Floris Jean (Snyder) Hampton died May 7, 2021, in Dodge City, at the age of 93. She was born to Russell and Mary Lee (Wortman) Snyder on May 3, 1928, in Dodge City. Except for brief periods away attending college, she lived in the area all of her life, most of it in the rural Dodge City home that her father had built. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the College of Emporia (Kansas) graduating after only three years, and immediately returned to Dodge City for her wedding to Marvin Hampton on June 7, 1948.
Their love story began when Floris Jean was just 14 years old and Marvin, a farmhand recently hired to work on a neighbor’s farm, was 19. One Sunday afternoon on their day off from work, Marvin and some other farmhands stopped by her family’s farm while out horseback riding. Floris Jean noticed the handsome new neighbor immediately and boldly informed him that she liked his horse. Though too shy to say anything memorable at the moment, he was likewise impressed by this “cute little bow-legged girl” at the Snyder farm. It wasn’t long before he overcame his initial shyness and they soon knew they were made for each other.
Settling into married life, they began to raise a family and build a farming and ranching business in NW Ford County. Five children arrived in short order, one by one, less than six years apart, resulting in a form of happy chaos that Floris Jean likened to dealing with a basketful of puppies!
They called their business Eagle Bluff Ranch, aptly named after a prominent feature on the first piece of land they purchased. Located on Sawlog Creek, the property was home to a limestone bluff sheltering an eagles’ nest.
Floris Jean had always regretted not having taken nursing courses in college. After Marvin ran into an old high school friend who was a male RN back from the army, they learned that there was a high demand for male nurses and Marvin, too, became interested in the nursing profession. The shared interest grew into a plan that took three years to coordinate. At last, with the plan in place, in 1960 they moved their young family to Winfield, Kansas, where both started a three-year nursing program at the William Newton Memorial Hospital School of Nursing when Floris Jean was 32 and Marvin was 37. During that time, with the help of family and neighbors, they successfully maintained the farm business. They graduated first and second in their class and became Registered Nurses, then returned to Dodge City to build the farm business and work in local hospitals. Floris Jean worked as a private duty trauma nurse at both Trinity and St. Anthony Hospitals from 1963 to 1968 and served as an elementary school nurse for USD 443 from 1968 to 1972, all while remaining deeply involved in the family business.
Floris Jean served on numerous boards of directors and committees at the local, state and regional levels. From 1995 to 1998 she was a Kansas Attorney General Appointee to the Committee on Crime and Violence Prevention. Always an outspoken advocate for higher education, she was an Appointee to Senator Kassebaum’s Committee for Military Academy Nominations from 1993 to 1997; a Governor’s Appointee to the Advisory Council on Community Colleges from 1995 to 1999; and a Governor’s Appointee to the Kansas Board of Regents from 1999 to 2001.
As a volunteer and leader in countless church, civic, and community service organizations throughout her life, Floris Jean was actively involved in AAUW, BPW, Depot Theater, Ford County Extension Service, PEO, Soroptimists, United Methodist Church and the Dodge City Women’s Chamber of Commerce. She was a Vacation Bible School superintendent and a 4-H Club leader. The Trinity Hospital Board, the Kansas Regional Library Board, the Ford County Historical Society, and Western Plains Medical Center are just a few of the other organizations that benefited from her devoted participation and leadership. In 1986, the Dodge City Women’s Chamber of Commerce honored her with the Athena Award as Woman of the Year. Both Floris Jean and Marvin were honored by inclusion in the Master Farmer and Master Farm Homemaker Class of 1980.
Floris Jean was a lifelong supporter and champion of the arts, especially local artists and all kinds of artistic works. She had great respect for and appreciation of local history and the importance of ancestral ties. Particularly proud of Marvin’s Cherokee heritage, she made sure that documentation was established so that his descendants were properly recognized and registered as members of the Cherokee Nation.
Second only to her husband, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Floris Jean’s greatest passion was Dodge City Community College (DC3). An ardent and vocal supporter of the college, she served as a member of the DC3 board of trustees for nearly thirty years beginning in 1983 to 1999 and from 2007 to 2019. In 2009, she was inducted into the DC3 Hall of Fame in recognition of her “Outstanding Voluntary Service.” For Floris Jean, a passion within a passion was the DC3 program for educating nurses. In 2020, when DC3 acquired separate off-campus classroom space to expand its nursing program, the board voted to name the building in her honor. In January 2021, DC3 officially dedicated the Floris Jean Hampton Nurse Education Center.
As a longtime fan of Ford Thunderbirds, Floris Jean owned numerous T-Birds at various times and at one point, she and Marvin owned five vintage T-Birds at once. She assembled a wide assortment of scale models and other T-Bird memorabilia over the years with an entire wall of the basement in her home devoted to her collection. In 2017, as an early 90th birthday present to herself, Floris Jean astonished family and friends by purchasing a bright red 1960 T-Bird which was soon installed in her garage and christened “LadyBird.”
Their children, and their nine grandchildren and eight great grand-children were a continuing source of pride and joy to Floris Jean and Marvin, lovingly nicknamed “Nanny” and “Poppy.” Nanny delighted in sending carefully chosen gifts to the grands and great-grands for every holiday and even semi-holidays.
Floris Jean and Marvin were a united, unstoppable team who didn’t know the meaning of the word “can’t.” If they didn’t have the right tool or part, they would build it from cast-off pieces that had been saved because they “might come in handy someday.” Their love story ended with Marvin’s death of Alzheimer’s at the age of 93 after 68 years of marriage. As his health declined and his memory dimmed, Floris Jean made sure that Marvin lived at home by caring for him, with help from sons Wade and Van, until just days before he died. As he became less able to be left alone, he accompanied her to her many outside activities, board meetings, church services and countless community events. There were very few times when you saw one without the other.
Besides her husband, Floris Jean was predeceased by her parents and two grandsons, Shiloh Ryan Windle and Levi Garrett Windle. She is survived by three daughters: Lee Anne Battite, (George) of Delray Beach, FL; Rebecca Lyn Cohen (Richard) of Delray Beach, FL; Gayle Diane Windle (Steve) of Buchanan Dam, TX; two sons: Wade Snyder Hampton and Van Zane Hampton (Lucy), both of Dodge City; eight grandchildren: Amee (Cohen) McInnes of Houston, TX; Andee (Cohen) Holzman (Steven) of Boca Raton, FL; Brody Windle (Valerie) of Liberty Hill, TX; Sybil (Hampton) Pyle of Dodge City; Heath Hampton of Maple Valley, WA; Sarah (Hampton) Tucker (Harrison) of Valley Center, KS; Jessica Hampton of Lawrence, KS; Luke Hampton (Rachel) of Hays, KS; and eight great-grandchildren; as well as two sisters, Carolyn Nevins of Concord, CA and Rowena Cromwell of Calgary, AB, Canada. She also leaves many adoring cousins, nieces and nephews, as well as numerous friends and admirers.
Floris Jean was seemingly tireless, with more energy than people half her age. She was curious, opinionated, interested, and interesting; she thrived on being "out and about" where she could visit with people. She will be greatly missed.
A celebration of her life will be held at 10:00 AM on June 18, 2021, at the First Methodist Church in Dodge City. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Dodge City Community College Foundation for the benefit of the Nurse Education Center or the Kansas Alzheimer’s Association in care of Swaim Funeral Home.
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