I wrote a piece in this space five years ago this week, and was reminded of it recently by the man’s daughter, Amy Barron. I found it, and reading it again, it is still relevant today, maybe even more.
Back in 2016, I sat in a room full of some of the most important people in Bowie County and some of the brightest, most influential people in the history of Bowie County sat in my office and told me stories about Hamp Atkinson, and you didn’t have to listen very long to know that Hamp probably did more for Bowie County education than any man that ever lived in these parts.
These men and women that knew Hamp best regaled me with the things that made Hamp so special and it soon became clear to me that he was much, much more than just a politician, and as a politician, he was cut from a different cloth than those we know today.
