CHELSEA ANN BARON
Special to The Leader
The days tick past as search efforts continue for State University of New York at Fredonia graduate Samantha “Sam” Sayers.
Sayers set out on a solo hike of Vesper Peak in Seattle, Wash. on Aug. 1, 2018.
She has been missing ever since.
Sayers, a slender woman with a bald head adorned with a star tattoo, has hiked the peak before. She was ready to tackle the terrain again and offered others to join her on her journey.
Aside from being a former Fredonian, who is Sayers? She is a daughter, sister, friend and girlfriend. She is an artist, entrepreneur and lover of the outdoors.
How did she become a woman that people describe as “one of a kind,” “bright,” “brave” and “passionate?” It may have something to do with her wide variety of interests.
Lisa Sayers, Sayers’ mom, talks about her daughter in the present tense as she continues to hold out hope for her return.
Lisa describes Sayers as a drama queen since day one. It wasn’t until her middle school days, at Girard in Pennsylvania, that she caught the “acting bug.”
In addition to being involved in several plays during middle school, Sayers was a member of the cheerleading team and, in high school, an academic sports league. She was in the league with her brother Ian after they were accepted into Collegiate Academy in Erie, Pa.
After Sayers graduated, she prepared for musical theatre auditions, until she found out her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Sayers decided to “delay her own college attendance to take care of her mom,” said Virginia Horvath, president of SUNY Fredonia. Although Horvath does not personally know Sayers, she recalls watching Sayers in her work on theatre productions. It wasn’t until after Sayers’ gap year that she decided to switch from musical theatre to production and design.
Sayers grew up watching her mom work as a decorative artist for 10 years. Oftentimes, when Lisa worked on DIY projects and crafts, Sayers would help. Lisa recalls Sayers being better at the projects than she was.
“It’s her niche. She’s good at anything artsy like that,” said Lisa.
Her years at Fredonia were well spent. Time she spent working on sets is memorable for Horvath, in particular the set of “Anne Frank.”
“I remember her laughing and working with others and being on hand for Theatre and Dance events,” said Horvath.
That is exactly how Taylor Morse viewed her, always smiling. Morse was a year ahead of Sayers in school and spent time working with Sayers on several shows. For one show in particular, “High Plains Fandago,” Sayers was the scenic designer and Morse the lighting designer.
“Even when things got stressful she was always smiling and laughing. Ready to work as a team to find solutions to problems,” said Morse.
Sayers was well rounded in all areas of theatre, says Janie Sharon, friend and colleague of Sayers’.
“She can sing, she can act, she can kind of dance and then she does all this creative technical stuff. It’s just amazing,” said Sharon.
Sayers was one of few technicians to ever audition for a mainstage show at Fredonia and be cast, said Sam Kenney, chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance. Kenney recalls when Sayers performed as one of the witches in “Macbeth.”
“She was so open and so interested in just about everything, and she did not let the designation of ‘this is my major’ get in her way,” said Kenney.
After graduating from Fredonia, Sayers moved to Seattle to work as a props artisan at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Not long after moving to Seattle, Sayers took a trip to see seven national parks in ten days, in a refurbished van, by herself. Lisa struggled with having her only daughter so far away.
“We were hoping she’d be somewhere closer, but she fell in love with Seattle, so that’s where she stayed,” said Lisa.
While Sayers lived in Seattle, she would make a trip during the summer to return to Fredonia campus to work Playground Drama Camp. That’s where Janie Sharon met her in 2014. Sayers had been working at the camp as the set, lighting and sound designer.
“She did everything that you could possibly imagine backstage,” said Sharon.
The two worked together at Playground for three years until Sayers worked her last summer in 2016.
Not only was Sayers an integral part of the Playground staff, she made a lasting impact on kids who attended the camp.
Sharon mentioned one particular camper, Milo, who wanted to work on the technical aspect of shows because of Sayers.
“She was really good at teaching the kids what it means to give 100 percent and to product high quality work, and to be dedicated to what you’re doing,” said Sharon.
The impact Sayers made, and still has, on those kids continues after she left.
This summer the camp began not long after Sayers went missing. Staff and campers posted a dance video, to show support and raise spirits, in the “#findSamSayers” Facebook page.
Marvel stage, on the Fredonia campus, was full of kids singing and dancing to a song from the show “Hairspray,” a production Sayers worked on at Playground a few years prior.
The wide accumulation of skill sets and knowledge Sayers has allows her to work in many different fields. So far she has worked in theatre, sold real estate and currently owns her own cleaning business, as well as an Amazon and eBay business.
She still wants more. Lisa said she has thought of joining the Peace Corps, but ultimately wants to travel.
“She has this tough exterior that I think she always felt she needed to have, but underneath everything she’s this really compassionate and caring person,” said Janie Sharon.
Under that tough exterior rested insecurity. Sayers was diagnosed with alopecia her freshman year. The autoimmune disease targets hair follicles resulting in hair loss. The disease is often brought on by extreme stress. Sayers’ hair would fluctuate and either grow back or fall out.
“I’d always know when she was stressed again because it would all just start falling out,” said Lisa.
While she believes her daughter has handled the disease with grace, Lisa realizes, “Anybody who has insecurities, you will put on a front of confidence because you don’t want people to see your insecurities.”
Many people unfamiliar with Sayers have learned about her through Lisa’s posts on Facebook. President Horvath said she feels as though she has a better understanding of her through them.
“When I hear her mom talk about her as a little girl, as a teen and college student, and as a daughter, I hear stories of a smart, caring person who has respect for all,” said Horvath.
“She’s just a gift to the world. And more people need to be like her,” said Lisa.