It is with much sadness that we note the loss of Bill Briggs, our dear friend and fellow bookclub member. Bill died on July 16, 2022, after a short illness with cancer. Bill was a loyal member of our bookclub. He was loved and respected by everyone. His book selections always introduced the group to new areas. Bill, cousin of Rambie Briggs was an excellent engineer, a skilled craftsman, a talented poet and musician and an avid gardener. He will be sorely missed.
Obituary writtern by Rambie and Fran Briggs, (small additions by Mel Oakes)
William (known to his friends as Will or Bill) Ross Briggs died on July 16, 2022 after a short malignancy related illness. William was born in San Antonio, Texas on September 23, 1946. His father was Ross Neville Briggs, a proprietor of a trade school, and his mother was Frances Laurine Stovall Briggs. He was preceded in death by his parents and his younger sister, Mary Frances Conner and her husband, Dennis. He is survived by his partner Karen Davidson and by his brothers, Truett (Henrietta), Thomas (Judy), and many nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Bill's father Ross studied physics at University of Texas. He was likely working with Professor Arnold Romberg on the torsion balances. This is a device that help locate oil. Romberg joined the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 1923. In 1925, Humble Oil Company ordered two Süss [sometimes spelled Suess] torsion balances from the Nádor Süss Company of Hungary, and Professor Romberg was sent to Europe to obtain all information possible on their use and the interpretation of the data from Director Dezsö Pekár of the Eötvös Institute. Ross graduated in 1928 and then worked for Humble Oil prospecting for oil with a modified version of the balance, the Bamberg torsion balance, which had superior recording features.
He was a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School where he was the editor of the school newspaper, The Declaration. (See 1962 photo at TJHS at right.) He then attended San Antonio College for two years and entered U. of Texas. However in 1968 he withdrew to have major back surgery. He returned and graduated from UT Austin in 1970, majoring in mechanical engineering.
Bill then took a year to travel throughout Europe. He returned to UT for graduate work in 1971. However in 1972 he was offered a position with the U. S. Patent Office in Arlington, VA.
He moved to Arlington and worked as a patent examiner until retiring in 2003. He married Diane Elizabeth Frenzel on September 1, 1978 in Arlington, VA. They were divorced in 2004. He moved back to Texas, eventually settling in Lago Vista. While in Arlington, Bill continued his friendship with Michael Hall, fellow bookclub member, who also attended San Antonio College and was working in Baltimore. In 1973, Bill, Michael and his wife Joy participated in the Richard Nixon Counter Inaugural demonstration along with 100,000 others who opposed the Vietnam War. Michael and Joy shared this photo of Bill and Joy. Michael was the photographer.
William loved to be outdoors--camping, hiking, and learning. He took long trips to watch the sun's eclipse or to celebrate Thanksgiving with his Sierra Club friends in Big Bend National Park. He was an exceptional guitar and banjo player and shared that talent with the Lago Vista Bluegrass group as they played regularly at local retirement homes. His bass voice added strength to the Lakeside Singers and the Hill Country Singers. He was a board member of the Hill Country Singers and his engineering skills helped create stage equipment that solved many problems. He also played his guitar while the choir sang “This Land is Your Land” for one of the concerts. His poetry was wise and meaningful as we gathered with his book club. “Uncle Bill” was a favorite of the family children bringing fun and joy to our gatherings.
About three years ago, William met Karen Davidson. She brought joy and love into his life, and they enjoyed their time together. She lived in Marfa and he spent much of his time with her. They enjoyed being together and traveling together. She was with him at the end. His family and friends are grateful for Karen.
God is Sitting in a Room
God is sitting in a room-
windowless, no door.
He doesn’t know how he got there.
He is slightly concerned,
but still feels powerful with possibilities.
Light somehow seems to wax, wane,
and time passes slowly,
or moves at breakneck speed;
he can’t be sure.
God is bored.
Distracted, drumming his fingers on a makeshift worktable
of leftover quarks and dark matter,
he creates sparks that ignite new universes
that begin roiling around him
even as other universes he long ago experimented with
dissolve and die to shred the fabric of space
into ribbons of disjointed time
that collect around his feet,
like shavings on the floor of a carpenter’s shop.
God is not sitting in a room.
The room is empty,
and only a faint echo of uncertainty
still drifts about.
Of course, God could have just
stepped out for a moment,
but it is possible that,
like an original Houdini,
he has simply disappeared.
William Briggs
Masterpiece
Early morning shadows are slowly suffused with
escalating points of light, increasingly rendering
a pointillist still life across the quiet canvas of the room.
As she stirs and moves closer to me,
three recognitions arise in my consciousness:
skin, warmth, contentment.
Uncertain hour, relentless time.
Willing time to cease its forward movement
I close my eyes and suspend my breath.
But in a moment I feel a kiss brush my cheek.
Bedsprings rebound, and I open my eyes
to follow the practical wisdom of her lissome body
as she moves across the room.
My entire being is overwhelmed
by a masterpiece of devotion
when she glances back at me,
pirouettes like a ballerina in the spotlight,
and then bows with a flourish
before she gathers her clothes.
William Briggs
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FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a paper honeycomb cushioning pad in accordance with the invention with the paper facing shown in place over one end of the cells and with the paper facing over the other end of the cells shown partially broken away to show the cellular structure of the paper honeycomb. The paper caps employed in accordance with the invention to close and seal the ends of the paper honeycomb cushioning pad which are normal to the glue lines that cement the sheets of paper forming the honeycomb together are shown exploded from the ends of the paper honeycomb.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a completed paper honeycomb cushioning pad of the invention, such as that of FIG. 3, with the paper caps applied over the ends of the paper honeycomb cushioning pad and sealed to the ends of the pad about the periphery of each paper cap.
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Report of research done by Bill Briggs and Professor E. A. Ripperger for the US Army's Airdrop Engineering Laboratory at Natick, MA. The report was December 1968. Professor Ripperger and Bill were in the UT Engineering Mechanics Research Laboratory. The content related to the protection of airdropped materials by the US Army. The work led to an invention and ultimately for a patent for Ripperger and Briggs. The patent was assigned to the US Army. Title: Paper honeycomb cushioning pad. Description: Paper honeycomb cushioning pads having the ends thereof, which are normal to the glue lines that cement the sheets of paper forming the honeycomb together, closed and sealed material in sheet form having low porosity, such as Kraft paper tape in the shape of a cap, so as to prevent the occurrence of blowouts through these ends upon impact of an object cushioned by means of such pads.The resulting paper honeycomb cushioning pads have appreciably higher and more uniform crushing strengths that similar paper honeycomb cushioning pads produced in accordance with the prior art in which the ends are not sealed. Professor Ripperger lived to be a 100, he passed away in 2014. Bill would have been an undergraduate while conducting this research.