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Samuel Washington "Sam" Meineke, an American businessman and entrepreneur, best known for founding the automotive repair franchise Meineke Discount Mufflers. The name was changed in 2004 to Meineke Car Care Centers.

Early life Sam Meineke was born into a sharecropping family in Idabel, Oklahoma in 1931. There, he lived with his parents and farmed 100 acres, living on one-third of whatever they could grow; the landlord got the rest. By 1939 his brother and two sisters had married and moved away and Sam continued to help his parents hoe the fields of cotton that they depended on for their livelihood. It was during these Depression-era years Sam became motivated to make his dreams come true after the constant talk from his Mother about being thrown out, with just the clothes on their backs. His goal was to someday own a house.

Searching for better opportunities, the Meineke family left the Red River bottoms and cotton fields of southern Oklahoma and moved to Pasadena, Texas during World War II. Much like the Joads in Grapes of Wrath, their belongings teeter-tottering atop a rickety old truck.

His father got a job in a shipyard and Sam knew they had moved up in the world when they rented house which had electricity, indoor plumbing and a refrigerator. Sam started working immediately: mowing lawns, delivering telegrams, working on a construction crew, as an usher at the El Capitan movie theatre and a lumber yard. At age sixteen, Sam managed the paint department at McMasters Hardware Store in Pasadena. The owner, Mr. McMasters, became Sam's mentor teaching him how to figure percentages and profit margins. He graduated from Pasadena High School (Class of ??)