Wade Gorrell Hampton, III

Wade Gorrell Hampton III, 68, of Kernersville died Monday, May 26 of pulmonary fibrosis.

Wade was born in Asheville, North Carolina, where he was an active member of First Baptist Church. He graduated from Asheville High School and Wake Forest University, and received his Master’s Degree from UNC Chapel Hill.

Highlights of his college years included being an editor of The Student literary magazine (including traveling to Connecticut to interview William Styron and having many poems and articles published), a January term trip to study Irish literature, and meeting his wife, who like his son, is also a proud Demon Deacon. Wade was a life-long educator, teaching at Oak Ridge Military Academy and at Guilford Middle School before serving as a principal and assistant principal in Guilford County, including at Alamance and Millis Road Elementary schools.  

A member of Main Street United Methodist Church for 35 years, Wade taught the Grose-Kirkman Sunday School class for 25 years, facilitated numerous Disciple Bible Studies, held positions in the Methodist Men, sang in the choir, and led the Take a Hike Group.

For several terms and most recently as chair, Wade served on the Kernersville Parks and Recreation committee, all during the time the Kerner Mill Greenway trail and the new headquarters building were being developed. He was an active cyclist, hiker and tennis player and loved books, music, and movies.

His retirement goal was to spend more time in pretty places, including on his deck beside his fishpond in the backyard. He traveled to all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, multiple European countries, and Kenya. Together with his family, he attended the Oberammergau Passion Play in Germany in 2000 and heard his daughter Kate sing in Canterbury Cathedral on a choir trip. He led his son’s Cub Scout den until they reached Boy Scouts. He was a man of rare character and integrity with a subtle sense of humor, who loved being a son, a brother, a husband, and a father.

Wade is survived by his wife of 44 years, Jan Ward Hampton, his parents, Wade G. Hampton Jr. and Dorothy Hampton of Asheville, his sister and brother-in-law, Carole and Joel Cotter of Asheville, his son Wade G. Hampton IV of Raleigh, and his daughter and son-in-law, Kate Carole Hampton Mendoza and Elijah Mendoza of Los Angeles, as well as loving members of his wife’s family.

A Celebration of Life will be held Monday, June 2nd at 11 a.m. at Main Street United Methodist in Kernersville, with inurnment at the Sacred Garden of First Baptist Church of Asheville at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, June 3. He would be honored by memorials to the Building Fund at Main Street United Methodist Church or to the Restoration and Organ Fund at First Baptist Asheville.