This week’s featured alumni is a 1957 graduate of Eagle Grove High School who not only “saw an opportunity” in returning to Eagle Grove, but a chance to make a difference in a community he loves and calls home.
After graduation, Mel Sampson spent a year-and-a-half at the Junior College in Eagle Grove before joining the Northwestern Railroad where he worked as a brakeman for five years. But then something happened that would change his course and eventually steer him back to his hometown roots.
“I had gotten married (to Marilyn) and they started tearing up the tracks, so I didn’t know what the future of the railroad would be,” explained Sampson. “I never dreamed Pacific would take over.”
That’s when he decided to go back to college and finish his post-secondary education. He headed to Buena Vista College where he earned degrees in accounting and management. He also earned a minor in education. From there, he spent five years as an Internal Revenue Agent with the United States Treasury Department.
“With my degrees, and experience in government, that’s when I decided I had a lot to add to my hometown,” said Sampson.
With a wife and two young children, Sampson, at the age of 34, decided to return to Eagle Grove to start his own business. That was in 1974.
“I saw an opportunity here,” he said, adding that the town’s only other official account was in his 70s and would most likely be retiring soon. “It was perfect timing.”
Grateful for a local banker at Brenton Bank who took a shot on a young guy with a dream, Sampson Accounting got up and running.
“It all worked out really well,” Sampson said. “Timing is everything.”
And perfect timing it was – prior to opening his own business, insurance companies had been offering tax preparation services. But when Samspon was ready to open his accounting office, the tax laws changed, enough to make the insurance companies want to get out of it. That meant more customers for him. As his business grew, so did his involvement in the community. Not only did he want to give back to the town he grew up in and was now raising his own family in, but he also wanted to give back to the people who asked him to help who had become his customers.
For the next 40+ years, Sampson in fact did help in any way he could. The variety of things he was involved in shows just how much he cares about the well-being of everything Eagle Grove. His involvement included:
Eagle Grove Chamber of Commerce board member and president, Community Development Corp. board member and president, Parade chairman for the Eagle Grove Bi-Centennial (the largest parade the town has ever had), Evangelical Lutheran Church trustee, Board of Directors that started the first child care center, member of the committee that raised money for the Eagle Grove Memorial Library, member of the medical task force, member of Our Foundation for the Future, Horse Show chairman at the Wright County Fair, Church choir at Evangelical Lutheran Church, Music Boosters board, cross country booster, coached Little League, Rotary Paul Harris Fellow, various fundraising events, handled the Brandt 40 acres to CDC, treasurer of School District Foundation, developed mobile home court for Eagle Grove, 4-H Horse Project leader, and parent basketball coach. Sampson has also played a vital role at Rotary Senior Living. He was on the Board of Directors for more than 40 years, served as president for 26 years, helped construct the nursing home, Wellness Center, apartments, and the new Memory Center, and purchased the duplex for senior citizen living.
“Getting involved just happened…people would ask me to do it, so I did. I alway tried to help out in any way I could,” said Sampson.
Watch for another EGHS alumni feature in a future edition of the Eagle Grove Eagle.
If you would like to share your alumni returning home again story, or know someone we should contact, please email me at news@eaglegroveeagle.com
