Geoffrey Walker – 50th Reunion Essay

Geoffrey Walker

1705 North Boulevard

Houston, TX 77098

gwalker@huntonak.com

713-240-5270

Spouse(s): Christine Long (1969–1974); Ann Kennedy (1978).

Child(ren): Nicholas Long Walker (1972); Lucy Kennedy Walker (1984); Alec Kennedy Walker (1985)

Grandchild(ren): Clara Evelyn Walker (2007); Emiline Leslie Walker (2011)

Education: Yale College, BA, Scholar of the House 1969; Yale Law School, JD 1974

National Service: Spec 5, US Army 1969–1971. Presidential Council on Youth Involvement in the Bicentennial

Career: Corporate Securities lawyer, Butler Binion 1974–1982; Mayor Day Caldwell 1982–2001; Andrews Kurth 2001–2017

Avocations: New Hope Housing (developer of high-standard housing for homeless, 1200 units on 8 campuses as of 2018)

College: Davenport

When we all graduated in June of 1969, I was enrolled to start Yale Law School in September and expected to continue along one or another well-beaten path thereafter, whether in academia, on Wall Street, or in government service in D.C. Instead, I was drafted. Two years in the army knocked the side rails off my plans, and the Yale to which I returned for law school in the fall of 1971 was radically transformed from the Yale we’d left in 1969. I am glad.

Our Yale class graduated into what turned out to be, for most of the world and most of the US, an era of opportunity and prosperity perhaps unmatched by any five decades in human history. My own good fortune has, I hope, been typical for us in this regard. I joined a group of exceptionally fine lawyers in Houston after law school and greatly enjoyed working with them until they had all retired, died or become “Of Counsel” (the seraphic state to which I was elevated at the end of 2017). Unusually welcoming to the energy, initiative, and capabilities of immigrants, and led by capital- and technology-intensive industries, Houston proved to be a terrific home base for me as a deal lawyer. And it has also been a great community in which to raise a family, enjoy a wonderful quality of life, and build enduring and deeply fulfilling relationships.

By chance, as it is called, I danced with Ann Kennedy (Yale ’74) in October 1972. We have been together ever since, and for me, as Frost put it, that has made all the difference. Life as Ann’s partner has been much better tempered and far more soul-satisfying than I was capable of imagining before she entered my world. Beyond relishing our children, friends, careers, and civic engagements, we are explorers and adventurers (see attached 2017 trek photo of prayer flags at the 15,000-foot base of 20,000-foot Chenresig in Sichuan Province by the Tibet border).

I have been a very fortunate person indeed.