Annie Bell Samuel, 103, of San Angelo went to see her Heavenly Father May 18, 2026, at her residence lovingly surrounded by family. A public visitation is scheduled for Thursday, June 18, 2026, from 6:00pm until 8:00pm at Johnson’s Funeral Home. There will be a private family service held at a later date.
Mrs. Annie Bell Samuel, a long-standing Blackshear Heights resident, has called San Angelo, TX home for many years. First moving to the Ben Ficklin area in 1951 and then to her current home in Blackshear Heights in March of 1966, Mrs. Samuel has been one of the community's most respected movers and shakers of her time.
Being a part of one of the first Black families to inhabit the area, along with her accomplished late husband Mr. Archie Lee Samuel and her one and only beloved late daughter Mrs. Imogene Samuel Butler, Mrs. Samuel set foot in the area and quickly became a well-known accomplished figure in the community.
In her lifetime, she has had an array of careers and accomplishments including being the first Black American woman to become a bail bondsman for the city of San Angelo, TX. If anyone found themselves in a bit of trouble, Mrs. Samuel was the one to call—day or night.
Other career endeavors include being one of the first Black women of San Angelo to open her own licensed salon operating under Annie Bell's Beauty Salon. She washed, cut, and styled hair; she was a nail technician; and she performed many other beauty treatments for her clients in her own fully operational salon building.
She has also been a homeowner to several properties and even tapped into being a landlady by providing her assets as rental property for other families.
When asked about her life's accomplishments, Mrs. Samuel reflected on her life with her husband and said: "We were not a lazy couple."
Because of her lifetime achievements in entrepreneurship, in 2019 Mrs. Samuel was the first recipient of the Starks-Stokes Women in Business Award presented to her by the San Angelo NAACP Unit 6219 at the Women of Worth (WOW) Celebration.
With her husband, her hard work and dedication to trailblaze a better life afforded her the luxury of traveling to Hawaii two times. She's been on three cruises and has set foot in many states around the country.
Aside from her busy careers, Mrs. Samuel was mother to one daughter. She is grandmother to four grandchildren, has many great-grandchildren, and there are countless others whose lives she touched in a motherly way.
Her residence has been called "home" by many family members and friends. If you needed a place to stay, she was there to help.
For many years, she has been affectionately known as "Big Mama" by family, friends, and the community. Whether you know her as Mrs. Samuel, Ms. Annie, Aunt Sis, or Big Mama, and if you've needed to call on her for whatever reason, you've always known where to find her.
In Blackshear Heights and beyond, Big Mama has always been there to not only work hard but to lend a helping hand to others.
She has lived a full life and hopes to inspire others to live a life to their fullest potential as well.
