Francis Sampson sits on the wall he built at the Oliver Tucker Museum in Beverly where he has been involved for more than 50 years. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

BEVERLY — A World War II veteran who will be 100 in November remains an integral part of the Oliver Tucker Museum in Beverly.

Francis Sampson was a medic during the war, training at medical facilities in Texas and Oklahoma.

Sampson will be 100 on Nov. 20. He was drafted in February 1945.

“I was with the first group of men who took nurses training,” said Sampson, a farmer who retired from the B.F. Goodrich Co. in Marietta.

It was a major change by the Army that previously used WACs, Women’s Army Corps, as nurses, Sampson said. The change was so new, the male medics would be transferred to a base that had no quarters for the men, who often had to make do with whatever living conditions they could find or make, he said.

Francis Sampson and his uniform from World War II. Sampson was discharged in September 1946 as a staff sergeant. (Photo Provided)

In the 325th Medical Detachment, Sampson was assigned to the William Beaumont Army Medical Center at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, where he underwent two months of training. After that training, Sampson was sent to a medical facility in Chickasha, Okla., where Sampson shadowed a nurse, learning and performing her duties for a month.

“I had to do everything she did,” Sampson said.

After training, he was sent to Fort Hase in Oahu, Hawaii, across the island from the naval base at Pearl Harbor. He was promoted to T-5, a corporal, when he was sent to Fort Hase.

“I took care of injured soldiers and those on sick call in the morning,” he said.

Sampson was there for six months when the dental assistant was sent home and the major asked him to take over the dental duties. When the head of the dispensary was sent home, Sampson was asked to take over those duties for the next two months.

Francis Sampson in World War II. Sampson will turn 100 on Nov. 20. (Photo Provided)

“Then it was time for me to come home,” he said.

He came home in September 1946. He left the service as a staff sergeant.

Sampson has been involved with the Lower Muskingum Historical Society and the Oliver Tucker Museum since 1973, about a year after its creation. He has served in numerous capacities, including president, vice president and on the board of trustees.

His help with the museum has been invaluable, Sharon Farnsworth, president of the historical society, said.

“No one is more dedicated to the historical society than Francis,” she said.

Francis Sampson poses with a player piano at the Oliver Tucker Museum where he has volunteered since 1973. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

Sampson has insights and information no one else has because of the years he has been involved, Farnsworth said.

“He knows where everything is,” she said.

He has worked inside and outside of the museum. Among the more visible examples of Sampson’s work is the stone wall he built at the museum, which can be seen from Park Street.

“Whenever we need something, we would call Francis and he always helps,” Farnsworth said.

The Oliver Tucker Museum was a home built in the early 1800s by John Dodge for his daughter and Dodge Park, where the museum is located is named, after Dodge.

From left, Sharon Farnsworth, president of the Lower Muskingum Historical Society, and Francis Sampson in front of the ruby glass doors at the Oliver Tucker Museum in Beverly. Sampson has been an invaluable volunteer, Farnsworth said. (Photo by Jess Mancini)

The home was later acquired by Oliver Tucker and his family lived in the house where a room is dedicated to Rowena Tucker, a daughter who was an artist, a musician and a graduate of Vassar College when it was a women’s school.

Tucker’s descendants donated the home and property to the historical society, Farnsworth said.

Sampson said he’s not done. The barn next door needs to be expanded to accommodate all the antiques and historical artifacts that are donated to the museum.

“We’re getting so many antiques, we don’t have any place to put them,” he said.

Jess Mancini can be reached at jmancini@newsandsentinel.com.

Francis Sampson is reflected in a mirror in the Rowena Tucker room at the Oliver Tucker Museum in Beverly. (Photo by Jess Mancini)