ALUMNI NEWS
Let’s start with Trey Lander, who shared that daughter Lizzie just got married out in California to her beau of four years, Jacob. Trey said the wedding was awesome, unbelievably perfect. He recently sold his bank building to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church so he is completely out of work. “Vickie calls me retired; I call it relaxed. The only thing about not working is you work even harder and longer on your projects because there is no real quitting time!” Alan Gerger also had wedding news. His older daughter Emily married recently her beau Graham who she met online. Younger daughter Tracy is also in a serious relationship with one of her new brother-in-law’s cousins – a coincidence. Alan continues his bankruptcy law practice here in Houston, and the whole family lives here in Houston. Cindy and Brian Atlas were in town from their home in Austin for the visitation for Larry Jacob’s mom, Louise, who had recently passed. The Atlases were going to spend Thanksgiving here with their family. All three Atlas girls, Kimberly, Julie and Angela, live in Houston. Two are happily married, and the Atlases are grandparents three times over. Brian said he’s really busy and has gone back to work. As the economy has improved, his development, Montechino on Lake Travis, has heated up. Brian said that they have quite a few homes under construction, and all are pre-sold. My request for news brought even more news on homebuilding and grandkids, Frank McGuyer shared, “I am still surviving in homebuilding and truly happy to be only building in the major Texas markets. Son Bart got his Ph.D. in physics from Princeton and is now a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia in NYC where his wife works for Harpers Collins.” Bart (29) already has been granted his first patent. Frank continued, “Our daughter Brooke’s divorce is final, and she and our two-and-a-half year-old grandson are now living in Houston near us. For you that have grandchildren you know how fun that is.” Frank and I had lunch about a week ago, and we discussed several topics including the impact of the 2008 financial crisis on his business, McGuyer Homes, Inc. (FMI). Frank, who serves as Chairmen of the Board and CEO, not only weathered the housing bust, but he also took the downturn as an opportunity to position FMI for the rebound with the purchase of the assets of Wilshire Homes, another private, smaller home builder in the San Antonio and Austin markets. The acquisition further strengthened
FMI’s position in these growth markets. Nationwide MHI is one of the top 30 homebuilding firms. Paul Barnhart also checked in with among other things grandkid news. Paul wrote, “The Barnhart family is doing great. Daughter Kelly Barnhart Garwood ’99 had our first granddaughter, Lila. She married Will Garwood; he grew up three blocks from our house. They never met until friends introduced them two years ago. Son Paul Barnhart ’02 graduated from Stanford Business School this past summer and has started his own private equity fund with two guys he worked for prior to business school. I am still racing cars and competing in triathlons, although slower than before. Karol is remodeling my dad’s house which is keeping her very busy.” Paul and I had lunch today for what has and will hopefully remain at least an annual affair. Like Frank, he looks great, and we covered the waterfront of past and current stories. Paul has been successfully developing real estate in Houston for over 30 years primarily in the Galleria and Uptown areas, but his company Barnhart Interests also owns and operates retail shopping properties in the booming Katy/ Cinco Ranch area. Paul shared that he is enjoying watching his son Paul III strike out on his own with his oil and gas private equity venture. I also heard from my favorite American author living in England, Lisa Tuttle. Lisa gets us up-to-date with her latest news, “Windhaven, my first novel, written in collaboration with George R.R. Martin and originally published back in 1981, has just been reissued with a striking new cover, in paperback, by Bantam Books in the U.S. An audio book version is coming soon. New editions in translation have also come out this year in Spain (“Refugio del Viento”) and Italy (“Il Pianeta dei Venti”), and I’ve signed several more foreign rights contracts in recent months. Of course, in recent years my co-author has become much more famous. George is the #1 Bestselling Author of A Game of Thrones and as such is celebrated enough to be parodied on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘The Simpsons’. Still, we get equal billing on the cover of Windhaven, I am happy to report, and it is good to think that our book should now attract new readers more than thirty years after it was written. I’ve had new stories appear this year in The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women edited by Marie O’Regan and Zombie Apocalypse: Fightback edited by Stephen Jones. One of my stories from last year was selected for inclusion in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2012
WINTER 2013
Kinkaid Community Event
15th Annual Zack Semander Memorial Golf tournament Thank you to all the sponsors and players who participated in the 15th Annual Zack Semander Memorial Golf Tournament held on October 1 at Westwood Golf Club. Through generous support, the Committee raised $31,000 for the Tom Wey Scholarship. A special thanks goes to Chair Brian McMackin ’93 and his committee for their time and efforts in making the annual tournament such a success.
Anthony Brown ’83
Brian McMackin ’93, Doug Aron ‘92
Stewart McLeod ’92, Adam Altsuler ’92, Will Withers ’92 and Cour Loeffler ’92
Coach Steve Maas, Tony Tabarestani
John Reckling, Paul Daily ’88, Holden Burrow ’87 and Mark Crosswell ’87
Tad Mayfield ‘81, Marshall Adkins ‘80
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