SAMPSON, Atlanta Constance 1896-1995

SAMPSON

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 12/31/2011 at 16:36:58

Birth: Sep. 19, 1896
Death: May 18, 1995

OBITUARY-

LYLE, MINNESOTA -- Atlanta Constance Sampson, 98, a Toerterville, Iowa, artist, whose work has been exhibited in a number of one-woman shows around the country, died Thursday, May 18, 1995 at Good Samaritan Center in St. Ansgar, Iowa.

Born on September 19, 1896, on a farm on the Iowa-Minnesota border east of Lyle, she was baptized and confirmed at Six Mile Grove Lutheran Church, the church she had painted six times in watercolor. As a child she painted the morning glories outside the kitchen window of her farm home, and when her teacher at Pinehurst country school saw them, she told her she was a natural-born artist. These words were magic and inspired Atlanta to go on and paint almost 3,000 pictures during the next 80 years.

She graduated from the University of Minnesota and taught art in Detroit, Mich., for 20 years. In 1948 she moved to New York to try to make it in what she called "the art capital of the world." At the age of 91 she achieved her lifetime goal of having a one-woman show in one of New York's finest galleries. In 1992 she celebrated her 96th birthday with a one-woman show in the Russell Rotunda next to the Capitol in Washington. Nine senators helped to sponsor the event.

Her story was featured in the New York Times and a number of other newspapers and magazines throughout the world, as well as on CNN, NBC and Iowa Public Television. International Magazine printed her story in detail in its October 1994 issue. The state of Iowa has presented one-woman exhibitions of her work in nine cities during the past three years. In Toeterville and St. Ansgar, Unionhurst Galleries were established to show her work.

Survivors include a sister, Myrtella Langrock of Toeterville. A brother and two sisters preceded her in death.

The funeral will be 11 a.m. Monday at Six Mile Grove Lutheran Church east of Lyle, with the Rev. Russell Wangen officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Friends may call from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Toeterville where there will be a memorial service at 7:30 p.m., with the Rev. David Palm officiating.

As a tribute to the many florals she painted, both churches will be decorated with original paintings of flowers she painted between 1902 and 1960.

Memorials are suggested to Art Students League of New York, Six Mile Grove Lutheran Church or St. Peter Lutheran Church.

Hatten and Son Funeral Home in Stacyvile, Iowa, is in charge of arrangements.
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Burial:
Six Mile Grove Cemetery, Lyle, Mower County, Minnesota.

( Credit: K. Pike )