I Am Wilshire – Sam Tinsley.
Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee
Education: B.S. Ouachita Baptist University, M.S. and PhD from Ole Miss
Profession: College math professor
Present city: Garland
Tell us about your family.
My wife, Peggy, and I met at Ouachita Baptist in 1963 and married in 1966. After Ouachita, we moved to Oxford, Mississippi, where I went to grad school. We have two sons living nearby. Steve has two daughters: Abigail, a law student, and Elizabeth, a sophomore, both at Texas Tech. Price and his wife, Sara, have two daughters; Gillian is a sophomore in high school and Anabelle is in sixth grade.
How about your work?
I taught math for 43 years in the Dallas County Community College District. I retired in 2015. I still love math and dabble in it all the time.
What are your favorite hobbies?
Woodworking, math, golf (barely) and knitting.
Where is your favorite place to travel?
We’ve taken trips all over the world, but I think Vietnam and Cambodia are my favorite.
What brought you to Wilshire and when?
We came in 1972 at the invitation of Mike and Shaeron Moorhead. Mike and I taught together at Eastfield College.
Where are you engaged at Wilshire?
I’m a deacon emeritus, serve on the Adventurers Committee and recently served on the Personnel Committee. My friends Jerry McElveen, Ivan Martinez and I call ourselves “The Three Amigos.” We try to help with small projects and recently built some new shelving for the Wilshire library.
What surprised you most about Wilshire?
For a Baptist church to be so open and accepting of EVERY BODY is a joy for me. The music and traditional worship style are also important.
What do you think God is up to in your life right now?
God is helping me in my later years through my many friends at Wilshire. Wilshire is a place of refuge where I can explore my faith.
Tell us about your faith journey.
I’ve come to faith gradually, I would say. It has been an ongoing process. The community of faith at Wilshire has made a significant contribution to my journey.
What’s something interesting most people wouldn’t know about you?
I tutored Archie Manning at Ole Miss and played on an intramural softball team with him — and have the pictures to prove it.
What adjectives describe you?
Nerdy, curious and fun.
- If you’d like to be featured in “I Am Wilshire,” email Carolyn Murray at cmurray@wilshirebc.org.