MEET: Sam Sackett was born in 1928 in Redlands, Caliornia. His mother read to him when he was a boy, and as a result he always wanted to be a writer. He was editor of his high school newspaper. At the University of Redlands he took creative writing courses, was editor of both the school’s newspaper and its literary magazine, became the university’s Director of News Service while still an undergraduate, and wrote two novels, neither of which was ever submitted for publication.
The older and wiser heads on the university faculty discouraged Sackett from trying to write professionally, pointing out that only 300 Americans at that time were supporting themselves by writing alone. As a result, after he graduated he decided to become a teacher and continued at the university for a master’s degree. His first teaching job was at a college in Nebraska, where he met and married his first wife. When the Korean War broke out, the college lost 25 percent of its enrollment, and Sackett was informed that his second year at the school would be his last.
