- Date Of Birth: June 14, 1920
- Date Of Death: April 21, 2013
- State: California
Mrs. Gatling peacefully passed away at a Las Vegas, NV hospital with her family close by.
Sammie Lee Gatling was born June 14, 1920 in Greenwood, Caddo Parish, LA. She was the eldest of five children born to the union of Earnest and Mattie Taylor. She accepted Christ as her personal Savior at a young age and received her formal education in Greenwood, graduating from Booker T. High School.
Around 1943, Sammie moved to San Diego, CA. In 1950, she married Robert Vorties, bringing one son, Earnest, to this marriage. In 1951, their union was blessed with a daughter, Vanetta.
In 1957, she married Thomas E. Gatling, affectionately known as “Tom”. He brought to this union two children from a previous relationship.
Once the children were out of school, Sammie returned to the workforce and eventually retired around 1978. Afterwards, she and Tom relocated to Winchester, CA to live the country life. There, they raised cows, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, pigs, rabbits and a vegetable garden.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Tom after thirty-four years of marriage; parents, Earnest and Mattie Taylor; her sister, Earnestine Beechum and her brother, Johnnie “Brother” Taylor.
In 2010, she moved to Las Vegas, NV with her daughter and granddaughter, after having lived back in San Diego with her sister and brother-in-law since around 2002. In Nevada, even as she was past 90 years old, she enjoyed going to the movies, concerts and of course, the casino from time to time. After a long, beautiful, fulfilling life, the Lord called Sammie Lee Gatling home on April 21, 2013. She is survived by her children, Juanita Buchanan of Detroit, MI, Yvonne “Susie” Gatling of Los Angeles, CA, Earnest Cooper (Maxcine) of Riverside, CA and Vanetta Pease of Las Vegas, NV; brother, Albert Taylor of Shreveport, LA; sister, Willie Mae Hunt (Napoleon) of San Diego, CA; grandchildren, Robyn McBride, Shawn Howard, Bashiri Cooper, Marisa McClanahan, Crystal Cooper-Mitchell, Lance Cooper, Aaron, Charlotte and Andre Buchanan and Sheryl Fuller; twelve great-grandchildren, and a host of other relatives and friends who will miss her dearly.
