08/23/2020
Meet Posse Officer - Sam McNutt
The term “fly the flag” is one of Sam McNutt’s favorite expressions. It means, “ To stand up for, support, or defend someone or something”. Sam is very proud of supporting, defending and serving our country with his career in the United States Air Force and his volunteer career in the Westbrook Posse.
Sam was born March 5, 1935, in rural Clarion County, Pennsylvania. Growing up in Grove City, Pa, Sam remembers attending one room school houses. He was the youngest of 5 siblings. Although he was the “baby” of the family, after
growing to his full height of (6) foot, (5) inches, Sam over towed all the family. Sam said his last name, McNutt, was a shorted form of a Scottish name “McNaughton”.
Sam is proud of his Scottish heritage, although we may find it hard to imagine him wearing a kilt!
At the young age of 19 Sam decided to leave his rural area and sought adventure. When an Air Force recruiter said to Sam, “Son, if you’re thinking about which branch of service to join, remember, you will never have to sleep in a
fox hole in the Air Force”. The decision to enlist firmly made, Sam completed basic training at Sampson Air Base, NY and was assigned in the field of communications.
His first posting sent him across the sea to Clark Field in the Philippines. With a career in the military it is common to relocate to many parts of the US and world. Sam was located at Andrews Base, Washington, DC; Alexandria, VA; the
chilling city of Duluth, MN; Scott Air Base, and the frozen tundra of Greenland.
In the 1950’s Sam applied for special duty at American Embassies. His first posting was in Karachi, Pakistan. Sam was excited about his next Embassy duty - three
years in London, England as he had always wanted to visit Europe.
The embassy he remembers fondly is Lisbon, Portugal, where
he met his wife of 53 years, Norma, who worked at the Embassy with the CIA. While in Portugal, the
couple fell in love, married and had their only child, Matthew in 1968.
Matt currently lives in Glendale and is married to a wonderful wife, Jennifer. Sam and Norma say they are very proud of their two fantastic grandchildren –
Sam smiled when he reminisced about applying for and being
accepted by the Air Force Recruiting School, one of the best salesman schools in the country. He was assigned to Erie, Pennsylvania, his home state. Sam was
selected in the “The 100 Club” for top recruiters in the country, receiving many awards. He also sponsored a Junior ROTC program for Erie high school students.
In 1975, Sam and his family were transferred to Luke Air Force Base, where he retired after proudly serving 22 years.
Owning and driving his personal RV cross country from
Pennsylvania to Arizona gave him great personal knowledge about recreational vehicles. Coincidentally, when deciding on a new career, he happened to be hired as an RV salesman by Biddulph Oldsmobile in Glendale because of his RV
knowledge. For over 30 years he successfully earned many sales awards
One year after the formation of the Westbrook Posse in 2000, Sam came on board to assist Bill Sandvig and Barry Goodman. He is the only officer to be selected as Commander (4) times: 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2018. When asked
about his popularity, Sam said, “no one else wanted it”, although we know it is
more about his dedication, management and people skills.
Sam explained that because of Sheriff Joe’s overseeing of the Posse, all officers received official Sheriff training and given authority to assist with actual crime cases. Often he and former Commander, Bill Sandvig, would work in the downtown
Phoenix Sheriff’s office along side of the Sheriff’s investigators, combing through
“cold cases”.
Throughout the last 20 years Sam has dedicated over 15,000 volunteer hours making our community safe for you. Sam is very grateful to work with the Posse
and form friendships.
The Westbrook Posse thanks Sam for his past service “flying the flag” of the Posse and hope more residents follow his stellar example and volunteer today.
