Thomas Hampton; Sea, Fishing Pulled Him Out Of Classroom

The ocean long ago hooked Thomas Hampton, a former schoolteacher who traded his textbooks for a career as one of the state's busiest charter-fishing operators.

He fell in love with fishing as a boy in Westport, Grays Harbor County. With his fishing pole and boat, his curly, blond hair damp with spray, he was a familiar sight on the waterfront. It was the same when he grew up, only he had a bigger boat, the 42-foot Outlaw, and wore his trademark sunglasses.

"He taught school so he could fish in the summers," said his wife of 25 years, Kathy Hampton of Bellevue. "When the fishing seasons were longer in the early 1970s, he found he could make more fishing than teaching, and liked it more. So he quit teaching in 1975 and went into the charter business."

Mr. Hampton died of cancer Monday (July 28). He was 51.

"He's going to go down as one of the cornerstones of the charter industry in Washington state," said Phil Anderson, a former charter operator and now a policy coordinator with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. "He was very well-respected in the industry . . . and had a diversity of friends from all walks of life. He made friends very easily."

Born in Tacoma, Mr. Hampton graduated from Ocosta High School in Westport in 1963, received an education degree from Central Washington University in 1967, then taught math and science in Bellevue middle schools for nine years before going into charter boating full time.

He was an innovator, keeping mailing lists of clients on his computer before it was widely done, and making several mailings a year.

"He was the first to have a pressure washer on his boat," Anderson said. "And he was always looking for new technology on his boat to give him an edge."

When the industry slowed because of shortened salmon-fishing seasons, Mr. Hampton took clients fishing for halibut in Neah Bay and for other fish in Sequim Bay. His daughter, Andrea, became a summer deckhand. His wife, who commuted weekends from Bellevue, kept books.

In the winters Mr. Hampton ferried boats to California. He also took people whale watching.

When he was diagnosed with cancer four years ago, he sold the charter boat and bought a pleasure boat, the Emerald Isle, on which he and his family cruised the San Juan and Gulf islands.

"He gave our daughter a tremendous amount of strength and independence, and the ability to achieve new things and not be afraid," said his wife. "The disease brought out the fighting instinct in him. It also brought out the living."

Other survivors include his mother, Genevie Hampton of Olympia, and brothers, Mitch and Jim Hampton of Olympia, and Kim Hampton of Tacoma.

Services were scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Green's Bellevue Funeral Home, 1215 140th Ave. S.E., Bellevue.

Memorials can go to the Tumor Institute, c/o the Swedish Medical Center Foundation, Seattle, WA 98122.

Carole Beers' phone message number is 206-464-2391. Her e-mail address is: cbee-new@seatimes.com