letters
Reader Response DEAR EDITOR:
Please thank Jenny Rozelle for her nostalgic article “Home Sweet Campus.” As one of the very first offspring of a college master, I would like to share with you some very early college history. My father, Roy V. Talmage, Ph.D., professor of biology (d. 2012), was the first master of Wiess College. My family, including my two younger brothers, Van Talmage and Chuck Talmage, moved into the original Wiess House in March 1957. There were only five colleges and the remnants of a muddy road that ran between the four men’s colleges. “My house” is now used for administrative purposes, I believe. [Editor’s note: It is now the Housing and Dining office.] The original Wiess House had none of the additions or enclosed rooms it has now. I occasionally climbed the wall to watch the world of Rice go by. I was in the seventh grade and had just turned 13. My brothers were 10 and 8. I thought I was in boy heaven. We ate every evening meal in the Wiess Commons with the men of Wiess College. The freshmen wore beanies and had to wait tables. There was the occasional dropping of a full tray of food and the subsequent applause from the rest of the dining room. My mother (d. 2013) knew every student, his name, his year, his major and his hometown. She provided at least one home-cooked meal to each Wiess student each year. The students were invited to bring guests, but very few did so they could have more to eat. My father resigned in 1969 to move to the University of North Carolina Medical School, where he continued his pioneering research into osteoporosis. He used to speculate on what his research would have been like if he had not been a master. I told him that because he was the master of Wiess, I am who I am today with fantastic and endearing memories of being an offspring of a college master. (Is there still a Tally-Boo award?) In 1962, I went to Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pa., for two years, and then transferred back to Rice in 1964. I graduated in 1966 as a member of Jones College and with a biology degree. Wiess House was my permanent address until I married in 1968. The original masters did not have term limits or temporary assignments. I have been married to Ebb Mobley ’64 (Hanszen) for 47 years. I recently retired as an anatomy and physiology instructor from Kilgore College. Ebb is still a practicing attorney. There are still living a handful of the original offspring of college masters. We are all in our late 60s and 70s, but we have fond memories of being in a small group who can call the Rice campus “Home Sweet Campus.” —Laney Talmage Mobley ’66
DEAR EDITOR: As a Brown girl from Brown’s “all woman” years, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the reminiscences of Franz Brotzen about his years living in the Brown Masters House. After I graduated, Dr. and Mrs. Brotzen and I always kept in, at least, Christmas card contact until age and infirmity put an end to this tradition. I was very fond of both of them, and I loved seeing those old photos and reading about the good old days. Surely there must be a photo out there somewhere of Mrs. Brotzen and assorted Brown girls in the Hackermans’ swimming pool after Beer Bike. ... —Kathy Broussard ’85
4
Ric e M aga z i n e | S UM M E R 2 0 1 5
THE RICE UNIVERSITY BOARD OF TRUSTEES
Robert B. Tudor III, chairman; Edward B. “Teddy” Adams Jr.; J.D. Bucky Allshouse; Keith T. Anderson; Doyle Arnold; Laura Arnold; Nancy Packer Carlson; Albert Chao; T. Jay Collins; Mark Dankberg; Doug Foshee; Lawrence Guffey; Patti Lipoma Kraft; Charles Landgraf; R. Ralph Parks; David Rhodes; Lee H. Rosenthal; Ruth Simmons; Jeffery Smisek; Amy Sutton; Gloria Meckel Tarpley; Robert M. Taylor Jr.; Guillermo Treviño; Randa Duncan Williams; Huda Zoghbi. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS
David W. Leebron, president; Marie Lynn Miranda, provost; Kathy Collins, vice president for Finance; Klara Jelinkova, vice president for IT and chief information officer; Kevin Kirby, vice president for Administration; Caroline Levander, vice president of Strategic Initiatives and Digital Education; Chris Muñoz, vice president for Enrollment; Allison Kendrick Thacker, vice president for Investments and treasurer; Linda Thrane, vice president for Public Affairs; Richard A. Zansitis, vice president and general counsel; Darrow Zeidenstein, vice president for Development and Alumni Relations. EDITORIAL OFFICES
Creative Services–MS 95 P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77251-1892 Phone: 713-348-6768 ricemagazine@rice.edu POSTMASTER
Send address changes to: MINI Rice University Development Services–MS 80 P.O. Box 1892 Houston, TX 77251-1892
MIX
©August 2015 Rice University
FULL