Rev. Clyde "Parson" Elbert Hampton

Rites Are Held Tuesday for Clyde E. Hampton, Retired Clergyman and Educator; Burial Douglas Cemetery

Friends were saddened when a message was received here telling of the death of Rev. Clyde E. Hampton at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, February 13, 1954 at Porter Sanitarium in Denver, Colo., where he had been receiving treatment for the past six weeks.

Rev. Hampton had been in poor health for a number of years and shortly after the beginning of the school year last fall he entered the Niobrara Memorial hospital where he received care for many weeks. After being taken to Denver, he showed some improvement until he contracted bronchial pneumonia which claimed his life.

Funeral services were held at two o'clock Tuesday afternoon at the First Baptist church of Lusk, which was filled to capacity when friends and students gathered to pay last respects to Rev. Hampton. Further testimony of the esteem in which he was regarded were the myriads of floral tributes placed in the chancel of the church.

Participating in the services were six ministers of the Baptist Association and included Rev. J. A. Nordstrom, Casper, Wyo., Rev. Frank Schweissing, Lamar, Colo., Dr. H. A. Bolle, of this city, Rev. Clyde Thompson, Douglas, Wyo., Rev. Ezra Duncan and Rev. Herman Leise, Torrington, Wyo., Rev. Eugene Wilson of Glenrock, Wyo.

Adding to the rites was the singing of "My Faith Looks Up to Thee" and "Majestic Investness" sung by Rex Yocum, L. E. Johnsonbaugh, Dan Daniels and Dave Schauffler. Mrs. A. B. DeCastro accompanied the quartet at the piano.

Interments was made beside the remains of his daughter, Mrs. Betty Easton, in the family plot in the cemetery at Douglas, Wyo., with Venus Kilmer, Bryan Burge, Johnnie Thon, Ernest Jugler, Gaylord Anderson and D. F. Wilson acting as casketbearers.

Clyde Elbert Hampton was born in Bates City, Missouri on March 27, 1888, one of seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Hampton. He was reared in a Christian home and at the age of 25 years he received his call to enter Christian work.

Mr. Hampton attended William Jewell College at Liberty, Missouri where he completed his training for the ministry. He was ordained by the old Eden Baptist church near his birthplace. He held pastorates in both Missouri and Wyoming. During his senior year in college he enlisted in the service of his country and was stationed in France during World War I.

On June 1, 1921 he was married to Miss Mabel Lasley and to this union were born four children, Jewel, Clyde, Jr., Betty Lois and Jerry. Rev. Hampton's ministry in Wyoming included work at Gebo, Worland, Manderson, Basin, Hulett, Larger Parish and Lusk. During late years Rev. Hampton became a teacher in the Lusk High school where he had classes in both Latin and English. Due to illness, he resigned his teaching position late in December of 1953. He died at Denver, Colorado on Saturday, February 13, 1954.

He is survived by his wife, Mabel, one daughter, Mrs. Jewel McCarty of Lusk, Wyo.; two sons, Clyde, Jr., Hampton, Denver, Colo., and Jerry Hampton, a student at Columbia University, New York, N.Y., two granddaughters, Kathleen and Jewel Ann McCarty of Lusk, Wyo. A daughter, Mrs. Robert Easton preceded him in death.

Thon Book No. 3
Clyde E. Hampton, Well Known Local Resident, Dies

Clyde Elbert Hampton, former minister of the First Baptist Church of Lusk and a teacher in the Lusk high school, died in Denver, Colo., Feb. 13.

He was born in Bates City, Mo. March 27, 1888, one of seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Silas Hampton. When 25 years of age he decided to take up ministry and entered William Jewell College at Liberty, Mo., where he completed his training. He held pastorates in various Missouri churches all during his college career and was ordained at the age of 27 into the Baptist ministry in the old Eden Baptist church near his birthplace.

"Parson" Hampton as he was lovingly called by his classmates at William Jewell, was an all-Missouri football tackle,"hard hitting and soft spoken." He was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity, was president of his freshman class and a member of the Aeons and Senior honorary fraternity, Before he completed his senior year he enlisted and served overseas in World War I, being stationed in France.

On June 1, 1921 he was married to Miss Mabel Lasley, who was teaching school in Kansas City, Mo. Their first child, Jewell, named after the college of William Jewell was born in Tipton, Mo. which was their first pastorate after their marriage.

Reverend and Mrs. Hampton were called to the little coal-mining town of Gebo, Wyo., in 1922 and they remained in the Big Horn Basin for nearly twenty-five years, holding pastorates in Worland, Manderson and Gebo.

During this time their children Clyde, Jr., Betty Lois, and Jerry were born and received their elementary and high school education, there and in Lusk.

From there the Hamptons went to the larger Hulett parish, working under the American Baptist Home Mission Society in New York City.

They were called to the First Baptist church of Lusk where after one year, Rev. Hampton resigned from active ministry but became a teacher in the Lusk High School, with classes in English and Latin, where he taught until his resignation late in December of this year, due to an acute illness.

Survivors include his widow, Mabel, their daughter, Mrs. Jewell McCarry and her two children, Kathleen and Jewel Ann; two sons, Clyde Jr. and attorney in Denver, who because of the impending birth of their first child, was unable to be present at the funeral service and Jerry, a senior in electrical engineering at Columbia University, New York City; a brother, Thurmond Hampton of Calif. and three sisters, Mrs. Tressa Hampton, Mrs. Amy Sparks and Mrs. Frances Sparks all of Holden, Mo.

A daughter, Mrs. Robert Easton (Betty Lois) preceded her father in death six years before.

Funeral services were conducted from the Baptist church, Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. with Dr. H. A. Bolle of Lusk officiating and Rev. Clyde Thompson of Douglas delivering the address.

A male quartet composed of L. E. Johnsonbaugh, Rex Yocum, David Sachuffler and Danny Daniels sang "majestic Sweetness" and "My Faith Looks Up To Thee" with Mrs. A . F. DeCastro as the accompanist.

The honorary casket bearers were all friends of the Baptist Ministery and included the following; Rev Herman Leacy of Torrington, Rev. Wilson of Glenrock, Rev. J. A. Nordstrom, Casper, Rev. Ezra Duncan, Torrington, Rev. Frank Schweissing, LaMar, Colo., Rev. Clyde Thompson, Douglas and Dr. H. A. Bolle, Lusk.

Active casket bearers were Venus Kilmer, Ernest Jugler, Gaylord Anderson, Dave. F. Wilson, Johnnie Thon and Bryan Burge.

Interment was in the Douglas cemetery beside his daughter.

Relatives here for the services included his son, Jerry of New York City, Mrs. Hampton's sister, Miss Lois Lasley of Los Angeles and Mr. and Mrs. Tom McCarty of Douglas.

The Lusk Herald
Editorial

Marks In the Dust

You will be surprised when I say that one of my fondest recollections of a man so revered as the Rev. Clyde Hampton, is one day back in about the spring of 1943, when I came upon him stooped over on a west side street of Lusk making marks in the dust of the road.

Shortly after he was called to Lusk as pastor of the first Baptist Church, it was learned that he had a great interest in boys, and had done considerable Boy Scout work. And so Lusk, perpetually in need of a Scoutmaster, asked if he would not help out. He would, given some help, and for over a year he encouraged boys to some of the finest progress that has been made in that organization here. And that day when I drove up upon him, he was laying out a trail about town and out toward the mining hill so that some Tenderfoot Scout could pass his Second Class tracking.

A new pastorate is always a busy time for a minister, yet Rev. Hampton found a way to set aside an hour or two each afternoon after school to work with boys in his study at the church or go out on the hills with them. It was a time of more than just passing tests - it was an opportunity to carefully weave into their lives some moral and spiritual fabric.

But he loved boys and their doings wherever they were and in whatever they were doing. As a pastor in the Big Horn Basin he served as chaplain at the Wyoming Industrial School for boys for a time. After arriving at Lusk he could often be found watching the football practices and seldom missed a game. In fact, during the war years when he had gone back to teaching in the Lusk schools and coaches were short, he assisted in football coaching.

Actually Clyde Hampton loved people, girls and boys, people of all walks of life. Men of the American Legion liked having him as their chaplain. He may have been a little too kindly to have made the most effective teacher, yet where one teacher might accomplish a goal with strict discipline, he commanded by personality and devotion.

The Latin Clubs he established in Lusk High were apparently a vehicle by which to teach young people projects in service, and today those clubs stand able to make a substantial contribution to some worthy purpose in the new Niobrara County High School.

Mr. Hampton (you know, even as long and as neighborly as I have known him, I never felt comfortable calling him by his first name) never actually got away from the service of the church even after going back into teaching. The church was his real love and he periodically served Manville and elsewhere when needed. Many wanted him to bury their dead, marry their young people, baptize their children. Death may have come a little sooner because of the obligation he felt to his church during its recent pastorless months, but he would never have wanted it otherwise. He was a man that could never be idle, or free of conscience when he felt an obligation. Thus often he would loyally be attending school functions when he might better have rested at home.

This last summer one day he dropped into The Herald office and beckoned me to come with him. We drove out to the large Pilcher place he had rented at the southeast edge of town. I thought maybe he wanted to talk about some pressing problem - but it was about trees that he was concerned. Since we had been gardening neighbors several years before he wanted my poor advice about the Chinese elms that were splitting in the wind. How should they be pruned? He showed me his chickens, how the spuds were growing.

Yes, Clyde Hampton had many interests, though he talked little about the past I knew it was richest in sharing of other's burdens, their problems, happiness and joy.

Somehow, as I see him yet, stooped over, drawing a sign in the dust, I cannot but think of One he emulated, One of whom it is recorded, wrote only once, and then in the sand to those who were so free to accuse and condemn.

- Gerald Bardo

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