B.R. Hamlin

B. R. (Bob)  Hamlin passed away on April 22, 2020 at his home in Tarrant County.  He will be buried in the Pavelka Cemetery near Mart and the graves of his parents.

Bob was born on March 15, 1937, in a farmhouse in a cotton field near Lorena, Texas.  He was the son of Katherine and Louis Hamlin.  Most of his youth was spent in Central Texas, and he graduated from Mart High School in 1955, having reached his goal of reading every book he could check out of the school library. Bob joined the U. S. Marine Corps shortly after graduation and was assigned to an Intelligence unit because he was the only one in his recruiting group who knew how to type.  (Thanks, Mart High School!)  The highlight of his time in the Marines was a tour to Japan, where he and Mount Fuji became acquainted.  He returned to the states, serving at Cherry Point, where he met a life-long friend, Art Stokes, ran track and led Bible study groups with young men. Upon his honorable discharge from the Marines as a Sergeant in 1959, Bob returned to Central Texas and enrolled in Baylor University.  As there was no GI Bill at that time, he paid for his college education by working as a dorm counselor and by assisting a handicapped roommate. Bob graduated from Baylor in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a double major in English and Physics.  He took his first job teaching English and Math at LaVega High School.  He was offered an opportunity to do advanced study at the University of Hawaii but found the island to be a bit claustrophobic.  He did accept an offer from the University to participate in a geophysical group mapping the western states for future oil explorations, preferring the wide, open spaces there.

After Bob's daughter Amy was born, he and her mother decided to return to Texas, where they both worked for Mobil Oil Corporation, Bob in the office of patent counsel.  He found working for a large corporation frustrating and decided to return to teaching.  He worked in Dallas ISD for 15 years and was one of the first white teachers at an inner-city school where 99% of the students were black. He had a hard time convincing his students that he had done what none of them had ever done; chop and pick cotton in his youth.  While teaching, he earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of Texas at Dallas in 1980.

Always interested in building things, Bob tried his hand at restoring an old house on Windomere in the Kessler Park area of Dallas.  It was chosen for an Old Oak Cliff Conservation League tour, which brought him acclaim as a craftsman and general contractor for other projects.  From that time on, he was in great demand for his skills and knowledge of how to bring out the best in older homes. As his family matured, he looked for new challenges.  He and his wife Margaret bought a property in the Crest Point addition, near Eagle Mountain Lake, where he worked his magic to create a beautiful home out of one that was bordering on derelict when they bought it.

Bob was a lover of literature, art, music, and especially Gothic architecture. He visited numerous cathedrals in Europe and England and climbed to the highest point allowed in most of them, mainly to study how they were constructed.

Bob spent his last years working in what became known as “Hamlin Gardens” on his Crest Point property and volunteering at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens in his spare time.

Bob is survived by his wife of 48 years, Margaret Carpenter Hamlin, his daughter Amy Hamlin Nutt, her husband Danny, Laurie Thompson Rose, and Allen Wayne Thompson.  The three “kids” furnished him with seven grandchildren and (so far) eight great-grandchildren.