A Lifetime A Legacy, Amodeo Salvator ‘Sam’ Beddia
Amodeo Salvatore "Sam" Beddia
Amodeo Salvatore Beddia, better known in Avalon as “Sam,” lived in keeping with the meanings of his given names for 91 fruitful years. When translated from Italian to English, Amodeo means “lover of God,” and Salvatore means “savior.”
Family members’ and friends’ descriptions of the Camden native consistently include recollections of Beddia’s deep faith in God and his willingness to help others. Most also note the nonagenarian’s commitment to his family, his skillful industriousness, his patriotism, his hearty appetite for golf, and his knack for having fun.
“Dad was a great guy. He would do anything for anybody,” says son Ken. “He always kept busy. His passions were golf and prayer.”
The Beddia family first came to Seven Mile Beach for summer vacations in Avalon or Stone Harbor, Ken says. Sam and Mary Lou, his first wife who predeceased him, purchased a home in Avalon in 1976. Ken and his wife, Penny, moved to Avalon in 2010 to be closer to dad and his second wife of 16 years, Patricia. The Beddias’ other son, Steve, and his wife, Patricia, live in Egg Harbor Township.
Sam and Mary Lou raised their two sons in Barrington and were members of the St. Francis De Sales Church. Ken says his dad often volunteered at the parish’s church and school. Beddia helped construct the parish’s rectory. Ken adds that his mom and dad always welcomed parish priests and nuns, who were family friends, to their dinner table. After moving to Avalon, they were active members of the St. Brendan the Navigator Parish.
Their father originally worked as a draftsman for RCA, Steve says. Both he and Ken remember when their dad labored as a part owner in a family-run business, Monroe Tool & Die, in Williamstown. Later, the man of multiple talents worked in maintenance management.
“Dad was an engineer by trade,” Steve notes. “He was good at improvising and finding solutions.”
In his retirement years, the elder Beddia left his fingerprints all over Seven Mile Beach: He supplemented his income by building decks and outdoor showers all over town, his sons recall. As a handyman, his father “did anything and everything with [people’s] homes,” Ken says.
Beddia served on the Avalon Planning and Zoning Board and as the treasurer for the Avalon Lions Club, says Ken. An active and enthusiastic member of the Avalon Golf Club, Sam often organized leagues and lunches for events, his golfer son adds. He also was a Little League coach.
Steve remembers how much his father also enjoyed fishing, going to Phillies games, and the warmth of life as a snowbird at the family’s place in Naples, Fla., for 12 years.
Over time, Beddia joined each of his wives in prayer at their church rosary groups. He also joined Mary Lou, and later Patricia, and their friends for Avalon Senior Center events or trips.
“Dad was the first one on the dance floor at Lions Club and Senior Center parties,” says Ken. Their father wore his dancing shoes to his grandchildren’s weddings, too, Steve reminisces.
Not only that, “Dad could sing. Years ago, he sang in the church choir,” Ken says. “Dad was a good singer,” says Steve, who is a musician, instrumentalist, pipe organ builder and retired music educator. Furthermore, their father was also an instrumentalist and performer, Steve adds.
“Dad’s side of the family was musical,” Steve explains. Sam played the banjo and the banjo mandolin, as Sam’s father and namesake Salvatore did. Sam’s brother Nicolo, or Nicky, played the violin. “My dad told stories from the post-Depression era in the 1930s and early 1940s when my grandfather, my dad and my Uncle Nicky performed together in bands,” Steve says. “They didn’t charge anything; they played for food and drink.”
Sam went on to serve in the U.S. Marines and was stationed stateside during World War II. Says Ken: “Dad raised his Marine flag every day outside of the house.”
Tom McCullough, the commander of Stephen C. Ludlam American Legion Post 331, remembers Beddia as a patriot who was “an excellent member of our post” in Stone Harbor, “a devout Catholic,” and a man who considered his family “the jewel of his eye.”
When he died in February of 2020, Sam’s six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren were among the Beddia jewels he left behind.
“Sam was a unique person and an Avalon legend,” says Kimberly Mastriana, administrative assistant for Avalon Administrator Scott Wahl. “He loved his family and golf.”
In addition to serving on the zoning board, Sam worked at the polls during elections, Mastriana notes. “Sam had so much energy” that in between assisting voters at the polls, Sam ran laps in Community Hall. “He was the most active 90-year-old ever!” she adds.
Plus, “Sam was a man of great faith,” Mastriana muses. “So we know where he is today!”
