Leda Atkinson Sampson

Leda May Atkinson Sampson, Age 97.
Died at her home Feb. 14, 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the company of her family.
Leda, the 7th of 12 children, was born on May 1, 1916 in Treasureton, Idaho to Henry Clipson Atkinson and Charlotte Henretta Dawson.
She married John Montgomery Sampson on Jan. 12, 1942. in Soda Springs, Idaho. Their marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple Aug. 28 1952.
Survived by sisters, Donna, Twilla and Fontelle, daughter Kay Sampson Wixson and son John Mark Sampson.
Preceded in death by her parents. Brothers Henry, Von, Alvin and Orson. Sisters, Erma, Dessa, Elda and Anona. Husband John Sampson and sons Stephen Sampson and Bill Sampson.
Leda spent her early years in a farming community just north of Preston Idaho. She and her husband moved their family to Salt Lake during World War ll.
Leda was a long time employee of the Hotel Utah where she met people from all over the world and many of the church general authorities and prophets.
Leda served faithfully in the Poplar Grove Ward in numerous callings all of her life. She was loved by all she served.
She was always thoughtful of other people and did whatever she could to make their lives more comfortable. Her family and her faith were always her highest priorities.
LEDA MAY ATKINSON SAMPSON LIFE STORY
In the mountains of southern Idaho, a little north of Preston is the small farming community of Treasureton. You couldn’t say it was a town, there was no gas station or town hall but they did have their own two room school house and a nice LDS chapel.
It’s still cold in Treasureton in the springtime and on the first day of May in 1916, Henry Clipson Atkinson and his wife Charlotte Henretta Dawson, brought their seventh of twelve children into the world, a daughter that they named Leda May Atkinson.
Life on the farm was a lot of hard work, but it instilled values in Leda that lasted a lifetime, Faith in the Lord, a deep love of family, perseverance, thrift and a generous nature.
Henry and Retta, as he called her, had homesteaded the farm 12 years earlier and had built up a very nice operation of close to a thousand acres of wheat plus hay, a dozen cows, horses, chickens and other livestock and two gardens to provide for the family needs.
If farming and a large family wasn’t enough to keep Henry busy, he always had ward or stake callings and served on the school board and water board.
Retta was equally as busy, besides family and farm duties, she was a nurse and midwife, delivering many of the babies in the area and she still found time to produce homemade cheese and soap. Altogether the Atkinson clan was a pretty self sufficient bunch.
Even at the height of the depression, they had enough to fulfill their needs and share with others around them.
When she was young, one of Leda’s jobs was to make bread early each morning. She would help with the milking and getting the smaller girls ready, and then head out for school. They traveled the 4 ½ miles to the elementary school on horseback. In winter when the deep snow made the road impassable to cars, the horse drawn sleigh would still get them to school.
As the kids became old enough to go to High School, their neighbor, Brother Cole, would drive them the 17 miles to Preston in the small school bus.
Leda finished up her education at Franklin High in 1934. By that time, the Atkinson’s had 7 pretty girls ranging in age from 3 to 23. You can imagine that they were very popular with the young men in the area, and the girls did like to stay active going to the many socials and dances in northern Cache valley.
Just a few months after graduation, Leda married Willis Biggs. A son, Bill, was born in ’36 followed by Stephen in ’39. Their marriage was not destined to last as long as she had anticipated though, and she found herself raising the two boys alone in the middle of the depression.
They moved into a small apartment in Preston and she got a job at the diner as a waitress. A lady in her building would watch Leda’s sons at night while she worked graveyard shift, that way she could spend the days taking care of them.
Most days, her father would drop by with fresh eggs and a little produce. One day he noticed Bill, the older son was wearing new coveralls. Leda’s dad cussed at her for wasting money, out of character, she cussed right back at him and said she made the clothes herself. Well, he said, where did you get the material then? “Mother gave me a worn out pair of your coveralls.” Henry was surprised at her resourcefulness, but it wouldn’t be the last time. She made pants, shirts, even cut down coats and kept her little family well clothed and well fed for very little money.
John Sampson was the manager of the Preston pool hall. He came from a large family too and shared a house with a sister, brother in law and several other relatives.
Many nights, after the pool hall closed, John would stop in at the diner to eat. Leda, seeing the quiet guy at the end of the counter, asks, “What does your wife think of you eating out every night?” John, being a man of few words simply replies, “Not married”. Well if he had any aspirations they were quickly dashed when she said, “You don’t know how lucky you are, you should keep it that way!”
John didn’t “keep it that way” though and soon he was walking the pretty young waitress home each night.
On one night off, Leda said she was going with girlfriends to a dance. When they arrived, she saw John sitting at the bar. She was still gun shy from a bad marriage and considered that stalking, and gave him a tongue lashing that he didn’t soon forget.
She wasn’t angry for long though, and in no time, Johnnie was singing her love songs again.
The owners of the pool hall had plans to expand their business and asked Johnnie to move to Soda Springs to run the new pool hall there. He accepted the new job and asked Leda to marry him. She said yes and they planned to start their new life in Soda Springs.
Leda traveled from Preston to Soda, and on Jan 12th 1942, 26 year old Leda was wed to 34 year old John.
Johnnie worked that morning and in the afternoon he crossed the street to the Justice of the Peace’ office, Leda left the hotel and met him there. After the short ceremony, Johnnie returned to work and Leda went to a movie with a girlfriend.
The wedding had taken place just a month after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entry of the U.S. into the war soon changed everything. The new pool hall was shortly closed and the new Sampson family returned to Preston and the old job.
Johnnie went to the local recruiter and applied for enlistment in the Army and was sent to the regional center in Boise. His application was denied on the basis of flat feet. The local recruiter persisted and tried to get Johnnie accepted at least two more times. Finally the Enlistment officer in Boise got tired of the whole thing, called the local recruiter and told him “Stop sending me these old men”. Johnnie had just turned 34.
Patriotism was at an all time high and Johnnie wanted to do his bit for the war effort. He started looking for a new job in the defense industry while Leda stayed in Preston. The Tooele Ordnance Depot hired him on and after some training in Ogden; he started his new job as “Combat vehicle mechanic”.
The family still needed a place to live and housing was at a premium. Johnnie looked in Tooele, his sister Leona and her family had settled there. In Salt Lake another sister Goldie owned the small house at 1327 W. 900 S., she was widowed and wanted to move.
Leda and Johnnie rented rooms in Cannon stake for a while then bought the house from Goldie.
The house that they lived in for the rest of their lives was not the comfortable place that it is now. Leda said she cried for two weeks straight after they moved in. It was just two rooms, the front room and the kitchen, bare floorboards with gaps between that would let the dust in, a coal stove and a cold water tap in the kitchen. There was no plumbing, just an outhouse in the back yard.
Johnnie offered to tear down the old house and build a new one, but Leda was too practical for that, “we’ll save our money and add on as we can”, two new bedrooms, a bath, central heating and later a family room and garage.
Leda always loved her house and said that she was thankful for a safe warm place to live.
It was during this time, 1945, that their daughter, Kay, was born. She was the family’s sweetheart and is still loved by everyone.
World War 2 had ended, and to help out with expenses, Leda, went to work at the Hotel Utah Coffee Shop in 1947. Her job as a waitress turned into a career that spanned more than 30 years.
Life was going along well for the Sampson family, things were busy and their last child added in 1950 when I was born.
Everyone’s life was soon changed forever though, in 1951, when 11 year old Steven was hit and killed by a drunk driver.
Mother said that the only reason she could get up in the morning was that she had to take care of her family. I don’t think that the pain ever eased for her. She spoke about it till the day she died.
Bill took it hard; he left to join the Navy at 17. Dad did the only thing he could do and went to work every day. Mom never drove a car again after that. Dad never took another drink and became active in the church.
Mom had other setbacks in her life, rheumatic fever, as a young mother, left her with damaged heart valves. Later a heart attack and bouts with cancer took their toll, but she didn’t let them slow her down for long.
Mom’s priorities were clear. Family always came first, followed by her faith and then her community and job. She believed a hands-on approach to education, taking turns reading to each other, joining the PTA, was room mother at school and she would teach our Primary and Sunday school classes.
Her service to her church was amazing; she served in the Primary and Sunday Schools as teacher and president. She was Relief Society president for decades, taught Home making, Gospel Doctrine and served as a genealogy extraction missionary for many years.
Mom always had quilting frames set up in the front room; she made quilts by the dozens, for the Humanitarian Aid Center and stocking caps by the hundreds.
Over the years the children grew and had families of their own. Mom had 21 grandchildren and numerous great and great-great grandchildren, each of whom she loved and considered a blessing.
When any of us came home, the kitchen smelled of fresh bread and home made soup or casserole, there was always enough to feed an army. If you said you weren’t hungry she would say “so, you don’t like your mother’s cooking anymore?” or she would just put a plate down in front of you anyway.
A Ziploc bag with two cookies was clipped to the mailbox every morning for the postman and they were never left after he made his stop. One Letter Carrier told us there was a note in the post office saying, “If Leda doesn’t leave any cookies, please check to see that she’s OK”.
The Hotel Utah Coffee Shop sounds like a small informal place, but it was actually a large and well regarded restaurant. Many of the LDS presidents and general authorities lived right in the hotel and knew mom on a first name basis.
When I was in grade school, I would often go into the Coffee Shop in the afternoon and wait for her shift to end. You could hear her discussing religion with David O. McKay or philosophy with a professor from the U. Business men, traveling salesmen and Catholic priests would ask for her area because they enjoyed the conversation and valued her opinion.
Years after she retired, mom would still get birthday and Christmas cards from all over the world, from people she met at the hotel.
Mom loved to travel. Our Family was never well to do, but mom was a consummate money manager. Every year she would plan elaborate vacations. We saw most of the United States and a lot of Canada traveling by car and often camping out to save money. She would sneak in educational sites along the way too, early American, church history, World’s Fairs, far too many to mention.
When mom and dad retired, they continued to travel as much as they could; they even drove to Alaska and back, camping out along the way.
After dad died, mom went on some great trips with Bill’s family and her sisters, touring Great Britain and Hawaii.
For the rest of her life, she continued to serve her family and church, putting other’s needs ahead of her own.
In 1996, Bill passed away also, taken by cancer. Mother said the hardest thing in her life was losing her two oldest sons.
They are all together now, reunited with the many family members and friends who went before.
Services Sat. Feb. 22. 12:00. viewing 11:00. at 1401 W. 700 S. Salt Lake City.
Viewing 7:00- 8:00 pm. Fri. Feb. 21 Deseret Mortuary 36 E. 700 S. Salt Lake City.
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