Robert R. Rice

1948 - 2018

November 29, 1948 - April 27, 2018 Robert Randolph Rice died in Bisbee, AZ. He often said, "You don't get out of life alive." He didn't want any day to be ordinary. He told many hilarious stories. Robert, also known as Randy, was born in Los Angeles on November 29, 1948. When Los Angeles still felt like a small town where mothers could ask a stranger to mind their kid at the grocery store for a minute and Helms bakery trucks with wooden drawers full of donuts still made the rounds in the neighborhoods. He always retained a nostalgia for Hollywood of the '30s and '40s and Los Angeles. He was the only child of Elizabeth and Robert Rice. They divorced when he was nine. His father died in an accident at the age of fifty-two when Randy was eleven. His father grew up in Montana and had a roofing business in Los Angeles. His mother, Elizabeth, worked at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library at UCLA. A hippie in Hollywood at eighteen and explorer of Los Angeles culture-from low to high-eventually in his late twenties he found his way to N.A. and A.A. often attending the Venice Beach meetings where he said his friends called themselves the "debris by the sea." He never "went out" of the program and was sober till he died. He helped many friends in A.A. and N.A. and was always a truly supportive friend and listener. He started out taking classes at Santa Monica Community College and then at age 32 transferred to UCLA as an English major. He loved books and films and had a business scouting for books to sell to Other Times, Houle Rare Books, and other independent booksellers in Los Angeles. He also gained a reputation for being a fast bicyclist on the boardwalk in Venice, having impromptu races with people for fun. He had a restless nature and would often ride forty miles at night down the beach on the boardwalk bike paths. He also loved hiking in the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu. He met Rae Jones, a designer and artist, in 1993, lived with her in the Bay Area for four years, then married "Jones" as he affectionately called her on May 9, 1998. Jones called him Rice. In 1999, they moved to Wimberley in the Texas Hill Country for six years. Randy began writing full-time. Around this time, they bought 74 acres near Portal, Arizona and moved to Bisbee, Arizona in 2005 where they adopted several cats, entertained friends, and explored the surrounding mountains and desert in Bisbee and Tucson. All the while working on creative projects. Randy is survived by Jones who continues to live in their home in Old Bisbee with their large cat family. Randy left behind a wonderful collection of books and films that he spent many hours curating. Rice and Jones truly loved each other. Donations can be made in Randy's honor to NRDC or Salvation Army.