Former Board of Directors

Henry Hammon

Henry Hamman, one of the founders of the Matagorda Bay Foundation, passed away last week after a long battle with cancer. Henry was an avid outdoorsman and conservationist, and most importantly, Henry was a mentor and a dear friend of mine. In my academic and professional life, I have been blessed to have had so many mentors that took the time to share their experiences and knowledge with me and encouraged and support me in my various pursuits. I will miss my weekly conversations with Henry, and hope to see him somewhere down the road.

We will continue our work to conserve the natural resources of the Matagorda Bay Ecosystem and will do so to honor Henry’s dedication to the Texas outdoors.

Our president, Jim Blackburn wrote the following tribute to Henry that I'd like to share:

Raising a Glass to Henry

To Henry Hamman, I offer this toast,

To me, he was simply one of the most

Supportive friends that one could find,

To me, there’s no doubt he was one of a kind.

Henry and I did environmental things

That a deeply felt love for nature brings,

Henry was committed to Matagorda Bay,

And helping whooping cranes along the way.

For over thirty years he’s been my friend,

We’d meet for breakfast every now and then,

And talk of the coast and oysters and trout,

And how the quail crop was filling out.

We’d talk of rain and south Texas grass,

And how the river was flowing fast,

We’d talk of the future of the bay,

And how freshwater had been taken away.

He and I started the Matagorda Bay Foundation,

A group we spoke of with elation,

A finger in the Texas environmental dike,

A group that told power to take a hike.

We wanted to protect something that we loved,

A place of marsh and seagrass and mud,

An unsettled place unlike Galveston Bay,

A place a bit wild, a bit out of the way.

The last time we met, Henry had trouble walking,

But he was still eloquent, no trouble talking,

You could see the frustration with his physical condition,

But it did not interfere with his Matagorda mission.

So I raise my glass to a friend I enjoyed,

And wish him well on his final voyage,

And when I go fishing on Matagorda Bay.

Henry and I will have a few words to say.

C. Hasty Johnson III

The Staff and Board of the Matagorda Bay Foundation

The Matagorda Bay Foundation began working with Hasty around 2017 when he expressed interest in protecting the habitat that fringed his family’s property at Schicke Point. Coincidentally, the Foundation had identified his property as a priority project site because of the diverse and unusual habitats that included a unique woody shrub community, oyster reef, tidal wetlands, and seagrasses. The Foundation partnered with Texas Parks and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and Hasty to build phase II of the shoreline protection project that extended the initial project, with the same protections and benefits to habitats, west of the first project. This project is the gold standard by which other living shorelines projects should be evaluated.

After the project was complete, I received a phone call from Hasty. He asked what he could do to help us protect and conserve Matagorda Bay’s natural resources. We happened to be looking for a board member, and Hasty accepted. In early 2023 Hasty joined the board of the Matagorda Bay Foundation. He was instrumental in helping us improve our business structure and legitimize our operations. His business insights were vital to our growth but his brief private messages and emails that offered praise and encouragement were beyond value. 

Hasty’s contributions to our Foundation were huge, and he leaves behind a legacy that is so rare in this world – a desire to invest in the conservation and protection of our natural world.  Today, the living shoreline at Schicke Point is a model of how these systems should work.  Erosion has been stopped. The marsh is recovering, and sea grass has grown in behind the protective structure.  As a legacy, the Schicke Point living shoreline is a monument to Hasty, to the bay and to good thinking.

Mr. R.J. Shelly

Hasty Johnson was a soft spoken, kindhearted, gentle man that had a deep love for his family and the natural world around him. He loved all outdoor activities. He never fought Mother Nature. He looked at what she offered up for the day and adjusted his game plan to take advantage of those activities that were suited for the conditions.  He truly enjoyed the time that he got to spend outdoors with his family.  He was the type of person that always put other people first.  If the fish were biting on his side of the boat or the ducks were decoying to his side of the blind he would always insist that his guest take his spot so they could have the best opportunity to catch a fish or bag a bird.  Hasty had a deep love for the Matagorda Bay System.  He noticed that the marsh along Schicke Point did not look as healthy and vibrant as it used to.  He knew that erosion had been taking its toll on Schicke Point and he wanted to preserve it for future generations.  Hasty knew that these type of projects take time but he kept pursuing it until the first phase of the Schicke Point Living Shoreline Project was constructed a few months before Hurricane Harvey hit the Texas Coast in 2017.  The Schicke Point Living Shoreline Project has been the gold standard for all coastal living shoreline projects along the Texas Coast.  Every time we fished or hunted together we would talk about how good the marsh looked, how much the land behind the breakwater had built up, and how no one could have ever guessed that this project would have turned out this good.  It was definitely something that he was extremely proud of in his own quiet way.  The Texas Coast lost a great man this year.  My deepest condolences to his wife Sis and his daughters Ann and Alice.  I’m going to think of your husband and dad every time I see a heron feeding along the marsh.  The world is a better place because of him.