Sylvia Sammons

Sylvia Sammons This is not your typical obituary, but Sylvia was not your typical person. Sylvia Sammons’ remarkable life on Earth came to a close yesterday (Tuesday, August 20, 2024). For those who knew this amazing woman, the descriptive phrase “remarkable life” is not hyperbole. At a young age, “Sib” (as her family knew her) became blind, but she did not allow her condition to slow her down. She attended Furman University, and never stopped learning; reading several books every week throughout her long life, as well as listening to podcasts and radio broadcasts. She had a uniquely open mind and could offer an informed opinion on any subject. Her memory was highly developed and she had an uncanny sense of spatial awareness – family members could depend on her for travel directions decades before navigation apps. Sib was fiercely independent and traveled extensively via airplanes and bus lines with the help of one of her beloved Seeing Eye dogs. She started and maintained several successful businesses and owned as many as three houses concurrently. At one point some silly person told her that since she was blind, she couldn’t start a woodworking shop because she would cut off a finger – well, she not only started a shop (in Highlands, NC), she created some of the most wonderfully tactile pieces ever . . . and managed to keep all ten digits. Sib had a unique appreciation for music and loved Bach. She was a songwriter, a musician and a very talented folk singer. She was a veteran of the Greenville coffee house circuit and other regional music venues of the 60’s and 70’s. Sib had a tremendous sense of humor and could offer a joke on virtually any subject. Any visit to see Sib was guaranteed to generate smiles and laughter. She is survived by two loving sisters, several nieces and nephews, their spouses and children. The family plans a private dinner/memorial, with a quartet playing classical music primarily by Johann Sebastian Bach – as Sylvia requested. This truly inspirational and amazing woman will forever leave a void in the lives of those friends and family members that she left behind. Mountain View Funeral Home - Pickens Chapel is serving the Sammons family