Hazel Sampson

Hazel Sampson
Ms. Hazel M. Sampson in 2011, aged 100
Born	Hazel Hall (1910-05-26)May 26, 1910 Jamestown, Washington
Died	February 4, 2014(2014-02-04) (aged 103) Port Angeles, Washington
Nationality	American/Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington
Known for	Tribal elder Last native speaker of the Klallam language.
Spouse(s)	Edward C. Sampson
Parent(s)	William Hall, Ida Balch Hall
Relatives	Grandfather, James Balch

Hazel M. Sampson (May 26, 1910 – February 4, 2014) was an American Klallam elder and language preservationist. Sampson was the last native speaker of the Klallam language, as well as the oldest member of the Klallam communities at the time of her death in 2014. She was a member of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington.

The Klallam language is still spoken as a second language by some members of the four indigenous Klallam communities: the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe of Washington's Olympic Peninsula, the Port Gamble Band of S’Klallam Indians of Washington's Kitsap Peninsula,as well as the Beecher Bay Klallam of British Columbia, Canada.

Sampson was born Hazel Hall to William Hall and Ida Balch Hall on May 26, 1910, in Jamestown, Washington. She was the granddaughter of Chief James Balch, the founder of Jamestown and the namesake of both the town and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington. Her parents taught her the Klallam language as a native speaker, though she later learned English as a second language. Her father, William Hall, founded the first Indian Shaker Church on the Olympic Peninsula in Dungeness, Washington, circa 1910.