Memorial service for Phil Sampson will be 11:00 a.m. Saturday, September 16, 2023 in St. John Lutheran Church.

Phil Sampson died Wednesday, September 6, 2023 in an Oklahoma City hospital at the age of 80.  He was born March 28, 1943 in Chickasha, Oklahoma to B.G. and Mozelle (Armstrong) Sampson.  Phil graduated high school in Chickasha and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (USAO).  He married Susan G. Roth on December 27, 1970 at St. John Lutheran Church in Lawton.

Phil Sampson is arguably one of Oklahoma's finest singer songwriters, settling in Lawton after college with his wife Susan. In the late '60s he played the folk coffee house circuit from Lawton to Weatherford and other college towns. In 1971 Phil went to California with a notebook full of songs to visit his old friend Rudy Ramos, who recorded a rock album "Hard Knocks and Bad Times" that featured six of Phil's songs. Shortly after the album's release in June of 1972 Phil returned to Oklahoma to begin again.

Phil soon started playing at a new bar in Medicine Park run by a few recently discharged Vietnam Vets called the "Prancing Pony." Out of this hole in the wall came the great band, the "Medicine Park All Boy Derelict Band" and many of Phil's great songs.

In 1981 while Mark Paden was in Nashville writing and trying to promote his own songs, he ended up getting Phil his biggest break by including one of Phil's songs, "I Loved Em Everyone," on the tail end of one of Mark's demo tapes. This song became a multimillion seller for country star, T. G. Sheppard. Now the rest of the country knew what all the "Medicine Park" fans had known for years; Phil Sampson (and for that matter, Mark Paden) turned out some phenomenally great songs. Phil tried being a staff writer in Nashville for a while, but it didn't really suit his style and he soon returned home to Oklahoma and his family.

Phil continued writing and performing back home while raising his family. In the mid-1990s, his friend Roland White of the Nashville Bluegrass Band included Phil's "I Ain't Goin' Down" on their Grammy Award winning album,"Waitin' For The Hard Times To Go."

Phil worked at Frontier Music Company for many years and oversaw guitar and amplifier sales as well as offering lessons and repair.  He later operated Phil's Guitars Etc. on Gore Boulevard for many years.  In addition to his devotion to music, he enjoyed spending time at the family farm near Chickasha.

Phil is survived by his wife, Susan, of the home; three children, Joshua Sampson, Chris Sampson and Suzanna Sampson, all of Lawton; eight grandchildren, Chloe, Emma, Hanna, Kait, Mia, Aliah, Caden and Maci; one great grandson, Xavier; his sister, Mary Anne Lombard and John; and two brothers, Kent Sampson and Sheila and Gary Sampson and Pam.

His parents, a brother, David, and a grandson, Dalton, preceded him in death.

Memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.