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12 • Hank Compton H ank Compton was born on April 10, 1928, in San Angelo, Texas, where his father worked as an accountant and his mother as a public schoolteacher. The family later moved to Snyder, Texas. From an early age Hank was fond of animals and liked to draw and paint them, especially birds and fishes. After graduation from high school he joined the US Air Force at age 18 and was stationed in Maine as a pilot, holding the rank of captain. Following military service, he enrolled at the University of Corpus Christi (UCC) in the late 1950s. He earned a bachelor of science degree in biology (emphasis in marine biology) in 1960 under the guidance of Henry Hildebrand. Hank assisted Hildebrand in his classic survey of the brown and pink shrimp grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, where they spent much time on commercial shrimp boats contracted for this work. Hank accompanied him on several collecting trips to the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and farther south into the Caribbean Sea and was an author with Hildebrand on some of the work completed there. Compton painted many birds and fishes from Mexico and Central America, and these paintings may have resulted from his trips there as a student. In the early 1960s Hank was hired by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Marine Laboratory in Rockport as a marine biologist . He participated in various bay projects during the 9 years there, but much of his time was spent in the Gulf of Mexico collecting samples aboard the R/V Western Gulf berthed in Rockport. Logs show that he was chief scientist on some of those trips and marine biologist on others. This research vessel was one of the first to be rigged for deep-water sampling in the Gulf, and Hank was one of the first people in the Gulf involved in deep-water collections. Because of his talent as a biological illustrator, Hank provided fish illustrations for several TPWD bulletins and guides, including those in color used in the classic and collectable series Saltwater Fishes of Texas and Freshwater Fishes of Texas. Surprisingly, Hank Compton had no formal training as an artist/illustrator. He had the rare ability to paint what the eye could see with great accuracy and remarkable attention to detail. Although he painted and drew (pen and ink and pencil) many fishes and birds during his lifetime, several people close to him said his bird illustrations were perhaps his best. Except for the artwork used here and those used in my Fishes of the Texas Laguna Madre, no one knows the fate of the bulk of the illustrations that he produced over the course of his lifetime. Some venture that he may have given them away or even sold them. However , his sister-in-law, Helen, said he thought very little of his work as an artist and that it was unlikely he would take money for them. She thought he either gave them away or threw them away. Regretfully , little of his work is known to exist today. Many who have viewed his paintings and drawings have commented on the “abstract” nature of his work. I am reminded of the work by the foremost of bird illustrators, John Audubon. While Compton’s drawings may not always be helpful to one attempting to identify an unknown fish, one can be assured that the detail and accuracy are there. One cannot deny that the art is simply splendid! In Hank’s early days as a college student at UCC and in the years after his career with TPWD, he worked for Jack Maddux and his family at Oso Pier on Corpus Christi Bay near the UCC campus. He worked on bay shrimp boats catching bait for the pier and for many years was the pier manager. Not only a well-known and productive pier for fishermen, it was known as a local “watering hole” and attracted many of the eccentric local characters. Card games and cocktails would start early and end midday, only to resume in the afternoon after a good nap. He was comfortable in the company of this group. He very much McKee_Book 1.indb 12 10/15/13 12:46 PM hank compton • 13 admired the life of the commercial fisherman (as did Hildebrand), and both had the utmost respect for anyone who made a living on or from the water. In his writings about the images, Hank tells stories...

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