Samuel "Beau" Gemmill

** Samuel “Beau” Langhorne Gemmill was born November 29th, 1976 in Tallahassee, Florida. The first born, he was the immediate darling of the entire family but a special favorite of his doting grandma, Betty. A bright and creative child, he learned to read at age 3 and was soon creating fantastic games and adventures for his friends and neighborhood kids that would later evolve to be a hallmark of his life. His cerebral gifts were balanced with an energetic curiosity that led him to try his hand at sports, martial arts, and camping. In adolescence, Beau would engage with his love of the outdoors through Boy Scouts, eventually achieving the honor of induction as a Brother of the Order of the Arrow. He also began teaching himself about computers, displaying an autodidacticism that only charged his intellectual voracity.

Beau’s teen years marked the initial glimmers of the truly unique and artistic person he would grow to be. He showed a flair for original and unconventional personal style, combining gothic culture, historical imagery, heavy metal, fantasy and horror to create outfits and costume to imbue each day with his own creativity and unique world view. He also became more active in roleplaying games, spending hours with friends delving into monsters’ lairs, wizards’ castles, and dark future worlds of his own imagination and creation. He also became active in Civil War reenactment, finding the true stories of history as fascinating as any of those of fantasy.

His enlistment in the Army soon after graduating Oviedo High School didn’t result in any diminishment for Beau’s personal flair. Whether in Army fatigues or an Edwardian cape, Beau’s creativity, wit, and kindness were undeniable and he made lifelong friends during his time in the military. He would be stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Tacoma, WA, close to his much-loved future home of Seattle.

After his discharge, Beau made the short move to Seattle and soon became a fixture of the Seattle goth scene and was known to be a friend to newcomers and a kind ally to all. His reputation of compassion, generosity, and acceptance branched out in all areas of his life, whether coworkers, fellow club goers, gamers, anyone who came into his sphere. It was in Seattle that he became the anchor of the Pirate House on Capitol Hill. He became known for always having an ear to listen, a shoulder to lean on, a hand to hold, to anyone and everyone in need.

In the last year of his life he had moved to Port Orchard to start a new chapter, sharing a home with some of his closest friends. He passed peacefully in the quiet beauty of this home, leaving behind a legacy of family and friends who will never forget his tremendous heart and boundless capacity for love. **