Samuel Clive Worsley, Jr., 94 of Winchester, Virginia, passed away on Thursday, September 24, 2026, of cardiovascular disease at Shenandoah Valley Westminster Canterbury Retirement Community. Born in Washington D.C. on December 30, 1931, to parents, former U.S. Navy Seaman, Samuel C. Worsley, Sr., and Virginia Belle Jacobs.

Sam graduated from McKinley (“TECH”) High School in D.C. in 1949 where he was a four-year member of the National Honor Society. That year he claimed the National Accordion Championship Gold Medal at the annual Chicago Land Music Festival in Soldier Field on August 21, 1949. He played Sibelius Finlandia. A few years earlier at the 1946 Apple Blossom Festival Minstrel Show at Handley High School in Winchester, he shared the stage with teen-age Patsy Cline.

North Korea’s hostile military incursion into South Korea on June 25, 1950, cut short Sam’s sophomore year scholarship at Lynchburg College in Virginia. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force February 3 “Groundhog Day” 1951. He took basic training at Sampson AFB, photography school at Lowery Field in Denver, CO, and was assigned to the 4119 Armament and Electronics aerial photo-reconnaissance/camera repair unit at Fairchild AFB outside Spokane, WA. He often entertained his barracks buddies on his accordion playing Beer Barrel Polka and other popular hits of the day.

Following his Air Force Honorable Discharge and a B.A. Degree from Lynchburg College in 1957, Sam was employed by a D.C. financial planning firm where he met Nancy Susan Nelson, his secretary; they were married on April 6, 1963, and raised four children at their home, Toad Hall in Port Tobacco, MD. His children, Elizabeth S. “Betsy” Radinsky (Michael), Christopher N. Worsley (Susan), Jonathan A. Worsley (Rachael), and Justin N. Worsley (Ginger) currently reside in Maryland and Virginia. Sam’s seven adult grandchildren are Sarah and Jacob Radinsky, Kyle and Heather Worsley and Grace, Noah, and Amelia Worsley.

Sam was active within his Port Tobacco community serving as Cub Master, Port Tobacco Restoration Society Board Member, Southern Maryland Commercial Realtors Chairman and Trustee’s Board President of the Regional Maryland Public Library. Photography, gardening, church choir, commercial real-estate and high school substitute teacher became increasingly unimportant as Nancy’s heath worsened.

After Nancy passed, Sam was unable to handle the loneliness in a big empty house a great distance from his children and decided to move to Winchester where his paternal grandfather, Robert, known locally as “Judge Worsley”, once served as Magistrate. Within a short time, Sam became an active Life Member of Shenandoah Valley Chapter #313 of the Korean War Veterans Association. Later in life, he unexpectedly became an internet personality, gathering over 45,000 followers and 8 million views on his TikTok channel, PopTok.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Thursday, October 8, 2026 at 11am at Omps Funeral Home, Amherst Chapel.

He requests that memorial donations may be made to the Korean War Veterans Association Chapter #313 at www.svc313kwva.org or to Blue Ridge Care at www.blueridgecare.org.