Stephen M. “Sam” Hood graduated from Kentucky Military Institute, Marshall University (BBA, 1976), and is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. A collateral descendant of Confederate General John Bell Hood, Sam is a retired industrial construction company owner, past member of the Board of Directors of the Blue Gray Education Society, and a past president of the Board of Directors of Confederate Memorial Hall Museum in New Orleans. He lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with his wife of 43 years, Martha, and is the proud father of two sons: Derek Hood of Winchester, Kentucky, and Taylor Hood of Huntington, West Virginia.