Rice University Class of 1979

09/16/2022

Dear Classmates:

Earlier this week I received the message below from Prayag Gordy, Special Projects Editor at the Thresher:

My team is reporting a project about abortion at Rice in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. I wrote the first story about a current student's abortion experience: As Roe falls, Rice grapples with diminishing abortion access. Now, we're curating “Abortion Through the Decades,” a project exploring abortion at Rice before, during and after Roe v. Wade.

We would love to speak with alumni from throughout Rice's history about their experiences with abortion while at Rice. If you'd like to share your story, please reach out to Prayag Gordy, the Special Projects Editor, at [email protected].

Prayag has also offered to address any questions or concerns via email or by phone: (301) 747-8259, and adds a bit more about the Special Projects team:

We created the Special Projects team this year in an effort to expand and enhance the paper's coverage: With one month per project, we have time to dig deep into the issues at hand; with multiple stories in each project, we will investigate from unique and revealing angles; and with a custom-built addition to our website, we can create engaging web designs incorporating multimedia, data journalism, and more.

Our first project, about Rice's Innovation District, will be published near the end of September.

07/07/2022

Jim Shaw, Section 2:

After that, we stayed in touch with an occasional phone call and Christmas card. Then one year, the card came back with no forwarding address. I began an off and on search trying to find BJ. Bill Wilder checked in wanting to know if I knew where he was. It was like he went off the grid. I searched off and on and a couple of years ago I thought I had found BJ in Lampasas. I sent a Christmas card and soon thereafter, I received an email from the man himself. He said I found his brother who forwarded the card to him. We swapped emails once in a while and I sent a card again last year. The card was returned to me in April of this year so I began another search. Unfortunately, the first thing I found was BJ’s obituary.

You often hear phrases like “one of a kind” or “he broke the mold.” In BJ’s case, they’re true. He was a truly unique character. BJ once said that the best beer was free and cold. Wherever you are, I hope the taps are wide open and the beer is ice cold. Rest in peace, my friend.

Thank you, Jim!

07/07/2022

Full entry on BJ McCord from Jim Shaw (in sections)

Section 1:
Jim Shaw

Rice U., Lovett College, Class of 1979



David Brian “BJ” McCord passed away late last year. BJ and I were roommates as freshman and as seniors. In the last issue, Bill Wilder and Murff Bledsoe contributed touching and accurate remembrances of BJ, especially his time at Rice. I wanted to add a few more things.



As Bill mentioned, BJ was a partier of the highest order. I’m willing to bet he still holds the record for most beer consumed in four years of college. Remember, the drinking age was 18 back then and Willy’s Pub was close by.

After graduating from Rice, BJ attended and graduated from the University of Texas Law School. Ever the iconoclast, he never took the bar exam. He said he didn’t want to be a lawyer after all. Shortly after finishing law school, I received a call from BJ. I was working on a construction site in Wyoming at the time and he wanted to go to work there. He made it to Wyoming, hired on as a construction laborer, and we were roommates once again for a few months. When the weather turned cold, he bought a Harley and set out for Texas via Las Vegas. He eventually made it back to Texas but the Harley broke down somewhere along the way and didn’t make it with him.

We stayed in touch with an occasional phone call. The next time I heard from BJ he was married and had a child. Shortly after that, he enrolled at the University of Illinois, later graduating with a Master’s in Communications. We stayed in touch and BJ had two more children. He also went to work at TelLabs, rising to Director of Communications. The next and last time I saw BJ in person was at my wedding in 1993. He honored me by being a groomsman.

05/08/2022

Photo below: John Boone and Leon Vance.

05/08/2022

05/08/2022

John Boone concludes:

I see Bill Wilder (Biology, Lovett 1979) and Jim Hill (Civil Engineering, Lovett 1979) pretty regularly. They both live in the Houston area. Jim did the plans for a major expansion of our house about ten years ago when the family outgrew our Montrose cottage. We still regularly praise his skill and thoughtfulness as we live in the dwelling he (re)created. Bill is a consultant and expert witness in the realm of biology and environmental mishaps.

I also see Steve Knapp(Geology, Lovett 1980) and his wife Isabel. Steve works for oil companies. But he burnishes his green credentials by being an enthusiastic and prolific suburban gardener.

This fall, Danny Weaver (Lovett 1981) organized a get-together for much of our old coterie to coincide with Homecoming. Now, that was a group of fine and interesting individuals! The group included Tracy Bouvette (Lovett 1980) Sam Francis (Lovett, 1980), Bob May (Will Rice, 1980), Bob Nunley (Lovett, 1981), Lloyd Bridges (Lovett 1981), Kathleen Boyd (Jones, 1980) and Diane Gibson (Lovett 1982) and Pam Tacy (Lovett 1981) and as well as Jim, Bill and Steve. Kathleen and Peter Merwin (Wiess 1982) gave us all a tour of the new buildings and public art at Rice. Most of the members of that group are still in touch by text message chain.

Feel free to edit for grammar, syntax, length or for whatever reason you damn well please!

And.. I just re-read your email. I am at over 900 words! In my defense, some of them are very short…

Thank you, John!

Photos next . . .

05/08/2022

John Boone, chapter 2:

In 1999, I married Katherine Kibler. She did not attend Rice, but grew up just across the street from the Central Kitchen. She says she was selling girl scout cookies outside the library while I was there( I never bought any-I was always too broke). We have two sons, Robert (12) and Sprague (14).

I continue to enjoy running: This coming Sunday, I will run my 24th Houston Marathon. I have also run marathons in Hanoi, Boston, Big Sur, and a few longer runs, notably the Western States Endurance Run in California. Oh, and I ran the Pike’s Peak Ascent from Manitou Springs in Colorado: that one is probably easier in a car!

Last summer, the family was in Georgia to retrieve my son and me from our hike of part of the Appalachian Trail. We saw Tim Case (Lovett 1980, Economics(?)) there. Tim lives in Claxton, Georgia. Claxton is famous as the only known location of an asteroid strike on a mailbox. Tim does finance for a retail drug company and raises his two teenaged daughters. Tim lived in Houston for a long time and made what was the best home-brew in the city. He also managed The Ale House and a The Houston Brewery, a brewpub on Richmond Avenue.

I saw Leon Vance (Lovett, 1979 Geology) and his children this fall, when I went to Hamilton, Montana to attend a memorial service for his wife, Cameron. Cameron died of late-diagnosed lung cancer the summer of 2020, right as she and Leon were moving from Juneau, Alaska. I had reconnected with Leon and met Cam a couple of years earlier while were on an Alaska cruise. She was a wonderful person: lively, creative, and charming. Leon has practiced Environmental Law in Alaska for a number of years and is now mostly retired. He is finishing up a couple of cases for his firm in Alaska.

Still more to come . . .

05/08/2022

Dear Classmates:

Here, in a few installments, is an update from John Boone, Lovett, Economics, 1979. An abbreviated version is in the most recent issue of Owlmanac.

I had a fine time at Rice, taking a wide assortment of courses and graduating with an Economics degree in 1979. Rice was so enjoyable that I chose more school afterward. More school came in the form of law school at the University of Houston. Law school, to my considerable disappointment, was less fun than
Rice. I had joined Army ROTC at Rice and was commissioned as an Army officer upon graduation. The commission involved an obligation to spend some time on active duty in the military, but they were willing to wait until I completed law school.

Toward the end of law school, I discussed my options with the Army, and found them unappealing. The Marine Corps, I learned, needed lawyers. They offered a more interesting experience than that offered by the Army. So, I received an “interservice transfer” and became a Marine. All Marine Corps Officers attend The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia for a six-month course that teaches one to be a Marine Corps Platoon Leader. I was advised by other Marines that the course would be physically taxing, so by
way of preparation, I completed two marathons in the months leading up to my arrival at Quantico. The Basic School was fine, with no more than the expected tedium, and a variety of rewarding experiences. Afterward, I went to the Naval Justice School, where I spent the coldest winter of my life at
Newport Rhode Island. That winter was the first time I saw frozen salt water.

From Newport, I went to Twentynine Palms, California, a 900 square mile Marine Corps base, where I served for two years. I encountered another Rice Marine, Clovis Vaughan (Lovett 1980) there. At Twentynine Palms, I had the trio of jobs all new Marine Corps Lawyers had: Criminal Defense, Legal Assistance, and Prosecution. I enjoyed all three jobs, and even picked up a California Law License to help with Legal Assistance, but I found my calling in prosecution. When my active duty time in the Marine Corps was completed, I looked for jobs as a prosecutor in
Texas. The Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston was willing to hire me, so I joined that office in 1986, and stayed there until I retired in 2015. I now work part-time as a magistrate, and spend much of the rest of my time keeping my rent house from falling down.

More to come . . .

04/30/2022

Think there are storms over the Everglades?

03/25/2021

Dear Classmates:
You've no doubt received multiple appeals to donate during the special giving challenge. Please do contribute. Every gift counts!

11/03/2020

Dear Classmates:

If you haven't already, please go vote today! If you need to know where, how, or when, please check out Iwillvote.com or 833-336-8683, a nonpartisan source of accurate information. And while I have your attention, please join me in wishing a happy birthday to Tracy Dittert Janda!