Mom's Story: Mary Anna Hampton Roche (1921-2017)

My mother, Mary Anna Hampton Roche, led a unique, generous, and loving life. This is her story, edited by me - her filmmaker son Tom in 2021. From an upbringing in then-sleepy Tampa, to honors journalism grad at FSCW Tallahassee (now FSU,) to a budding career in Chicago advertising and public relations… a path not usually taken by single women in the 1940s-50s. She gave up her career for love, falling for an erudite witty salesman in her circle, marrying at 32 (he was 41,) leaving the harsh Windy City winters, and moving back to Tampa.
Her father worked for years at The Tampa Times, and made sure her name was in the paper every few months, even as a teenager, so there was much archival material to draw from.
She was an family genealogy pro who kept century-old images of her grandparents and great grandparents from the Springfield IL area. Plus she was a talented amateur photographer and kept her photos well-preserved for decades - along with work samples from her big city PR career. As a filmmaker it was a pleasure to have such a wealth of visuals to help tell her fascinating story.
I recorded her telling her life story in 2007 as we reviewed all her oldest photos… while her memory was still remarkably sharp. (Pro tip: record your parents on-camera telling their life story, and do it soon.)
This unique life story runs 1:45:00, yes a deep dive but I hope you find it to be briskly told. (I included an intermission to make more popcorn, ha.) And I hope this film resonates beyond just our immediate family, especially with those who have an interest in:
- Springfield Illinois life in the late 1800s
- Wilson Elementary school in the 1920’s
- Her father’s struggle buying a lot at inflated prices during the late 20s Florida Land Boom, only to see the value crash during The Great Depression.
- The earliest days of then-new H.B. Plant High School, Tampa (Class of ’39)
- Then-new Peter O’Knight airport and 1930-40’s aircraft on Davis Island, Tampa
- Florida State College For Women (Class of ’43)
- Chicago life in the 1940s-1950s at the elegant (now razed) LaSalle Hotel
- Raising a family in a new construction Tampa home (Palma Ceia suburb) purchased for $10,000 in 1954
- The social pressures of a 1960s a non-Catholic mom with 3 kids at Christ The King Catholic School.
I welcome your comments at [e-mail]
Tom Roche Jr, New Orleans
Moms Story Vers 5.5 Rev Close Oct 2021

[@evergreen9420]

Watched the Tampa/Plant High section. Loved to listen to your mother talking about her life and Tampa. She really brings those times alive I have heard about from my grandparents and my mother. My mother graduated from Plant in 1940. This is a wonderful family history you have put together!