Muriel Wicks Escobar '46

>> Muriel W. Escobar: In March of 1946, the youngest person, 18 years and 2 months, to graduate from Rice. Then called the Institute on South Main Street. Our class was called the War Babies. No summer vacation, and a condensed, but still challenging curriculum. We accomplished four years of undergraduate study in two years and eight months. The face of the student body underwent radical changes. The US Navy ROTC and B-12 programs, provided at least 8 males, many of them Yankees, hoping to encounter most likely in Sallyport, each female in relief. No dorms for the girls, so we had to join the new concept known as a carpool and hope that our parents could obtain ration stamps for gasoline, not only to get to class, but to those all-important Wednesday night dances at Autry House, across Main Street. During our senior year, we celebrated the Allies' victory in Europe. With the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese did quickly surrender, but Dr. Schlotter tempered our patriotism by warning us of ethical consequences for all future generations. At that time, we would have questioned the sanity of someone saying, that in 23 years, man would walk on the moon. In almost imperceptible ways, our personal worlds were becoming less provincial as well. My friends, Ann Martin and Marion Holland and Evelyn Burt married boys from states as far away as Illinois. My own friends were stunned when I married a diplomat from Mexico. As alumni, and by the way, a parent to two Rice grads, as alumni, most of us continue in loyal support of Rice. It didn't take long for Mr. Rice's will to be contested and broken, initiating the evolution of what had been a hometown institute for high achieving, Houston high school grads, into an exceptional university of international scope and fame. Thank you Rice, for opening so many doors for all of us. [ Music ]