Christine Hampton, a child of the coal-rich hills of Kentucky and Virginia, Depression-era Appalachia, eldest daughter of a coal miner and his enterprising wife, first child in her family to attend and graduate from college, and who pursued a wide range of interests in her life with great enthusiasm and commitment, died on November 28 at age 88.Wilma Christine Gross was born on August 16, 1932 in Bonny Blue, Virginia to parents Reba May Gross (nee Cox) and Henry Jackson Gross. Both parents were members of the Baptist Church. There were eventually three daughters: Mary Lynn, who died on Christmas Eve 1994, and Ruth Ann, who died suddenly in infancy. In Christine's early years, her family moved a number of times, following the shifting opportunities for coal miners in the region. These were times of great conflict between miners and mine owners, with miners looking to unionize often being confronted with armed force, legal and not, at the hands of the owners. Christine's political sympathies were fixed by these regional conflicts, and her own father's struggle. She knew which side she was on. After graduation from high school, Christine (who always preferred her middle name) was accepted as a freshman at Berea College, in Berea Kentucky. Both her mother and father had always believed in the importance of education, and leaving home to attend college was understood to be an important opportunity. Berea College is a private liberal arts college providing free education, and was the first college in the southern U.S. to be coeducational and racially integrated. Its commitment to reduce inequality and promote social mobility was truly fulfilled in the lives of young women such as Ms. Gross. It was traditional at that time and place for career-minded women to face a choice between teaching and nursing. Christine's father did not approve of the work of a nurse for his daughter. But circumstances brought about a delay in determining whether or not teaching was really for her. Christine married Philip Michael Hampton, a fellow freshman at Berea College, on July 7, 1951. Their first child, a son, was born the following year. The task of caring for Philip Michael Hampton Jr. halted, for a time, Christine's college education. When her husband's education was completed in the Spring of 1954, Christine and Philip faced a difficult decision for the summer: Should they live with his parents in North Carolina, or with her parents, now living in Michigan (Black lung disease had forced her father to leave the mines, and take his family north to find work in the automobile factories.)? A second child was expected before the summer's end. The story told many times in the family had Christine and Philip parking their car at a fork in the road to make this decision. Thinking that her mother might have an easier time with toddlers and newborns, they headed north for the summer. Momentous decisions often come in disguise. They were to live the rest of their lives in southeast Michigan.Their second child, a daughter, Deborah Lynn Hampton, was born on September 7, 1954. A second son, Gregg Ashley Hampton, was born on March 6, 1957. Christine was truly captivated by small children, and found real joy in all of their ways. Her life at this time was focused on the happiness of her young family. By the time her children were established in school, Christine thought it important to complete her interrupted education. She enrolled in a new branch campus of Michigan State University (later to become Oakland University) in Rochester, Michigan. With the help of her mother living nearby for child care, Christine rejoined college life. She didn't return to school just to prove she could do it. She had always been proud of her intellect, and she enjoyed the challenge of classes in economics, China studies and especially the German language. She received a Bachelor's Degree in Education in 1967. Shortly after graduation, Christine decided that, in fact, teaching was not at all what she wanted to do. Over the next few decades, she would succeed at a number of careers and projects. She was an executive secretary for nearly ten years, she opened two plant and gift shops and ran them for fifteen years, and she invested in the stock market with a savvy that certainly surprised her children. Her love of flowers and growing plants found expression in a greenhouse next to her home, and through the Waterford Garden Club, where she formed close friendships that lasted the rest of her life. During the last twenty years of her life, Christine struggled with Parkinson's Disease. She was still able to attend her high school reunion every year in Kentucky, well past her sixtieth reunion. She treasured the friendships that had held together through more than sixty years, and through the profound changes in her circumstances and theirs, from such small beginnings in Bonny Blue. For most of her last years the Parkinson's was considered moderate, but towards the end it took away more and more of the activities she most enjoyed. Christine died at her daughter's home in Clarkston on November 28, 2020 at age 88. Her husband, her three children, and grandchildren had been with her in her final days. Christine is survived by her husband Philip, her three children Philip Jr., Deborah and Gregg, grandsons Maxwell Hampton and Ian Clark, granddaughters Emily Dufrane, Claire Pernar and Lindsay Hampton, and great grandchildren Avery Dufrane, Payson Dufrane and Cora Pernar.