Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Thompson married longtime girlfriend Sara Dawn Conklin on 19 May 1963. They had a son Juan Fitzgerald Thompson on 23 March 1964. The couple divorced in the year 1980 but remained good friends.

He married Anita Bejmuk in April 2003.

Hunter S Thompson died on 20 February 2005 from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Hunter S Thompson was born on 18 July 1937 in Louiseville, Kentucky. His father Jack Robert Thompson, a World War 1 veteran, worked as a public insurance adjuster and his mother Virginia Ray Davison was the head librarian at the Louiseville public library. Hunter’s father died when Hunter was fourteen years old.

Hunter S Thompson received his school education from the I.N. Bloom Elementary School, Highland Middle School, Atherton High School and finally the Louiseville Male High School.

He was inclined towards athletics, and therefore while at the I.N. Bloom Elementary School he co–founded the Hawks Athletic Club. He also got invited to become a member of the Louisville's Castlewood Athletic Club where he performed well in basketball.

During his education at Louiseville Male High School, in 1952, he was made part of the elite school sponsored literary association - Athenaeum Literary Association. His articles and contributions were published in the club’s yearbook. In 1955, Thompson was expelled Athenaeum Literary Association on the charges of being an accessory to the robbery; he was in the car with the perpetrator Due to the same reason, he could not appear in his final examinations and thus did not graduate.

Thompson was given the choice of prison or the military and in 1956, he joined the United States Air Force. After completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, he was transferred to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois to pursue studies in Electronics. In 1956, after his application to become an aviator was rejected, he was sent to Eglin Air Force Base near Florida. There he went to evening classes at the Florida State University.

While at Eglin, Hunter S Thompson got his first writing job as the sports editor of ‘The Command Courier’. As part of the job, he had to travel throughout USA with the football team Eglin Eagles covering their games. In 1957, he also wrote a sports column for a local newspaper – ‘The Playground News’. He pursued these jobs without using his name as he was still part of the US Air Force.

Hunter S Thompson was honorably discharged from the Air Force in June1958. Shortly afterwards worked as sports editor of a newspaper in Pennsylvania for a short period of time. He later shifted to New York City. During his time in the city he had several short phases of employment, such as auditing courses at the Columbia University of General Studies, as a copy boy at ‘Time’ and reporting for’ The Middle Town Daily Record’. However, he was fired from work for various reasons.

In 1960, Hunter S Thompson relocated to Puerto Rico. There he worked as a freelance journalist for New York Herald Tribune and other local papers. Post his return to the United States in 1961, he got work as a security guard at Big Sur Hot Springs. He was employed there for eight months.

During this time, an article of his was published in the popular magazine ‘Rogue’. The unexpected attention that he got from the article cost him his job. He also wrote many short stories and two novels, namely, ‘Prince Jellyfish’ and ‘The Rum Diary’, but saw little success.

Between 1962 and 1963, Hunter S Thompson worked as a correspondent with ‘The National Observer’ and travelled to South America. While at Brazil, he worked for the ‘Brazil Herald’ for a brief period.

Hunter S Thompson is remembered as the creator of gonzo journalism. His style of writing is considered a revolutionary shift from the then prevalent conventional and objective style to reporting.