Charles Heard "Sam" Tyler

CHARLES HEARD "SAM" TYLER, devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend, died Sunday, June 17, 2018, at Briarwood Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Little Rock, Ark. He was 90. Sam was born Sept. 22, 1927, in Macon, Ga., the son of J.E. and Carrie Mae Tyler. He grew up in Macon and graduated from Lanier High School. He was drafted into the Army near the end of World War II and served as a generator operator during the U.S. occupation of Japan. Upon returning from military service, he played B-team baseball for the Georgia Peaches and began dating a teammate's sister, Ann Shirley Kitchens. The two married on Aug. 26, 1950, in Macon, a union that lasted 63 years that ended with her death in 2013. He was Shirley's caregiver during the last five years of her life. Sam supported his family as a pulp mill operator at paper mills in Macon and Rome, Ga., and moved to Arkansas in 1957 with his young family to work for Dierks Forests in their new mill in Pine Bluff. He retired in 1989. In 2006, Sam and Shirley moved to Stagecoach Village in southwest Little Rock, where they remained until shortly before their deaths. Sam, whose father was a railroad engineer, was a lifelong train enthusiast. He enjoyed woodworking, reading Victorian mysteries, working jigsaw puzzles, following the New York Yankees and getting together with his family. He was a Methodist and a quiet, honorable man who never lost his Georgia accent. He will be missed by all who knew him. Sam was preceded in death by his wife Shirley; his parents; his brothers Jim and John Tyler; and his sister Betty Saunders. He is survived by his children Michael (Sandra) of Sherwood; Stephen (Kay) of Maumelle; Mark (Laura) of Springdale; Sam (Jamie) of Sheridan; and Katheryne (B.J.) of Rison; David Puckett of Sheridan; his sister Mary Jo Horne of Nashville, Tenn.; 12 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. The body was cremated. A visitation to celebrate the life of our father is scheduled for Sunday, July 8, at the Clubhouse at Stagecoach Village on Stagecoach Road in Little Rock from 2-4 p.m. The family requests that in lieu of flowers or memorials, a gift be made in Sam's name to Wesley United Methodist Church, 28th and Hazel streets, Pine Bluff, Ark. Arrangements by Roller-Chenal Funeral Home of Little Rock.