“Things that make you go ‘hmmm.’”
— Arsenio Hall, actor, comedian, and talk show host
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Interesting and surprising turns of events. Seemingly unrelated occurrences connecting in unexpected ways. Things that make you go, “hmmm!”
“You don’t know me,” said the man approaching the table where I was sitting. “But I recognize you. You look just like your picture.”
“Oh man,” I thought to myself. “Didn’t post offices stop displaying wanted posters a long time ago?”
We were both guests at a 50th wedding anniversary celebration in my hometown of Mount Pleasant a couple of weeks ago. He was family. I was longtime friends of the celebrating couple.
“My name is Gerald Hampton,” he said. “I read your column. You look just like your photo.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said, standing to shake his hand. “I know another Gerald Hampton. From Naples.”
“I’ve heard of him,” the Gerald Hampton standing in front of me said. “But I’ve never met him.”
“Really nice guy,” I replied.
“You know, it’s funny,” I said. “That you recognized me from my picture. Met a nice lady a few minutes ago who said she heard someone mention my name and wanted to tell me she reads my column. Then added, ‘But you don’t look like your picture.’”
“Gerald Hampton in Naples is a really nice guy,” I said again as we chuckled about the photo story. “I met him many years ago, working my first newspaper job as a photographer and reporter at The Monitor newspaper in Naples.
“Gerald’s day job was fireman at a plant near Texarkana,” I said, sorting through old memories. “It might have been the Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant. That one shut down some years ago.
“Gerald also had a sideline business as the local printer. He had a small shop just off Main Street. Back when almost every small town had someone that printed things like letterheads, business cards, and invitations.
“He was a longtime good friend of Monitor publisher Morris Craig,” I continued, “and was in the newspaper office on a regular basis. I want to think he and Craig may have also worked together at The Monitor. When it was owned by Lee Narramore.
“I do know he was also a co-founder of The Printing Factory in Naples,” I said as my memories trailed off for a moment.
“I never met him,” the Titus County Hampton said. “But I’ve heard good things about him. And I do have a story about him. My wife asked me about a bill from Sears one evening some years ago. I told her I hadn’t bought anything from Sears recently, and she said, ‘Well, we got a bill from them for two bicycles.’”
Hampton said when he checked with Sears, he learned it was the Naples Gerald Hampton who made the purchase that was mistakenly billed to their account.
Following that visit a couple of weeks ago, other memories about Gerald Hampton in Naples came to mind. Things like walks down Naples’ Main Street. Going to the post office to get the mail… sometimes glancing at the wanted posters. Or to Rodney Cook’s Piggly Wiggly for a snack. Stopping at Gerald’s print shop, for business sometimes, but more often just to visit. Because I knew what would greet me when I opened the door. The rhythmic clacking of the small job presses, a friendly greeting from Gerald, and a good story.
The last time I saw Gerald, 20 years or more ago, he talked about how he and his wife were enjoying retirement, managing camp sites and entertaining campers with their bluegrass music performances.
My short visit with Titus County Gerald Hampton recently taught me that he was a lifelong educator. It didn’t take long to also learn about his congenial nature and his ease in getting to know people. Very much like the personality of the Morris County Gerald Hampton.
Shortly after that visit, however, I learned that the Gerald Hampton I called a friend from Naples had passed away. Mere days before I met the Mount Pleasant Gerald Hampton. I wondered how two Gerald Hamptons with similar personalities lived less than 20 miles apart and never met.
I also wondered about two people seeing the same picture and disagreeing on whether it resembled the person they to whom they were talking. I wondered why wanted posters are no longer displayed in the local post office. And now I’m wondering … should I update my picture?
You know. Just things that make you go, “Hmmm!”
—Leon Aldridge
(Photo Credit: Mom’s photo album. Yours truly about age 3 or 4 in Pampa, Texas. Mom made notes on some photos, but not all of them. )
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Aldridge columns are featured in these publications: The Center Light and Champion, The Mount Pleasant Tribune, the Rosenberg Fort Bend Herald, the Taylor Press, the Alpine Avalanche, the Fort Stockton Pioneer, the Elgin Courier, The Monitor in Naples, and Motor Sports Magazine.
© Leon Aldridge and A Story Worth Telling 2025. Excerpts and links may be used, provided full and clear credit is given to Leon Aldridge and ‘A Story Worth Telling’ with appropriate and specific directions to the original content.
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