Deceased February 3, 2011
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In Memory
Surrounded by his family, Alan Hampshire passed away peacefully Feb. 3, 2011, in hospice near his home in Pineville, La. Word of his death reached Amherst only recently. To the best of our knowledge, Alan had very little contact with Amherst since graduation. This In Memory is derived from public information at the time of his death.
Alan was a pre-med major at Amherst, officially labeled “biology” in those days. After a voluntary stint in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict, he earned an M.D. from George Washington University in 1959, launching a long, diverse and fulfilling career in medicine that ranged from internships and residencies to general psychiatry.
In 1963, Alan was accepted into a psychiatric residency program at the Veterans Administration. He served at many VA and VA-related sites in the Boston area, including the Boston VA hospital, the Thorn Clinic in Boston and the Bedford VA hospital in Bedford, Mass. In 1968, he transferred to the Veterans Administration in Hampton, Va., and remained there until 1976, also maintaining a private general psychiatric practice in Newport News, Va., from 1970 to 1976.
In 1977, Alan moved to Pineville, La., to organize the psychiatric unit at the local VA hospital. He retired in December 1993 and spent much of his retirement traveling throughout North America with his wife, Margie Lee Rhodes Hampshire. Both were always responsive to and supportive of their children and grandchildren. In fact, Alan characterized his family as the greatest achievement of his life. He revered his family and was revered by his family.
He is remembered as a “loving husband, a steadfast father and a great friend.”
Besides Margie, his wife for 52 years, Alan is survived by three children and seven grandchildren.
Philip W. Ransom Jr. ’53