Theater Life, Fried Chicken and Photography

By Kyndall Krist

1960s

“I retired from Jacobs U. in 2005. I had helped found this university during the period of 1998–2005. It opened its doors Sept. 1, 2001, just days before 9/11. It is doing well with about 1,500 students from over 110 countries around the world. I helped model it on Rice at the time, and there are five residential colleges. It has bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees, all in English-language instruction. “During these past years, I was the board president of the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Co. here in Boulder, Colo., where we have lived since 2008. I was the board president of Stages Repertory Theater about 30 years ago in Houston, so it was interesting to come back to the theater world after my mathematical and university-building career. I was elected board president of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra, a 62-year-old professional orchestra. The pandemic has created a huge set of problems for all arts organizations, and we here in Boulder will do the best we can.” — Contributed by Raymond “Ronny” Wells ’62 (Wiess: BA)

1970s

Larry Fossi ’79 (Will Rice: BA) sends along these memories in response to recollections of Orientation Week 1975: “I arrived for Orientation Week, never having seen Rice — or Houston, or even Texas — fresh off the first airplane flight of my life. … My first roommate was from a small Texas town. I remember being a bit startled on the first day of Orientation Week when he placed his rifle, which he had brought to Rice with him, in the closet. Quite the pair we made. He was planning to acquire a fried chicken franchise in his hometown, and from there acquire others across the state. Alas, thoughts of his high school sweetheart and his future in the fried chicken business distracted him from studies. He stopped attending classes several weeks in, spent his time designing his dream home — each design invariably included a swimming pool shaped like a drumstick — and dropped out before the first semester ended.” — Contributed by class recorder Marian Barber ’79 (Jones: BA)

My first roommate was from a small Texas town. I remember being a bit startled on the first day of Orientation Week when he placed his rifle, which he had brought to Rice with him, in the closet.

1980s

“I’m putting together a photo printing studio at the house, and in recent years had photo exhibits at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Massachusetts, the Blue Hill Public Library and the Leica Gallery Boston. I was also in a group show of the Greater Boston Night Photographers at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, Mass. I even managed to sell a few prints and will try to get into some more shows as we get settled in. I’ve created some interesting portfolios of photo triptychs and tetraptychs: ‘Quarries of New England,’ ‘Orkney,’ ‘Nights in the City’ and ‘North Wales.’ I plan to continue making lyrical landscape photo work in Maine and elsewhere.” — Contributed by Steve Keirstead ’87 (Hanszen: BA; BFA, 1988)

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