Barrett Allison

Yes, I did. And it was great to be reunited with so many people who meant so much to what I became in life. I regret it took me 50 years to find and re-associate with my high school friends. So many great memories of so many great people.

Seems like no time has passed since the reunion, but here it is almost a year. But a good year. Business continues to be good, Myra and I are well, life is good! We've been thinking of moving here in Austin -- smaller place, smaller yard, etc. Haven't found the right place yet.

This past year, I converted my motorcycle, a BMW LT, to a Hannigan Trike -- new photo in my albums, and also took up flying quadcopters. Lots of fun.

Since Arlington: Parma Heights and Bowling Green, OH; Austin, Lockhart, Fort Worth, Houston, TX. Austin, for the longest - 38 years or so, and in 2023, College Station, TX

Yanked out of Arlington in the middle of my senior year, when we moved to a suburb of Cleveland, I finished the year at Valley Forge High School and entered pre-engineering at Bowling Green State University and there in second semester, freshman year I pledged Delta Tau Delta. I left BG after 2 1/2 years, as planned, and chose the engineering school at the University of Texas. I graduated from there, married Judy Tally (who I met in my freshman year at AHS and was largely responsible for my choice of UT) but then returned to UT, courtesy of Uncle Sam, for another degree - this one in Atmospheric Science.

Four+ years as an Air Force Wing Weather Officer and Base Civil Engineer (who never got out of Texas) I went into the Consulting Engineering profession in Houston, and became an early specialist in what would be come a growth industry -- assessing and dealing with environmental impacts and issues associated with land development activities. After seven years in Houston, I was hired as head of a land development firm back in Austin.

Shortly after that move Judy and I divorced, but on decent terms, and we remain good friends to this day and she is a very successful stock broker and investment advisor in Austin. (Her daughter by her second husband called me Uncle Barry as she grew up into a beautiful young woman who became a talented biologist and with whom I've worked in a professional association on environmental matters for a number of years.)

I worked in land development for 7 years and in the late 80's began to lean in the direction of professional consulting and by the early 90's had hung out my own shingle as a professional environmental consultant, primarily in the real estate development industry, which I continue to do to this day, garnering several national recognitions and awards for cutting edge land development projects and golf courses in sensitive settings in Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Cayman Islands.

Along the way, I was unmarried for about 20 years, and then I married again, to my lovely wife, Myra, in 2003.

Avocations? My passion was wingshooting, and as a world class shotgun shooter, I've competed in the US, in Spain, England, and Mexico, and have shot game birds all over the US, in Mexico, in Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Uruguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana; and, including driven boar shoots in France, and Hungary. I've garnered mention in articles in sporting magazines, and in several books on shooting and collecting fine English shotguns. Pilot. Pretty good cook, tutored for years by a Cordon Bleu-trained professional. Fly fisherman (never teach your wife to fish unless you want to suffer indignities on future fishing trips). Lover of motorcycles, fast cars, boats, antiques, books, etc; fine food, great wine and interesting people. Scuba Master Diver and Dive Master, having dived all around the Caribbean, Florida Keys, Texas, and several spots on the Great Barrier Reef before hanging up my fins. And a happy traveler. In addition to the above garden spots, I've traveled (and cruised) in Alaska, western Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, New Brunswick, British Isles many times, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, and probably some others that slip my mind - I love England and Scotland and have been there over thirty times.

Myra and I live in College Station, TX.

I've done pretty well on my bucket list, honestly, but I never did do a full bore African safari and won't, at this point, but, I did own a Bentley for nine years which was a bucket list item for many years. I love fine cars, and my recent personal cars included a wonderful 2012 Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet, a Mercedes S-550, and currently a Mercedes GLS 450.

Four most vivid but not necessarily favorite AHS memories - climbing the Arlington Heights Water Tower, Halloween, 1962 with Bill, Doug, Lance and Dick; two brushes with death in cars, one with Lance driving - just the two of us - and one with Bill driving - with Carol B. and Mary Jane; and of course my parents telling me we were moving in my senior year. Bummer.

Fish is the only food that is considered spoiled once it smells like what it is.

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

and, ...

The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong, is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong, it usually also turns out to be impossible to get at or repair.