H D Hinson
February 8, 1950 - March 6, 2013
Harold Doug Hinson was born in McCamey, Tx. He joined the Round Rock Chapter in it's early days in 2003. He served as the chapter's Outing Coordinator for many years. He and his wife Janet spent as much time with the chapter and prospecting as they could.
I can't remember my exact first meeting with Doug. I met Janet at my first ever encounter with the chapter at an outing at Long's. I was a complete newbie and Janet took me by the hand and led me into the river. I didn't get to meet Doug that time, but I'm sure my encounter with Janet helped out later. My first recollections of Doug were at a property on the Little River. The chapter was checking out a new place to possibly hold an outing. Rob Goreham brought his highbanker but the foot valve was busted. Things looked bleak until Doug stepped in and engineered a new foot valve. Later that day, Doug asked me to fetch him a beer. Several folks reminded me that alcohol was not allowed during functions. I secretly got him his beer and at that point, we both knew we would be fast friends.
Some folks called him Doug and others H.D. I was confused about this so I asked him what his full name was. He replied "Harold Doug Hinson". I asked him why no one called him Harold. He replied "because they don't want their @!&$ kicked!", laughing all the time. From then on, I referred to him as H.D.
H.D. had a very interesting and amazing life, as we would learn around the campfires of outings. We used to joke about having a biography written on him, it would be a number one seller. At one time in his life, he used to be a backup running back for the Houston Oilers. He and Janet owned and raced horses. His passion was underwater welding. At one point, he held the Guinness Book of World Records for the deepest underwater weld. H.D. had countless tales of diving incidents that would keep us on the edge of our seats.
His love for being underwater led him to build his own dredge. He made the floats out of sheets of aluminum and pressure tested them to ensure there were no leaks. He fabricated and welded everything he could. It was a sight to behold and it was HEAVY! I remember many times dragging it down to the river. He eventually made a wheeled cart for it and that made things better. I first learned how to dredge from H.D. using that dredge. Even when I clogged it up, he would still encourage me. One thing I will never forget was a time when we were at a scouting trip on the Lampasas River. He was getting some nozzle time in and I was tending to the dredge. He popped up and complained that the weight belt was pulling his pants down. I grabbed the second air hose, dove under and helped him out. Later that night at the campfire, he exclaimed "You know a man's a friend when he pulls up your pants for ya!" All of my dredging knowledge came from H.D. and I will always be thankful.
Rest in peace my friend.
Kevin Green
The following is Grady Wallace's eulogy at the burial:
"In preparing this eulogy for today my wife asked me what did H.D. believe in? H.D. believed in his name. He believed in keeping his word. He also believed that whoever he dealt with in business and life, that they should keep their word. He believed in sealing a deal with a handshake. H.D. Hinson believed in having a good time.
Some of his best times were camping out, sitting around a fire, drinking a few....beers and swapping stories, tales or lies. Some we had to guess at. Doug loved his friends and if you were a friend of Doug's you knew he loved you. He told me he loved me and I believed it because he was a man of his word.
Doug did some welding offshore and he told me a story about how he was cutting some steel from an oil rig that was being taken apart, deep down in the Gulf of Mexico. Working that deep, you could only stay down there so long. On the way up you have to stop and take breaks to let the nitrogen in your blood dissipate or you will get sick with the bends. Well, Doug was finished and he was making his ascent up a jackleg with platforms. Doug had to make four rest stops, one every thirty feet for fifteen minutes. On his second or third break he was sitting on a platform waiting and he caught a blur out of his eye. When he finally saw what it was, he discovered an over curious hammer head shark, that Doug said looked hungry. While Doug was dodging the shark around this jackleg playing keep away, he radioed the boat to drop his plasma cutter back down to him. When the cutter made it to him he waited until just the right time and he hit the shark with the cutter and pulled the trigger. When he pulled the trigger he said the shark exploded into lots of little pieces. At this point he was still about sixty feet below the surface. He radioed the ship and told them to bring him all the way up immediately. He would rather spend 14 hours in a decompression chamber.
Doug was a man of many means. He could think on his feet; he was a "McGyver" of sorts. He was ingenuitive. I referred to him as my half step next door neighbor in-law. But best of all I called him friend.
I will miss your wit, your humor and that laugh. Doug I love you, my boys and girls love you and your friends and family love you.
God bless you and keep you!
Grady Wallace
