Robert's mother was a war bride, and left England for Texas as soon as John Wallis was sent home. She came to a family that had been in Texas for many generations.  In fact, east of Houston and the Trinity River south of Interstate 10 is the town of Wallisville. It is named for its founder, E.H.R. Wallis, Robert's great, great, grandfather. At one time, it was the Chambers County seat.

The developers of this thriving town had great plans for it, but one big problem changed the course of it's history.  People visiting for county business were downright hostile about the area hogs running loose in the city streets. After repeated requests that the pigs be confined were refused by the good citizens of Wallisville, the matter was finally put to a city referendum. When the prohog citizens soundly defeated this attempt to pen the porkers, Chambers County residents retaliated by voting to move the county seat to Anahuac

Most of the Wallisville denizens lived there because it was the county seat, so once it moved, so did they.  Although this left the hogs and their owners in peace, it also left Wallisville with only a handful of remaining families.

That's about how many people live there today, too.  You can see it if you look to the right on Interstate 10 just east of the Trinity River bridge on IH10 between Houston and Beaumont.  From the freeway, you can see the Wallisville Museum. It has a lot of material about this historic area, and several buildings of historical interest that have been moved to the museum site.

At the turn of the century, Wallisville was also a stronghold of the Woman's Temperance Union.  We still have the pin Robert's grandmother, Ina Mayes Wallis, received from Carrie Nation herself.  Even when we were teenagers, many Texas cities did not allow the sale of alcoholic beverages. Times have changed over most of the state, but in the environs of Wallisville, "strong men don't need strong drink".  Maybe they still don't!

Robert graduated from Lamar High School in Houston and attended University of Houston. After graduating from Bates College of Law there, Robert went into practice with a firm specializing in trial law.  He is  board-certified in civil trial law and now works for ExxonMobil.

Robert's hobbies are reading, playing poker, bridge, and golf.  Although he's taken up bridge on the Internet as well as in tournaments and Internet poker, he still plays golf outside.  In Houston, he plays most often at the Memorial, Herman, or Wortham public courses.  Another favorite in the spring and fall when everything is blooming is the Tour 18 course which replicates the most famous holes at various golf courses around the world.