildren Sam and Zina; and great-granddaughter Laurelin. (Photo by grandson Sam Balcomb)