Floyd Leroy Sampson was born in Delta, Utah, on Jan. 12, 1944. Leroy was the oldest of Floyd and Edna Sampson’s three children. He has a sister, Jackie, and a baby brother, Kenny. He grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, back when the booming metropolis consisted of four high schools. He loved baseball and played often. After high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he helped to patrol areas near Germany’s Berlin Wall.
Leroy married Elizabeth Ellen Smith in Chula Vista, California, on March 7, 1970, and was sealed to her in the St. George Utah Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1972.
He worked at a mine in Eagle Mountain, California, as they began raising their family. Shortly after their fourth child was born, they moved to Mesa, Arizona, where Leroy ran his own company repairing shopping carts. In 1989 they moved their family to Portland, Oregon, where Ellen and Leroy stayed until 2007. They then moved to Stockton, Utah, where they lived until the passing of his sweet Ellen in 2015. Leroy returned to Las Vegas, where he married a dear friend he had known nearly all of his life, Alicia Foutz, in 2016, in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple. Alicia provided much-needed companionship and support for the final years of his life.
Leroy is known by all as a very fun-loving man with a contagious laugh. He loved the youth and always asked the bishop to let him teach the hardest Sunday School class. He studied the scriptures often. He loved God and wanted his posterity to know and follow Him. He combined his love of the gospel of Jesus Christ along with his ability to connect well with others by serving a three-year mission with Ellen as a Salt Lake City Conference Center tour guide.
Leroy could sing a country song from start to finish knowing only about four of the actual words. He loved California oranges, Utah peaches, and Oregon berries. He had a friend on every corner. He did not know a stranger, and everyone loved his stories. He always said, “I never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” He lived to help others. He was a champion of the underdog and could talk with anyone about anything.
He taught his children to love God, honor their mother, reverence their freedom, and value an education. He spoiled and loved his grandchildren. Ellen often said, “As soon as the grandkids hit about age two, all they want is their grandpa.”
Leroy returned to his heavenly home April 10, 2020, while living in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was preceded in death by his parents and first wife, Elizabeth Ellen. He is survived by his second wife, Alicia Foutz; children David (Tiffany) Sampson, Kevin (Jennifer) Sampson, Kristi (Carl) Rosengreen, and Katie (Marc) Steed; and grandchildren Raelynn (Austin), Sydney, Austin, Jaemynn, Kylie, Hailey (Ramon), Melia, Braden, Lucy, David, and Vivian.
Leroy will be laid to rest at the Stockton, Utah, Cemetery on April 18, 2020. Due to safety concerns related to the Coronavirus outbreak, the services are being held privately by the family on April 18 at 11 a.m., but to participate via livestream, please visit LeRoy’s obituary page on www.NelsonMortuary.com.
ln lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints missionary fund or directly to Leroy’s grandson’s mission fund through Venmo: @kristirosengreen.