Jon "Don" D. Wink

Don was born in San Angelo, Texas, on July 13, 1938. His father, Weldon, passed when Don was four, and he was raised by his mother, Viola, a schoolteacher. Don often recalled that there were few toys in his early years, and he entertained himself by shaping objects from clay. Recognizing his creativity, Viola enrolled him in art lessons, and by age six he was studying with a local sculptor. Though he would attend art classes offered at his public school, he often sought additional instruction through private lessons. He continued to advance beyond what was available locally, enrolling in college-level art courses while still in junior high—early evidence of a life shaped by art creation and art education.

As a teenager in the 1950s, Don raced motorcycles in "scrambles" on a steep hill by the North Concho lakebed north of San Angelo. He was so apt in these races that other local riders began calling it Wink Hill, a name that would remain for decades. Wink Hill would be the host to several motorcycle trials, including the Texas State Road Race Cycling Championships as well as an annual Wink Hill Run. Today Wink Hill is known as the Scenic Overlook at San Angelo State Park.

Don began his studies at San Angelo College and then attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts. He served six years in the Marine Corps Reserve and met fellow artist Anna Nadine Osman, whom he married in August 1960. After working as a teaching assistant at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, he continued his graduate studies at Ohio University and completed his Master of Fine Arts at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Following his studies, Don began his full-time teaching career at Glenville State University in West Virginia. He returned to Southwestern University in Texas for several years and later moved to Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, where he was appointed Chairman of the Art Department at age 31. Although he never set out to become an administrator, he took on the program and, with the help of a young and idealistic faculty, transformed it into an innovative small-college art program over seven years. He then returned to Texas to lead the art department at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches for 26 years, guiding the program to its first NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art and Design) accreditation.

In 2002, Don relocated to Lubbock, Texas, to serve as Director of the Texas Tech University School of Art, a role he was eager to accept for a major university. He served there for 18 years, retiring as a professor in 2020.

Through all of it, Don thought of himself first as an artist. "I'd rather be identified as an artist than an administrator," he once said. Though a painter at heart, he was also known to work in drawing, sculpture and printmaking and exhibited his works in shows both nationally and more close to home. Don earned several awards throughout his career, beginning with a prize for his work in oil paints in 1965 to an award from The Artist’s Magazine for his breathtaking landscapes in 2015. Above all, Don believed that art teaches people to think in creative and innovative ways, to be open-minded, and to have the courage to take risks.

Don was deeply interested in science, nature, and theology—topics that frequently appeared as themes in his work. He maintained a strong faith in God, and he loved fishing and communing in nature, especially in trips to Ely, Minnesota; Colorado; Alaska; and our nation's abundant regional and national parks.

Don was preceded in death by his father, Weldon; his mother, Viola; his brother, Eddie; and his wife of more than 62 years, Nadine. He is survived by his children, Gary Wink, Natalie Wiesehuegel, and Anson Wink, and by four grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 8, 2026, at Cook-Walden Chapel of the Hills Funeral Home, 9700 Anderson Mill Road, Austin, Texas 78750. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Parkinson's Foundation.