. . . Roice and Andrea Nelson Info

I've lived in Texas since 1974, since graduating from the University of Utah and serving a mission in Southeast England. I still play with rocks and colored pencils, although most geophysical work is done with computer workstations now. The workstation experience resulted in my learning about the web, and I enjoy building web pages, thus my contribution to the class reunion. The oil exploration industry is all about ups and downs, and for the most part my time in Texas has been enjoyable. We do plan to end up back in Cedar City some time.

As was pointed out in the flyer, Andrea Shirts and I were reintroduced after the last reunion and married in May of 1999. It has been a wonderful four years, despite the oil industry being in the ditch, yet again. When it seems like things won't turn around we go camping to regain perspective, where I like to sit by the campfire and play guitar.

We all are complaining about gasoline prices these days. Yet I find it interesting that in the US the oil and gas industry employment has gone from 1.65 million workers in 1982 to 640,000 workers in 2002, that a single deep water platform can cost more than NASA spent to send a man to the moon, and that most of the known oil fields are approaching their maximum production and will go into rapid decline. My conclusion, after 28 years and two summers working in the oil industry, is that the European price for gasoline, about $5 per gallon, is probably closer to what we need to pay in order to make it economic to (1) change from use of the internal combustion engine as the primary means of transportation, and (2) open known and untapped reserves like oil shale in Utah and gas hydrates in over 600 feet of water. Needless to say, even though I work for myself, I've become one of those oil company guys.

Since I turn your notes into these web pages, I get ideas about how to update what I've written. I think the favorite or most hilarious memories of CHS have been a highlight. I remember when we had the car bash as a class fund raiser, and I was selected to get rid of the beat up and burned out car. So I drove a tractor into town from the farm, dragged the car to the dump, leaving gouges in the parking lot pavement because there were no tires on the car. Then on the way back to the farm one of the front tires fell off of the tractor. Oh well!

It is very enjoyable to hear from you, to learn about and summarize what you have been doing, and to post it for others in the class to review. I hope we are able to see many of you at the reunion.

H. Roice and Andrea S. Nelson, Jr.
1307 Emerald Green
Houston, TX 77094

281.5778.3966
rnelson@walden3d.com

Children and Grandchildren:

• H. Roice Nelson, III: Austin, TX - is a software engineer working on the black boxes in airplanes (also see http://www.gravitation3d.com)
• Benjamin Bengt, Sarah Johnson, and Ethan Evans Nelson: Dallas, TX to Manhattan Beach, California this summer - is in finance and is moving from TXU, a giant Texas utility, to The Keith Companies, a large engineering firm where he will do due-diligence on new business acquisitions. Sarah is a private school administrator and a Mom.
• Paul Frederick, Kate Jones, and Grant Matthew Nelson: Provo, UT - graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering this year and is doing a summer internship in Detroit before starting a masters degree. Kate is a Mom.
• Heather Nielson: Cedar City, UT - is finishing a degree in nutrition at SUU and plans to do graduate studies at the University of Utah.
• Jared, Melanie, and Colby Cade Wright: Vidor, TX - graduated from UT Austin, is a Mom, and has a scrapbooking business (see http://www.memorymelodies.com). Jared works with his Dad at the best bar-b-que place in Texas: Wright's Bar-B-Que.
• Audrey Nielson: American Fork UT - graduated from SUU this spring with a degree in Political Science and a Minor in Communication and is deciding what she wants to do next.
• Sara Ellyn Nelson: Austin, TX - just graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a degree in marketing communication and a minor in French. She plans to go into the Peace Corp to West Africa this fall.
• Robert Llewellyn Nelson: Katy, TX - is a student at Houston Community College and plays a mean guitar.
• Rachel Nielson: Cedar City, UT - is a student at SUU studying communications and broadcasting and has a lovely singing voice.
• Matthew Charles Nielson: Houston, TX - is a student at Taylor High School, enjoys singing in the choir, and is in Sea Cadets.