Missionary emeritus Robert A. Hampton, 88

Robert A. Hampton, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel among the American Affinity Peoples in Brazil, died May 8, 2020, in Tom Bean, Texas. He was 88.

Bob was born Sept. 29, 1931, in Norborne, Missouri, to the late Alfred Clifton and Marie Elizabeth Key Hampton.

He graduated from Norborne High School in 1949 and served as a hospital corpsman with the U.S. Navy from 1951 through 1955. He married his high school sweetheart, Wilma Rodenberg, on Dec. 30, 1951. 

Hampton received a bachelor’s degree in education from Central Missouri State University (now University of Central Missouri), Warrensburg, and the master of divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri.

God called Hampton to the ministry while he was in college. He was pastor of churches in Clinton, Holden, Warrensburg and Gilliam, Missouri, before the International Mission appointed him and Wilma missionaries to Brazil in 1965. 

They served from 1966 through 1976 in Petrolina, Pernambuco, where he started many churches in areas with no evangelical presence. Wilma became ill and the family returned to the U.S., where he accepted the pastorate at First Baptist Church, Wellington, Missouri. Wilma died on March 8, 1978.

Hampton married Marjorie Crowe Bateman on June 1, 1979. Margie and her late husband, Dallas Lane Bateman, had served as missionaries to Kenya until his death in 1976. 

In July 1979, the Hamptons returned to missionary service and served in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, until 1987. There Hampton taught at the North Brazil seminary and he and Margie assisted in the translation of the MasterLife discipleship program into Portuguese. He was also pastor of Igreja Batista Casa Forte. The Hamptons moved in January 1989 to Rio de Janeiro, where he taught at the Baptist Institute of Religious Education for Women and carried out church planting and discipleship.

In November 1997, Robert and Margie retired and moved to Lee’s Summit, Missouri. He was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Odessa, and then Magnolia Baptist Church, Holden. They moved in 2007 to Tom Bean, where he continued to preach at various churches. 

Hampton is survived by his wife of almost 41 years, Marjorie; his daughters, Cara (Kelly) Hainey, Melanie (John) Brown, Lisa (Glen) Kolkmeyer, Regena (Don) Willoughby; his son, Robert (Kelley) Hampton III; stepdaughters, Dina (Scot) Kanaley, Tara (Jim) Shipp, and Lari (John) Hall. Bob is survived by 26 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren and his first great-great grandchild expected in November 2020. He is also survived by his sister Karen Kay (David) Blankenship.

Funeral services were held at Luella First Baptist Church. A private graveside services is to be held later at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery, in Dallas.

Read an obituary here.