Samuel "Sam" Rice's Obituary
Sam Rice, age 78, of Richardson, Texas, passed away Friday, March 31, 2023, in Plano, Texas surrounded by his family.
He was born on January 15, 1945, to Morris and Amy Rice in Rome, Georgia. Growing up he lived in many different places in Georgia, Alabama, California, Florida and finally landed in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Sunset High School in Dallas, Texas in 1963.
Sam attended Grace Temple Baptist Church in Oak Cliff, Texas. He briefly met the love of his life Melody Miller at Mount Lebanon Baptist Encampment. He then left and went to college at the University of Oklahoma for a year. Sam decided to move back to North Dallas to work and go to school locally. He started attending Lake Highlands Baptist Church where he and Melody rekindled their relationship. After a short courtship, the couple married on March 5, 1966. They had 3 children together and resided in Richardson, Texas.
Sam continued his education at the University of Arlington and graduated in January of 1969 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Accounting). Only six months later, he took and passed the uniform CPA examination and received his CPA license in July 1969. He took a job in downtown Dallas at a local CPA firm, Tannenbaum, Bindler and Lewis. After a few years, he decided to start his own business. Sam built a very successful accounting firm. He had an amazing eye for all the details in every aspect of the work he performed. He was named Young CPA of the Year on May 4, 1978, by the Texas Society of CPA’s – Dallas Chapter. He was very dedicated to providing the best-in-class service for his clients right up until the day he passed.
Sam was a family man who loved his wife Melody and his 3 children. He had an incredible sense of humor and enjoyed a prank here and there. He worked long hours but made sure to do all the fun things with his children like Indian Princess and Indian Guide camps. He enjoyed golfing, fishing, and hunting. He belonged to a hunting and fishing lodge for a while where lots of fun memories were made with family and friends. He loved golfing with his son, his brothers, and his dad. He had fun playing softball on our family team. He also had fun watching the Cowboy, Maverick and Ranger playoff games with his brother and sister. Sam had green thumb too. He always kept his yards beautiful and was very gifted with planting and transplanting all kinds of flowers and shrubbery especially roses. He loved clipping fresh roses for Melody.
Sam is survived by daughter, Gina Lewis and her husband Jamie, son, Tony Rice and wife Tonya, daughter Samantha Robison, and husband Eric; sisters Reba Snyder and Robin Robinson and husband Mike, brother Randy Rice and wife Bridget, sister-in-law Dawn Miller; niece Aimee Burden and husband Jason, nephew Gary Snyder and wife Sasha, niece Amanda Black and husband David, nephew Jayson Lawrence and wife Riley, nephews Dustin and Dalton Hamilton; grandchildren, AJ, Jackson, Ava and Emma; plus many other nieces and nephews and cousins.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 36 years Melody Miller Rice, his parents Morris and Amy Callan Rice; and brothers Phillip and Richard Rice.
Services will be held at Restland Funeral Home on Friday, April 7th, in the Wildwood Chapel. The visitation will be from 1:00 – 2:00 pm followed by the Service at 2:00 pm. We loved him very much.
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