PaperCity Magazine

April 2019- Houston

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(continued from page 79) 80 think dad was up for that. On growing up and starting out. I went to River Oaks Elementary for kindergarten — by the way, Jeff Bezos went to River Oaks Elementary. Then I went to Kinkaid, then Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, and then I went to Taft School in Connecticut. For college, first to Rice, then University of Colorado, where I got my engineering degree. But I studied engineering and architecture at Rice. I'm a would-be architect and engineer guy. I'm not a licensed architect, so I don't like to say that I am an architect, because a lot of architects would be angry with that. But if I had a specialty, that would be it. On building the CAMH. What happened was I had the good fortune of raising $150,000 from George Brown, who was my next-door neighbor. We bought the land with that. Overall, I raised 83 percent of the funds to buy the land and to build the building. Then we had the opening, called "Ten." One of the exhibits was about the size of this room, full of roaches, rats, and pigeons, and it was supposed to show you the scene in New York City. And that artist is still doing stuff like that. Marilyn Oshman took over after I left. I had Ford Hubbard on the board; we had him raise money. I was also on the board of the Galveston Arts Center for some years. A guy named Armand Cantini asked me to be on the board. In development. I first developed Baywood on Red Bluff, near Galveston Bay, and then in '61 to '62, I developed Oyster Bay and designed some of the modern homes there and built them. And then I did Tidewood. Then my hip was bothering me; I had to be operated on. I had to be a little less active than being there on a Saturday, Sunday, selling lots and buildings. So I got into big-time real estate. I figured it's just as hard to sell a little deal as it is to sell a big deal. I went after the big stuff, so half of downtown Houston. I sold Dow Chemical their land for Plant B. Then I became a commercial broker, and in four to five years I was among the heavy hitters in the Houston Business Journal. Favorite project? I would say the Houston Center. I even tried to sell it here again lately, to two different groups, but it sold, I think, for $900 million. I didn't have any part of that. On true love. Mary Ann and I married in '58, and we were together for 55 years before she died. She was fabulous. We have three kids: Alexandra Locke Weems [an illustrator who has moved back to Houston from NYC]; my son, Fontaine Carrington Weems III; and Mathilde, named after my mother, Mathilde Sledge Weems, and she's in California. The kids are spread out, and we can't hang out or see each other as much as I'd like to. But Alexandra and I have lunch almost every Sunday. On going on. Mary Ann had multiple melanoma, cancerous diseases. It's just a killer, and I lost her on April 1, 2013, and my friend Gabrielle [Girard] lost her husband in August, same year, same disease. I'm blessed that she's interested in me ... She's been so sweet to me, I just don't want to get married again. Once you're married for 55 years, it gets too complicated. If not for that, I'd marry her in a minute, if she'd have me. Her father, Dr. Girard, was a famous ophthalmologist. Not only that, he was an entertainer. We'd go down to the Corinthian Yacht Club, and he'd play the piano and sing, and we'd all sing with him. He was really good. Your gang. We call ourselves the Round Table. But some people call us the Cane Gang. Because we've all got walkers and canes. These are guys who are really great, and we always meet on Mondays and discuss current events. Then there's the Christmas Eve group. There were 19 to begin with, and now it's down to seven. We wouldn't miss those luncheons for anything because we love being together. On current pursuits. I am just continuing with real estate, getting involved. We turned the Glenwood Cemetery into a roaring incredible business. It had slowed down, but I got some heavy people on my board — I had James A. Baker III on my board for awhile, and William Lummis. I put together Shadow Creek Ranch. I didn't develop it, but I assembled 150 tracts of land. Took two years to do it. This was right around the beginning of 2000. I had a young guy with me who's now a very important developer, Harry Masterson. So Harry was with me for four years. We had a lot of fun together, and also Mavis Kelsey Jr. Mavis has been my partner for 42 years, and we've developed stuff. We're still partners. Musical endeavors. I've gotten pretty interested in the guitar. I used to play the jazz guitar, but Mary Ann did not like guitar music, so I gave it up. Now I've forgotten all my chords, but I played "Sunny Side of the Street" and "Honeysuckle Blues," all kinds of great songs. But I've lost that, it's not there anymore. [Sings] "When I Fall in Love." On turning 90. I had a birthday party recently, my 90th on July 3, and I had seven members of the family and 23 friends. The Christmas Eve group was there and Patty Hubbard. Patty and I sang two songs: Sinatra's "I Could Write a Book" and Gershwin's "My Embraceable You." We had it in the private dining room of the third floor of the River Oaks. What I'd like to do, me and Patty, is get together and maybe do some recording. "I LOVE THIS CITY. I WAS BORN HERE. I TURNED 90 LAST YEAR; I CAN'T BELIEVE IT. I DON'T FEEL 90. I FEEL 20." — Carrington Weems Weems' models and maps in his study. The collector will be gifting his trove to the Houston Maritime Museum, where he will be honored this spring at their gala. In 2003, he was awarded the Spirit of Elissa for his work on behalf of the Elissa Maritime Society in Galveston.

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