Samuel Eichinger Cobean was born 28 December 1913 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. His mother was Catharine Eichinger, a dark, ethereal-looking Pennsylvania Dutch beauty from new Cumberland. Born in 1886 in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, Catharine was one of three children of Jacob and Susan Eichinger. Her brother Sam was the black sheep. He did marry and have twin daughters and a son, but died rather young. Sister Mertie eloped at 16 with Robert Koons and just stayed married long enough to have a son, then divorced to move back home with Grandmother Eichinger and teach music - which she did for most of her life. She married again, to John Hutton, and they had two children. Catharine was well-educated, enjoyed reading, and taught school before her marriage. She was an amateur artist who did beautiful watercolors. She had an interest in social work with the poor and did volunteer work at what were then called "settlement houses."
Sam's father, Dr. George Cobean, was born in 1875 on a farm outside Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He was one of 12 children although not all of the children reached maturity and many who did died young of strokes. The first Cobean to surface in this country was a Robert Cobean (from Ireland) sometime in the 17th Century. The Cobeans had been around Gettysburg for a long, long time. The family home was a handsome brick two-story house outside town a mile or so. The two twin old-maid aunts, Mattie and Fannie, lived to be in their nineties. Dr. George Cobean was a dentist whose office was on the 2nd floor of a building on the town square right across from the bank. George was a quiet man known for his friendly manner and sense of humor.
Catharine and George were married in 1911 and settled down in Gettysburg, which they loved. The town was small, but had excellent educational opportunities at Gettysburg Academy, which housed both a preparatory high school and Gettysburg College. They were both very social and civic minded. Sam's parents would have preferred to stay in the Gettysburg area, but Catherine was dealing with a lingering illness. It began with Sam's birth and doctors in the area were not able to help her. Catherine had a lot of faith in Dr. John Brubaker, who was married to George's sister Edith, so George and Catharine moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1920 where George built a home with his office on the first floor. They lived there only about two years before Catherine died. Her disease was diagnosed as "Fallen stomach" and when she died in 1922 her son Sam was only eight years old. Sam rarely talked about his childhood. Catherine had a baby book with notes, pictures, his early drawings, and anecdotes, but she had been sick or in the hospital for most of his early years and he had few memories of his mother.
After Catharine's death, one of George's sisters, Anna, came to live
with them to keep house and take care of Sam. Aunt Anna was more
like a mother than aunt to Sam and he loved her. Dr. Cobean kept his
dental practice in Altoona after Catharine's death and his office was
next door to Dr. Brubaker's medical office. The families were
close and took frequent camping trips together. The two families
drove in a caravan of as many as four cars tied with colored ribbons to
avoid losing anyone. Naturally they nearly always lost someone
and spent hours locating the car. Everyone slept on the ground
and each of the young people had jobs to do. Breakfast was a real
meal on these trips. Bacon, eggs, and flapjacks cooked in a
skillet over campfire. One trip through Virginia was talked about
for years. Sam had a salamander bought at a circus with a collar
around its neck. He loved the way it changed colors and had put
his pet on a tree while eating lunch. An hour into the trip Sam
remembered leaving his pet at the last stop and the entire caravan
returned to retrieve Sam's pet.As a young boy Sam enjoyed the outdoors, but he never cared for hunting or fishing. He loved to swim and play tennis and tried archery for a while. He also sometimes trained with weights, but found it boring. Sam's love of drawing began in early childhood. His baby book includes an early drawing and his mother describes his early reading and writing abilities. Sam's first two years of elementary school were in Gettysburg, before their move to Altoona, where he finished grade school. During his spare time Sam loved to fill his pencil tablet with drawings of animals and policemen. This started in elementary school and continued as a habit his entire life. He never had any special training in art, but as he drew his ability gradually improved. Sam could keep himself and other amused for hours with his frequently funny drawings. His drawing often served as an escape for Sam and brought him great joy, but he was serious about improving it even as a child.
Family described young Sam as
kind and loveable. Some thought him a "live wire" and "devilish"
but his jokes were never intended to be cruel. In fact, family
members talked about the battles Sam fought for a friend, Lauretta, who
had a speech impediment. Sam championed the underdog and always
stepped in when others made fun of her. He loved to make people
laugh, both with his stories and pictures he drew, even as a
child. One of George's twin sisters, Mattie, was stone
deaf, but refused to admit it. Sam loved to tease her with the
kind of jokes that became common throughout his life. She read
lips very well and Sam would keep everybody laughing during meals by
pretending to talk to her, but moving his lips only. She was the
only one who knew what he said silently so her responses to him came
out of the blue. Sam delighted in stirring up trouble between his aunts. For example, he would go to Aunt Clara and claim that Aunt Edith had said Clara's new hat was atrocious. He would then tell Aunt Edith that Aunt Clara said her dress could fit an elephant. He loved creating this sort of innocent turmoil and would listen to them try to sort out the truth.
On May 10, 1928 Sam's Aunt Anna died following a stroke. She had been like a mother and her death was a shock to 15 year old Sam. Fannie lived with the Brubakers and Mattie moved in with George and Sam after Anna's death. Sam was never as close to her as he had been to Aunt Anna. In June the family took a long camping trip. Don Brubaker remembers George complaining of a pain in his left leg during the trip. On July 3, 1928 George suffered a stroke which paralyzed him on his right side. He walked with a cane and was never able to practice dentistry again. For the remainder of his life, George suffered strokes and Sam would find him doubled over in severe pain.
Dr. Cobean had been successful and at the time of his stroke and had built up a large estate. In the year after his stroke he was still optimistic about his condition and expected to go back to work. He used funds to build a new house and office in Altoona which depleted his funds. By the time of his death very little remained of his estate. After spending two years at Altoona High School, Sam enrolled in Gettysburg Academy, a preparatory school at Gettysburg college. Early in his illness, George enjoyed having Sam drive him around town, but soon became too ill to get out of the house. At this point, George was in a wheel chair at least part of the time. They hoped that a visit to a more hospitable climate would improve George's health and decided to visit relatives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Before George's stroke, he and Sam took long car trips - to Florida, to Canada, and to Oklahoma to see relatives. An older brother of George's, Samuel Harvey Cobean, had left home early and "gone out west." He stopped in Kansas long enough to marry and moved his family to Tulsa, Oklahoma. George's brother had died in 1926, but his widow Elba and family still lived in Tulsa. They all knew each other, the children having visited their relatives "back East." The couple had one son George Samuel Cobean, and daughters Mary, Leila, and Margaret. Sam and his father both loved Oklahoma and the friendliness of the people and the warmth of the family life, so they stayed in Tulsa for a year and Sam finished high school there at Central High School.
In 1931 Dr. Cobean and Sam returned to Altoona and Sam enrolled in Gettysburg College. During his high school and early college years Sam was both caretaker and companion for his father. Their 1927 Reo car was falling apart. Sam had to put bricks under the front seat for support. In order to get gasoline for the Reo, Sam and his friends would drain gasoline remaining in the hoses after the gas stations closed. One evening while out on the town they bumped into an automobile. The owner was too drunk to do anything to them, but they couldn't get the Reo started again. At 3 in the morning the group threw pebbles at Don Brubaker's window so he could tow them home.
Sam's friends would spend hours at his home, often playing cards most of the night. He had a group of friends who called themselves the "Fanny Busters." One evening as they arrived at Sam's, the card table had a new cloth cover decorated with caricatures of the club members. They were drawn in embarrassing, humorous situations. Winston Griffith who was a close friend remembers Sam drawing to amuse himself while he was a dummy at bridge. The group loved to play tricks on people when they went out for what they called a "pub crawl." None of them ever had money so they pooled their resources to buy several pitchers of beer. After their first beer, Cobean would look around the tavern and pick out a "live" one. Cobean would make a sketch and make sure the unknowing model would notice that he was being drawn while pretending he didn't want them to see him. Eventually they would be curious enough to come to Cobean's table to see what he was doing and Cobean would make a show of covering the sketch after giving them a glimpse. The subject of his drawing almost always offered to buy the sketch, but Sam would give it to them. It was usually good for a couple of pitchers of beer for the table! Before finishing his year of college, Sam struck his head while diving into the college pool. The injury parted his scalp and put him in the hospital for a while. Because of the injury, Sam had to withdraw from school.
In1932, Sam enrolled in the University of Oklahoma, planning to major in government and law. He completed his freshman year, but his father's ill health forced his return home to Altoona to care of him. Dr. Cobean was still having strokes and became increasingly helpless. Because of their financial condition, George's nursing care was left entirely to Sam. It was a big responsibility for a 19 year old. It was particularly difficult when his father became bedfast, unable to care for any of his own needs. During his last months, George was often unresponsive or comatose. Dr. Cobean died on December 17, 1934.
The loss of his parents at such a young age hurt Sam deeply. Such experiences made it difficult for him to get close to many people, especially those who were ill. For the rest of his life Sam found he could not bear to be around sick people or visit hospitals.
Don Brubaker, by that time a practicing attorney, handled the estate for Sam. By then, all his father's money was gone. Sam was left with only his father's debts.
