Sam Dick

Sam Lee grew up in Berkeley, California. His mother, Mary, was a one of a kind figure. she had an opinion on everything and there was a world according to Mary. She had grown up in a southern hillbilly family in Arkansas. She had fled to the Bay Area during the Dust Bowl as part of the Okie invasion of the Bay Area during the late 30s when her family farm fell apart during the dust bowl conditions. Her family was part of the so-called lost tribe of the Cherokee nation, part African American,  Cherokee, Creek, Chow tow, French, Dutch, Italian, and  Seminole,  often referred to as the black Irish due to their dark complexion, but passed as “white” in the racist code of the South. She lost her okie accent and settled in Berkeley in the late 40’s.

One day he told his mother he was reading Philip K. Dick.  She laughed and said she had a Philip K. Dick story to relate. She said she had “dated” Philip K. Dick in the late ’40s and ’50s and almost married him, but she broke it off because he was getting too crazy after taking LSD.

She had tried that once with him but did not like weed. She also knew the beat writers, who were all friends in the Bohemian 50s Berkeley.

But ultimately, she got together with his father and never regretted her decision. She concluded,

“Son, you could have been born Sam Dick instead of Sam Adams. Sam got in touch with the Dick estate and met with them.  He met someone with whom he bonded with.  He took a DNA test which came back indicating that they were probably related and he was really Sam Dick. He told his Mom and Dad, and they laughed and started calling him Sam Dick.