He recited Chaucer, could lighten any mood

By STEPHANIE HAYES, Times Staff Writer
Published September 26, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Warren Hampton fled Cuba in 1960. Not much later, the woman he would marry followed. [Family photo]

TEMPLE TERRACE - Warren Hampton loved to crack off-color jokes when his family felt low.

"He was very quick witted," said his daughter, Blanche. "He was a little dark. You could be really, really upset, and he could make you laugh."

Then, he'd put things in perspective.

"No hay mal, que por bien no venga."

There is not bad from which good doesn't come.

* * *

Warren was born and educated in Cuba. In the 1950s, he taught at a business school in Havana where he met a teacher named Digna.

"Just friends," she said.

Two years passed. Digna sat at Woolworth's on a break from working at the National Bank of Cuba. A man walked by. Is that Warren Hampton?

Tensions were high under the changing regime. Left and right, Cubans were exiling to America.

"Are you going to leave?" she asked Warren.

"Okay, Digna. I'm leaving."

"When?"

Warren hesitated. Was she a spy? Could he trust her?

"Soon."

"Can I give you advice?" she asked. "Go to the bank and take out $150. Please go today or tomorrow, not later."

"Why?"

"Don't ask me why. I can't tell you. Just do it, and if I don't see you again, good luck."

Three days later, a law was enacted: people leaving Cuba could not take money from the bank. Before, they could withdraw $150.

Sept. 22, 1960, Warren came to America, cash in hand. He never looked back.

* * *

Digna exiled two years later. She visited Warren in Mississippi. Something clicked.

"He had a solid personalty," said Digna, 76. "We had common ideals, common opinions."

In 1964, they married. They had two children, and maintained a connection that's hard to explain.

"You knew there was this kind of shared background that was this incredible Elmer's Glue," said Blanche, 37.

Warren, a PhD., had a distinguished teaching career. He taught 34 years in University of South Florida's department of modern languages. He was strict and didn't tolerate tardiness.

He was smart, reciting Chaucer on demand. But he never acted superior, his family said.

For years, he had health problems, including cancer and heart disease. Thursday, he died at age 80.

A family friend put it best, Blanche said. Warren Hampton dying was like a library burning.

Stephanie Hayes can be reached at shayes@sptimes.com or 727 893-8857.

Biography

Warren Hampton

Born: Oct. 30, 1926.

Died: Sept. 21, 2007.

Survivors: wife, Digna; children, Warren and Blanche; cousins, Cuchin and Rodolfo Villegas, Connie Reed, Tensi Hopkins, Al Hampton Sr., Al Hampton Jr. and his wife Wanda and their children, Al, Michael, and Kristen; in-laws Agripina "Nena" and Pedro Martinez.

[Last modified September 25, 2007, 22:39:14]