Captain Ed receiving his Captain’s License from Capt. Robert of Sea Academy.
Captain Ed was born Edgar Lee Altman on January 2, 1930, to Minnie Ruth Sutton (Altman) and Edgar W. Altman in Aransas Pass. He was the oldest of three children: Allen, who has been deceased now for several years, and Dawn Ruth, who currently lives in California. Ed grew up in Aransas Pass, Ingleside, Carrizo Springs, and finally was graduated from Gregory-Portland High School. Ed’s childhood was always associated with the water and the outdoors, which included time during the early part of World War II years when Ed was a Boy Scout. In the late 1940’s, he worked in the oil field as a roustabout, but never got too far from the coast where he loved fishing and hunting. Finally, in 1951, Ed joined the Army and was trained as a mechanic for the infantry. He never spoke much of his time in the Army other than, “I did my bit,” but we knew that he served in Korea and was a Prisoner of War. After getting out of the Army, he took some machinist’s classes and worked locally until he joined the Air Force in 1957; he trained as a jet engine aircraft mechanic and was required to travel extensively. During this time, his eyes were injured in an explosion, which forced Ed out of the Air Force. He went right to work with Lockheed Aircraft Company. Although working for Lockheed was interesting and required a secret security clearance, he could not resist coming back to the Gulf. He left Lockheed and returned to Ingleside and worked on the shrimp boat he had purchased. He remained in Ingleside for several years, shrimping and oil painting as a hobby, but he also found a love for beekeeping. When the shrimping business became too hard to make a living, he switched careers to beekeeping, and acutally traveled to the Middle East teaching farmers and training beekeepers. Later he moved to Cuero, since it was close to family that lived in Yoakum, but still close to his true love – the Gulf Coast.
He never regretted the decision to return to the coast and chose Port O’Connor to make his home. The Gulf Coast and its people were always in his blood. One of his proudest moments was when on April 11, 2008, he received his Captain’s License, after passing the class held at Fisherman’s Chapel under the instruction of his good friend, Captain Robert. He got knocked off his flounder boat one night and had to tie himself to a houseboat to survive the night in the water, but he bounced back from that potential catastrophe. Often, when he was troubled, he would anchor his boat at one of the islands to rest and think, and was seen at various times, day or night, sitting alone praying at the Chapel.
Captain Ed was often blunt – like the time he hit a young man on his leg with his cane because the man was using foul language in front of ladies, but he would give people the shirt off his back when needed. He was also fiercely independent and self-sufficient, a trait which may have contributed to the accident which led to his death (a fall from high upon a ladder).
Captain Ed left planet earth and entered his Heavenly reward on June 29, 2013, at 83 years old.
Allen C. Altman, Captain Ed’s nephew (and source of the above information) wrote: “Thank you and all his friends for the good wishes we have received and your memories of my uncle. Ed would have appreciated them all.
