Kim Sampson

Kim. Dead. Heaven. (If you know you know.) Kim Sampson passed (very) peacefully in her sleep on March 11 from a physical ailment: liver failure? kidney failure? heart failure? Cancer? ( All of the above?) Specific cause unknown, but "organ failure" and peacefully" are sure.

Biography and Family Life. Kim was born to industrious farm people in Washington State and a prodigiously-sized extended family who loved her immediately. At age 20, she turned cosmopolitan and across the next 35 years lived in Boston, Chicago, San Antonio, Las Vegas, Provo, New Hampshire, and Ann Arbor. She made friends and devotees in each place. We believe her recently liberated soul now resides in Newport Beach, CA, where her heart has been for many years.

Kim is survived by her siblings, from birth and marriage, and a collection of lovely nieces and nephews.

The siblings' inheritance from Kim consists of her many holiday-themed shirts featuring questionable puns and images, and a drawer filled with stretchy pants. Her legacy is that she made her siblings into much better people than they ever could have been without her.

Kim's bequeath to her nieces and nephews is more expansive: inappropriate senses of humor leavened with dashes of deep earnestness, a fixation on oreos, the confidence to sling swear words with the right syncopation, deep comfort working with people with physical and mental disabilities, impatience with posturing–which Kim always recognized and called out using ridicule, nicknames like "heck no," "not," "harry," "arm," "boys" (for her sister's two youngest girls), and "glasses" which she insisted on mispronouncing as "asses." As a bunch, these kids are uniformly kind, forgiving, generous with people who are struggling, and always looking out for the underdog. They grew up like this because of Kim.

Service Information:

Everyone who remembers Kim is invited to celebrate her life in their own way. We suggest an evening of movies like Nacho Libre, Three Amigos–really, anything with Steve Martin or Chevy Chase, Harry Potter I (specifically), the Grinch with Jim Carrey, Christmas Story, Space Jam, Willy Wonka, Malcolm in the Middle, Annie, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, KungFu Panda, Hook, The Office, Christmas Vacation, and/or any funny movie with Jackie Chan.

If you want to make it a night Kim would enjoy, make sure before you start that you have a sleeve of oreos and a gallon of milk. (And Diet Coke). (And a Laz-E-Boy if you are that lucky).

Tributes and/or Donations: Kim's surviving gift to all of us is a wealth of funny and sweet Kim-isms. Instead of flowers, food, or any other physical gifts, please contribute to Kim's immortality by sharing your own Kim stories, nicknames she gave you, and phrases she made you repeat below. We know you have them. An intentional kindness to someone (with Kim in your heart) wouldn't be amiss.

*Pictures and videos are welcome!