(Written for The Meteor April 8, 2019)
In appreciation of art month, this is the first in a series about artists and authors from this area. Flo Field Hampton was an author from Crystal Springs, born around 1905 to William Judson and Mary Cornelia “Mollie” Miller Hampton. The beautiful Hampton family home still stands on a nice shady lot on S. Jackson Street, diagonal to the Willing House. Hampton’s father was a notable merchant in town for many years.
Hampton was a graduate of Crystal Springs High School and studied English and history at Mississippi College for Women “MUW”, The University of Chicago, George Peabody College for Teachers, and the University of Colorado.
She was head of the English department at Central High School in Jackson for several years and was Eudora Welty’s English teacher. She encouraged Welty’s writing and together, along with nationally known famous composer Harry L. Alford, they published a musical piece with Eudora sketching the cover of the work entitled “Mosquito”, Hampton writing the words, and Alford setting it to music. Eudora graduated in 1925 after writing and sketching many pieces, especially for the Quadruplane yearbook. The following year the yearbook was dedicated to Hampton with a touching tribute written by the students. Hampton also taught at Millsaps College during the summer months.
Hampton became an author at an early age, and most likely destined to become one for she was named after Flora Field, one of the most well-known newspaper writers of the south. For many years, Field was the feature staff writer for the New Orleans-Time Picayune. Her mother, Catherine Cole, was the first female newspaper writer in the south. Field was known for her humorous stories, for which the Hampton family must have liked.
Hampton’s poetry appeared in various magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post, and Versecraft, and her short stories won prizes within the state. That Passing Laughter was published in 1962 and Ghosts with Southern Accents in 1969. She was a member of the Magnolia Chapter DAR and enjoyed giving presentations to organizations about her books and telling stories of interest. In 1984, MUW honored Hampton and several other notable Mississippi women alumni, including Welty, in its centennial tribute.
Hampton was quite beautiful in her younger years and in 1928 she married Charles Christopher Scott of Jackson, from Kemper County. They had a beautiful wedding at the First Baptist Church in Crystal Springs with a reception following at her father’s home. The Scotts stayed at the King Edward Hotel in Jackson while their house was being built in Woodland Hills in Jackson.
A veteran of World War I, Scott became a lawyer and opened a firm with his brother in 1917, Scott, Barbour, and Scott. He helped found Southern Building and Loan Association, the forerunner of First Federal and at his death in 1962 was CEO of First Federal Savings and Loan.
In 1977, she married Ben Ford Holt of Crystal Springs, an auditor with an Shell Oil Company. He passed away in 1987 and was buried next to his first wife in the Crystal Springs Cemetery.
Flo Hampton Scott Holt passed away at the age of 99 in 1998. She and her first husband were interred in Lakewood Cemetery in Jackson. Both of her parents are buried in Crystal Springs Cemetery.
