Scripps College has received a bequest in the amount of $4 million from the estate of Alexa Fullerton Hampton, an alumna of the class of 1942, who died on December 5, 1997.
M. Jean Gorman, vice president for development and college relations, announced that with this gift the College has created the Alexa Hampton Endowment, which will support a number of important initiatives at Scripps College. They include a special program and speakers’ series in the new Elizabeth Hubert Malott Commons and an endowed scholarship fund for talented and financially deserving students. In addition, a portion of the bequest was allocated for construction costs for the Malott Commons.
In recognition of funds directed toward the construction of the Commons, the second floor dining/banquet room has been named in Ms. Hampton’s honor, as well as the speakers’ program itself.
Alexa Fullerton Hampton was born in Riverside, California, in 1922, of pioneer Riverside families. The city of Fullerton is named for her family. After attending Polytechnic High School in Riverside, she came to Scripps, and graduated in 1942. She worked in the war effort before attending Columbia University, receiving an MA in English literature in 1947. From 1947-49, she worked at Scripps as an English teaching assistant.
According to her daughters, Dawn Torgerson and Becky Schuler, who visited the Scripps campus earlier this spring, their mother felt that Scripps fostered in her a love of books and reading, a passion that sustained her throughout her life. Among her many past gifts to Scripps were her personal collection of nearly 800 volumes to Denison Library.
Ms. Gorman said, "Scripps College is enormously grateful, honored, and proud to announce this extraordinary gift, which challenges us all to renew our efforts to justify the confidence that Alexa Fullerton Hampton has placed in us in carrying out her legacy."