Hazel Sampson

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.

In 1934, Sampson and her husband, Edward C. Sampson Sr., moved from Jamestown to Port Angeles, Washington. There, the Sampsons became one of the thirteen founding families who purchased and owned land on the Lower Elwha Klallam Reservation.

Hazel Sampson resided in her Port Angeles home until her death on February 4, 2014, at the age of 103. Her death marked the passing of the last native speaker of Klallam, though some younger members continued to speak it as a second language. According to Klallam cultural teacher Jamie Valadez, "She was the last one...[Her death] changes the dynamics of everything...They carry so much knowledge of our culture and traditions." She was survived by five generations of descendants.