Brent GreenABILENE, TXWilliam Brent Green, 86, passed away peacefully in his home on Saturday, October 22, 2016. A funeral service honoring his memory will be held Saturday, October 29, at 1:30 PM at the University Church of Christ with Dr. James Thompson and Brent Isbell officiating. Talmage Minter, Jack Maxwell and Audrey Campbell Derfler will provide tributes. Interment will immediately follow at Cedar Hill Cemetery under the direction of Piersall Funeral Directors, 733 Butternut. Visitation will be held on Friday, October 28, 2016 from 5:00 PM until 7:00 PM at the funeral home. Brent was born on December 4, 1929 in Dawson, Texas to William Cazzle Green and Georgia Elizabeth Bogle Green. Shortly after his birth, Brent moved to the Wooster community northwest of Baytown, Texas where his father had recently joined the ranks of the "labor gang" at the Humble Oil and Refining Company. He attended school in Wooster and Baytown, graduating from Robert E. Lee High School in 1947. Brent began to develop a passion for art while a student at Baytown Junior High School. After Pearl Harbor, the school, adjoining Humble refinery and the entire Baytown area, was transformed by wartime activity. Warships, airplanes, soldiers and anti-aircraft gun emplacements became the repeated subjects of Brent's drawing as he practiced night after night at the family dining room table. It was also at Baytown Junior High that Brent became acquainted with Ina Lynch. In 1942, Ina's family moved to Highlands for her father to enter wartime defense work at the Humble refinery. After graduating together from Baytown Junior High, Robert E. Lee High School and Lee College, Brent and Ina married on May 29, 1949. While a student at Lee College, Brent made a fortuitous choice by enrolling in an engineering drawing class. The course instructor, Alfred Moskowitz, a mechanical engineer at the Humble refinery, enabled Brent to become at the age of 18, the first assistant draftsman in the Humble Oil and Refining Engineering department. Three years later, Brent entered the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied under the renowned Texas painter Boyer Gonzales, Jr., sculptor Charles Umlauf and muralist Seymore Fogel. It is to Gonzales more than any other instructor that Brent credited the thought of becoming a university art professor. In 1953 Brent received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UT. He earned a M.F.A. in painting from the University of Oklahoma in 1962, and a doctorate in art education from the Ohio State University in 1973.In May 1953 Brent began his service in the United States Army, serving at Fort Bliss in El Paso. After his discharge in 1955, he moved to Houston where he obtained employment as a draftsman for Tidelands Exploration Company. During these years Brent's art interests continued. He designed advertisements for Tidelands and painted a mural for the company headquarters. In February 1957, Brent and Ina traveled to Abilene to attend the Abilene Christian University Lectureship. While on campus Brent visited the ACU art department, met faculty members Juanita Tittle and Norman Whitefield, and indicated his interest in teaching on the college level. That opportunity arrived shortly afterward. Brent joined the ACU art faculty as an instructor in 1958, becoming an associate professor in 1969, a professor in 1978 and chair of the Department of Art and Design in 1980. He was director of ACU's Shore Art Gallery and taught classes in painting, drawing, ceramics, art theory and art history. For forty years, Brent cultivated in his students a deep appreciation for art and the aesthetic. He exhibited boundless warmth, integrity and a supreme devotion to his field. Brent was a member of the Board of Directors and the Advisory Board of the Texas Fine Arts Association. He also held memberships in the American Society for Aesthetics and Art Criticism, College Art Association, National Art Education Association and the Texas Art Education Association. He retired as professor emeritus from ACU in 1998.Brent's work is represented in many art collections. His paintings are displayed at the Margaret and Herman Brown Library at Abilene Christian University, Westex Drilling in Abilene and Texas Instruments in Dallas. Seven paintings were on display at the First State Bank in Abilene for many years. In 1981 Brent was commissioned by the Abilene chapter of the American Association of University Women to create a mural commemorating the Abilene centennial. It remains on display at the Abilene Civic Center. A lifetime member of the Church of Christ, Brent served the church in many capacities. He served as an elder at University Church of Christ for 18 years, and as a deacon at the Hillcrest Church of Christ in Abilene and Fishinger and Kenny Church of Christ in Columbus, Ohio. Brent taught Bible classes, made numerous mission trips to Poland, and participated in the Zambia Medical Mission. Several years ago, it gave Brent great pleasure and satisfaction to chair the committee appointed to restore the University Church auditorium to its original design and elegance.Brent is preceded in death by his parents, William and Georgia Green, and a brother Billy Earl Green, who passed away of influenza at the age of five in 1929. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Ina Lynch Green, two children, William Brent Green, Jr. of Kingwood and wife, Melissa, and Heather Green Wooten of Kemah and husband, Kevin; four grandchildren, Laura Kathleen (Katie) Campbell, Audrey Campbell Derfler, and husband, Neil, William Brent Green III, and Amanda Gail Green. Survivors also include a sister, Mary Beth Green Woods and numerous nieces and nephews.The family wishes to express their gratitude to Lesa Hale, Susan Carrasco and Jennie Ortiz for the dedicated service rendered to Brent during his long illness. A special thanks is also extended to the staff of Hendrick Hospice Home Health Care. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the ACU art department.