Service: 11 a.m. Saturday Oct. 24, Fippinger funeral Home , Aledo, Ill. Visitation: 4-7 p.m. Friday, funeral home. Burial: Aledo cemetery, with military service by the Milan American Legion Post No.569. Online condolences: www.fippingerfuneralhome.

PREEMPTION, Ill. — Richard Wayne Hampton, 78, Preemption, died Monday, Oct. 19, 2009, at Trinity at Terrace Park in Bettendorf. 

Memorials may be left to the Viola United Methodist Church or Trinity Pathway Hospice. 

Mr. Hampton was born Jan. 17, 1931, in Rivoli Township, Mercer County, Ill.,  the son of Leon and Katherine Whitehall Hampton. 

He graduated from Joy High School in 1949. He married Ardis Forrest Feb. 3, 1952 in Joy.

He was a U.S. Navy Veteran from 1951 to 1954 and while in boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Station he was a member of the Blue Jacket Choir and the Chapel choir where he was a featured solo vocalist.

He farmed until 1969 moving to Florida where he worked at a nursery for three years.  They moved back to Illinois in 1972 and he drove truck for various construction companies retiring in 1993. 

He was a member of Viola United Methodist Church, Teamsters Local No. 371, Milan American Legion Post No. 569, Buffalo Prairie Masonic Lodge and the Scottish Rite of Moline.

 He loved to hunt and fish.

Survivors include his wife, Ardis; a daughter, Rhonda White and husband, Terry of Atlanta, Ga.; a brother, Gary Hampton and wife, Ann of New Boston; nieces and nephews, Steve Hampton and wife, Stacy; Jane Benedict and husband, Blair; Sue Frieden and husband, Matt; Debbie Sells and husband, Ben; Gena and Patty Tweed; Randy Tweed and wife, Louise. 

He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Twila Tweed.