Benjamin T. Lampkin, Jr.

Benjamin T. Lampkin, Jr. was born in Arkadelphia, Arkansas on December 18, 1928 to Benjamin T. Lampkin, Sr. and Florence Nuttall Lampkin. He died peacefully in Oklahoma City on July 6, 2013. He was 84 years old. Ben's father was an engineer and the family lived in Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. Ben graduated from Lawton High School in 1945 and attended Texas A&M. He entered military service and served in Japan with the U.S. Army. Upon his return to Oklahoma, he completed his education at Oklahoma University in both undergraduate and law school. He was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association and actively practiced law for almost 60 years. Ben was a trial lawyer and he represented injured people. He was a tidal force in the legal community. The thousands of clients that he helped and the countless attorneys that he mentored all were blessed to have had Ben Lampkin in their lives. He stood up against corporations and employers to insure justice for injured people. He was fearless. There was rarely a dull moment with Ben. He loved the excitement of the courtroom and valued the friendships with the lawyers that he practiced both with and against. He loved to argue about absolutely anything and in his mind was rarely wrong. He was a master legal strategist and had a keen sense about what worked with juries. He would take impossible cases – "because it was just not right what happened to these people." Ben was a founding member of Quail Creek Country Club, joining the club before it was even built. Ben loved golf and gin rummy. Even more, he loved the pals he played them with. While he had an office and law firm downtown, his second base of operations was the card room at Quail Creek. He always considered himself a master at whatever he did and gin rummy was no exception. Ben loved to travel and for many years was on the Site Committee of the American Trial Lawyers Association. (It helped with room upgrades). When Ben traveled, he would often include all six of his daughters, their friends and many others. It was not uncommon for Ben to check 25 pieces of luggage at the airport. It didn't even phase him. He was totally generous to a fault. Throughout his life, Ben had vacation homes in Aspen, Colorado; Malibu, California; and Manzanilla, Mexico at Las Hadas. Ben included everyone he knew in everything he did and delighted in it. With all his success and acclaim and all of his achievements and victories, Ben's greatest loves in life were his six daughters and their beautiful mother. They were everything to him and he loved to tell people about them. Very simply, the world was a better place while Ben Lampkin was in it. Ben is survived by his brother, Charles Lampkin and wife Julie of Oklahoma City; the mother of his six daughters, Toni Lampkin of Edmond Oklahoma; his six daughters and their families: Julee Lampkin Coyle and her husband John W. Coyle, III of Oklahoma City; Katie Lampkin-Marshall of Oklahoma City; Tori Lampkin New and her husband Scott of Edmond; Missy Lampkin of Oklahoma City; Holly Lampkin-Brody of Oklahoma City; and Nicole Lampkin Lockton and her husband Steve of Denver, Colorado. Ben is also survived by his grandchildren Samuel Parkinson Oruch; Ruby Coyle; Billy Coyle and his wife Heather; Robert Coyle; Natalie Marshall; Charli and Roxy New; Benjamin Brody; and Olivia, Carley and Stevie Lockton; and great-grandchildren, Jack, Lilly and Lilah Coyle. The family wishes to give special thanks to Dave Brody for the devoted care, attention and friendship that he gave to Ben in the last years of his life. A celebration of Ben's life will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 11, 2013 at Smith & Kernke North, 14624 N. May Avenue, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Immediately following the service, a further celebration of Ben will be held at Quail Creek Golf and Country Club, 3501 Quail Creek Road, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Oklahoma Association for Justice, 323 N.E. 27th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73105.