Sunday Conversation with Jane Leggett Lampkin
Apr 16, 2018Updated: Apr. 9, 2018 9:47 amLife these days for Jane Leggett Lampkin is quite a bit slower and more relaxed.She grew up in East Moline, and now at age 70, continues to maintain a home in the Quad Cities, now living in Moline. When the weather turns cold, she and her husband head to their winter home in Fort Myers, Fla.The pace of life in retirement is quite different than that of a teacher and wife of a high school basketball coach. Jane was 28 years old when she came to Quincy as the wife of Jerry Leggett, who coached at Quincy High School from 1976-90 during one of the most successful and memorable times in program history.The Leggetts had celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary in November 1998, and Jerry Leggett was coaching in Moline when he died at age 63 of a heart attack while riding his bicycle on Dec. 5, 1998. Jane eventually married Rick Lampkin, a former grocery store owner and a neighbor in Moline, in July 2009.When do you usually head for Florida?We came down in October. We're here longer now than we are in Moline. We plan to go back in May. We own our place, and we can come down as often as we want. My mother's still alive. She's 89, and she has Alzheimer's. When I'm home, I go to visit her every day, but I do it more for myself. My husband's mother is 89, and she lives in Washington, Iowa, and we want to visit with her, too. This year, we made the decision to come down in October.How did you meet Jerry?I went to Northern Illinois, and I was a cheerleader there and worked at the fieldhouse. I had a great summer job. I worked for a cheerleading association and traveled all over the United States. A couple of the coaches, however, asked me to work at their summer camp, and I had the idea that I needed to have outdoor education on my resume, so I worked at a camp in Canada. I was going to work with the girls and work on gymnastics and cheerleading. I get up there, and it's awful. It's cold, there's no hot water. I'm thinking, "What have I done?" I hated it, and I decided ... (Herald-Whig)
