On the day that Sam Billen’s mother lost her 3-year battle with breast cancer, Sam played the piano to comfort her as she passed from this world. That very day, he composed the piano tune, “Death of a Saint,” the first of ten piano pieces that helped Sam to funnel his feelings of grief and shaken faith into an album to honor Linda Billen and the gift she gave him: a love of creating music. 

“She always loved to hear me play the piano,” says Billen, “and even when I was first learning, she would let me play for hours.”

This March marks the 10th anniversary of Linda’s death, and Sam found himself returning to the album, “Death of a Saint” as a way of keeping her memory fresh and a vehicle for coming to terms with her absence in his life. 

The album is available for free download on his web site, sambillen.com, for the month of March. Sam believes that the album can provide comfort for others who are experiencing the death of a loved one. 

“Deep down inside me, I know that I still have a heart that genuinely wants to share with people the innocent sorrow and peace I experienced when my mom died,” says Billen.

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