Kent Humphreys is what you might call a well-traveled man.
Having lived in no fewer than five states, he calls San Benito
County home for now but says he never knows where the wind might
take him.
Hollister – Kent Humphreys is what you might call a well-traveled man. Having lived in no fewer than five states, he calls San Benito County home for now but says he never knows where the wind might take him.
Born and raised on a farm in Ohio, Humphreys, 56, said he knew early on that the farming life wasn’t for him – a conviction that was solidified after a family road trip when he was 10 years old.
“My dad discouraged us from sticking around and becoming farmers,” he said. “You know Horace Greeley, ‘Go west young man?’ Well that was sort of my dad’s advice, too.”
Immediately after graduation, Humphreys left Ohio for good when he was still in his teens and went to San Diego to stay with a relative. A few months later, he enlisted in the Marine Corps.
“My cousin was going to enlist in the Marines, and I tried to talk him out of it but I wound up talking myself into it,” he said. “I knew I was going to be drafted anyway, and the Marines seemed like the way to go.”
Humphreys spent two years with the Marines during the Vietnam War, mostly doing reconnaissance work and working extensively with helicopters, he said.
After his stint in the service, Humphreys found himself in San Francisco with a friend from the Marines, with no particular plans for the future.
“My friend decided he wanted to hitchhike to Alaska,” he said. “So we left San Francisco on motorcycles with 40 bucks in our pocket and headed up.”
The pair found jobs as firefighters, where Humphreys’ experience with helicopters proved particularly useful. In 1975, looking for a career in the architectural field, Humphreys took a job as a steel detailer – the occupation he still works in today – working on everything from shipping docks to schoolhouses.
While his friend chose to stay in Alaska, Humphreys eventually chose to move south: First to Oregon, where he spent a number of years, then Hawaii and finally Hollister, where he moved just over a year ago to be near family.
Ten years ago, Humphreys decided to take on a side job to help a friend, but that would eventually unlock one of the great passions in his life: Art.
“A friend of mine was going to school to become a writer and she got a contract to write five hiking guides,” he said. “She knew that I had drawn a bit, and asked if I would be interested in illustrating… it doesn’t pay much, but I’m glad she did.”
Humphreys’ knack for sketching eventually blossomed into a love of oil paintings, and nature is still where the bulk of his inspiration comes from. His subjects have ranged from rare birds and kittens to the Northern Lights and Point Lobos in Monterey.
“I could just sit on the beach and paint for hours,” he said.
While most of his work winds up as decorations for his home or gifts for friends and family, Humphreys hopes one day to devote himself to his art full-time. And while he says Hollister is nice, he hopes to trade in his Ridgemark home for two new ones: a summer house in Alaska and a winter home in Hawaii, where the exotic surroundings will lend themselves to his painting.
“I never had any kids, but I always figured the reason people have kids is to leave something of themselves behind,” he said. “I look to my art as something to leave for the world, a way I can contribute a little.”
