The “Mayor of Main Street” Shares a Birthday with William Shakespeare and Shirley Temple
Conversation with Sam Weller, who turns 80 this month
As upfront a man as I think Sam Weller is, I often wonder if he is telling the truth, or pulling my leg. “Ask me about the books behind the books. We ran numbers in the back of the bookstore for years,” he goads me.
I am not closely related to Sam Weller. People always ask me if we’re related.
His father, Gus Weller, was born a Lutheran, found the answers he was looking for in the Mormon church, served a mission in Kemnitz (North Germany), and then moved his clutch to Salt Lake City, via Canada, in 1925.
Sam was in World War II.
How did it feel to be in the American army fighting against Germany, especially since his dad had fought World War I as a German?
Sam was loyal to the USA, and that was it. But, had he been captured by the Germans, he could’ve been taken and shot, as per the Geneva Peace Treaty, since he was native born, and a traitor. He said he tried not to think much about that.
After the war Sam learned to fly on the G.I. Bill. Gus Weller had flown a plane, too – a plane Sam says he wouldn’t set a foot into.
His father had started the bookstore. Sam, himself, wanted to make music for the movies. He enjoyed the movies and realized that the quality of the background music could make a movie great or bad. He was getting ready to attend Utah State University when he got a call from his father.
“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you,” in his father’s heavy German accent.
“I know. That’s why I’ve been avoiding you…” Sam told him.
“Who will take care of the bookstore?”
When the conversation ended, Sam knew his fate was sealed. Gus had decided to get out of the city and moved the family up to Marion, in Kamas Valley. Sam took over the store. That was during the depression. Despite the odds, Sam saw the bookstore through.
Sam met Lila one day when she came into the store with a mutual friend. Sam thought, “I’ll make a book-buyer out of her; I’ll cultivate her.” But she was already well-read, and they soon became life-long partners.
Through the years the store’s name has changed from Zions Bookstore, to Sam Weller’s Zions bookstore, and, in the 80s, simply Sam Weller’s bookstore. As Lila says, “We were tired of having our book shipments go to ZCMI’s book department, and receiving their bills instead.”
My burning question: What does Sam read?
Biographies, histories, especially the westward expansion and World War II, are subjects that Sam and his Lila delight in most. “Everybody should be interested in reading about these things,” Sam says. “We’re all affected by them. That puts us, smacked up, in the middle of it. History.” These days, Sam and Lila listen to books on tapes. I’m reading stuff that I had never read before, expanding my own horizons,” says Sam
Sam lost his eyesight four years ago. He had come down with a fever, diagnosed with the flu and cured, but the nerves of his eyes had swollen. One morning he woke up and just couldn’t see. The swelling has since gone down but Sam has yet to regain his eyesight, which, he says, he expects to do. He says he is a strong believer in nerve regeneration.
I noticed that he has a strong believer in several things.
It’s obvious why Sam enjoys biographies: Sam loves books and he loves books because he loves people and their histories.
I asked him what the people in these biographies have in common. “They strive to do what is beyond their means,” he told me. “They go beyond expectation.” As has Sam Weller. He is deserving of a great biography and a very happy birthday.
Catalyst Magazine
April 2001
Birthday Greetings