Dinwiddie Lampton Jr.

LAMPTON--Dinwiddie, Jr. lived life with a flourish, particularly when driving his own coach, lines of four horses in hand. His hard work at American Life, the company his father started in 1906, lasted consistently for 40 years. Many of his employees stayed with the company forty years or more. His longterm thinking has been a benefit to the company. The motto he created, "Be wise, be insured" announced by coaching horn, proved beneficial to company identity. His personal motto was "whip and kick and don't give up, you've got an eternity to rest." He graduated from Culver Military Academy, attended St. John's College in Annapolis, MD. In 1935, his father recalled him to Louisville to work at the company because Dinwiddie Sr. was very ill. He was the first to say he learned on the job. As a boy, he showed saddlebreds, as a young man competed in polo, then raced over jumps in steeplechases, raced on the flat in the original "Gentlemen" races at Churchill Downs, and ended with 30 years of driving horses to an array of vehicles, mostly 19th century rolling stock. He was a member of the American Carriage Association, The Coaching Club, and the Metropolitan Club in NYC. It was there he swung four horses and a carriage through the original coaching turnaround at 60th and Fifth Avenue. Club staff came out protesting, "You can't do that!" answered by "But I just did!" For 39 years he was married to Nancy Houghland from Nashville, TN. He and his family helped make the Hardscuffle Steeplechase a noteworthy race meet. His second marriage was to Elizabeth Whitcomb Brown who also drove horses to carriages. She was killed in March 2008 in a driving accident with carriage and four horses. As a young man, he was initiated into Masonry, and is a 33rd degree member of the Scottish Rite, The Royal Order of Scotland, the Red Cross of Constantine, Kosair Shrine, York Rite Commandery and the Military Order of World Wars. He served on the Regional Board of the Salvation Army and as Director of Citizens Fidelity Bank from 1965-1975. As a believer in saving land, he bought several farms for the company in perpetuity, including "Elmendorf' in Lexington, KY, "Beechdale" in Pennsylvania, and "Hardscuffle" in Kentucky. He is survived by his sons, Dinwiddie Lampton, III, married to Irene de Boor; Mason H. Lampton married to Mary Lucile Hardaway; and a daughter, Nana Lampton; his sister Mary Jane Lampton Peabody married to Royden Peabody, II; grandchildren, Mary Wendell Lampton of Virginia Beach, VA; Mason Hardaway Lampton, married to Suzanna Lott, of Columbus, GA; and Lucile Lampton Cogswell, married to William Cogswell of Charleston, SC; as well as five great-grandchildren. A funeral service will be held at 1:00pm on Monday, September 29 at The Olmsted at the Masonic Home, 3701 Frankfort Avenue, Louisville, KY with burial to follow in Cave Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be on Monday from 11:30am until time of service. Pearsons, 149 Breckenridge Lane, in charge of services. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Salvation Army, Culver Military Academy, The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, or the, Carriage Museum of America at the KY Horse Park.