David Compton was born in De Leon, Texas, to William Zelna Compton and Augusta Short Compton, and grew up in Comanche, Texas. He served in the Navy as a Radioman 3rd Class during World War II. He attended Texas A&M University, then graduated with a B.S. and M.S. in Chemistry from North Texas State College, where he met Jane Walker, who became his wife in 1950. They moved to Austin where she supported them while he studied for and received his Ph.D. in chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin. David taught chemistry at West Texas State College, Colorado School of Mines, and Prescott College in Arizona. He had a one-year sabbatical to study the history of technology at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London and was awarded their M.Sc. in 1972. From 1974, David worked in NASA's Johnson Space Center History Office writing two official NASA histories, Living and Working in Space: A History of Skylab (with Charles Benson) and Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of NASA's Apollo Lunar Expeditions. In between those two book contracts, he worked for H.J. Gruy & Associates in Houston as a technical writer/editor. He wrote the chapter on NASA and space sciences in 100 Years of Science and Technology in Texas (1986) published by Sigma Xi for its centenary and Texas' sesquicentennial. David received the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Historical Essay Prize at the National Space Club's 1983 Goddard Memorial Dinner. David and Jane moved to New Mexico where he was a writer/editor at the Los Alamos National Laboratory until 1993, when he and Jane retired to Texas. After Jane's death in 2016, David moved to Athens, Georgia, to live with his daughter, Margaret.
David loved Sousa marches, brass bands, Scott Joplin's ragtime music, old-time radio, the writings of Mark Twain, history, travel, classical music, opera, reading, and genealogical research. His Compton family line is documented in the U.S. back to the 1700s, and he spent many happy hours at the Houston Public Library's Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, researching the family tree's branches in Texas, Tennessee, and South Carolina. David particularly enjoyed traveling to Columbia, TN, for two reunions of the descendants of Thomas Compton (1755?-1817) and Rachel Smith Compton, and visiting the burial place of Basil Compton (1776-1846) in Lynnville, TN. A highlight of his years in Georgia was a trip to Spartanburg, SC, to visit the cemetery of Rachel Smith Compton's family. He was also able to travel with Margaret to the summer concerts at Tanglewood, where he got to hear one of his favorite pieces of music, Verdi's Requiem, performed. On the same trip, a visit to the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut, was a special treat. As David's eyesight failed, he maintained his love of reading by listening to hundreds of audiobooks from the National Library Service of the Library of Congress, a service for which the family is extremely grateful.
David is survived by his children, Sarah Gregg, David (Windi) Compton, and Margaret Compton; his granddaughter, Elizabeth Potvin (Peter) and her children, Scarlet and Damien; his sister, Anne Banowsky; and his nephews, Bill Banowsky (Susan), Jim Banowsky (Teresa), and Kurt Banowsky (Angela) and their families.
No services will be held.
Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
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