Sam Marty is a life-long rancher in District 28B. His grandfather Billy Marty started the ranch south of the Slim Buttes in 1907 that contains land in Harding, Perkins, and Butte counties.  Sam went to grade school in the one-room Marty country school on the ranch and attended high school in Newell.

 

Sam was drafted into the Army in 1968 and is a Vietnam veteran who received his Purple Heart after he was wounded in 1969 clearing IEDs.

 

He is a member of Immanuel Lutheran Church at Zeona, where he has served in several capacities down through the years.  He served on the Harding County Ambulance board and is a member of the South Dakota Archeological Society, and the South Dakota Stockgrowers.  Sam has also been a member of the American Legion for 46 years and the Sorum/Reva Fire Department for 48 years.  

​

Sam and his late wife Cheryll have three daughters and three grandchildren. Cheryll passed away from cancer in 2005.  Leah Gunther had also lost her husband and she and Sam were married in 2014, adding her two daughters and three grandchildren to the family.

 

Rep. Marty has represented District 28B in the House for the last 2 years, where he serves on the Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee and the Local Government Committee. He is a fiscal and social conservative that pays close attention to the needs and concerns of his constituents.