Albert Edison Pecore, Jr.
1925-2019
Albert Edison Pecore, Jr. died peacefully the morning of April 1, 2019, at his beloved Fayette County farm. Known by friends and family as Bert, he was born in Houston on August 19, 1925, to Edna Fendlason Pecore and Albert Edison Pecore a few years before his late sister, Betty Pecore Armstead. While growing up in Houston, Bert attended Montrose Elementary, Lanier Jr. High, and graduated from Lamar Sr. High in June of 1943. At the age of 17, with the goal of becoming a pilot and eager to serve his Country during World War II, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and began training in 1944, completing gunnery and navigation schools. As war ended in 1945, he decided to pursue his longstanding passion for architecture and design after his military service. Bert entered Architecture School at the University of Texas in Austin in 1946 and eventually joined the Houston design firm of Neuhaus and Taylor in 1955. In 1961, he decided to practice architecture under own name, and over the course of several decades, designed and oversaw construction of many residences and commercial buildings around Houston and throughout Texas, including a hotel project in the French Quarter of New Orleans. As a testament to his expertise in architecture and construction, many of these structures still stand. Bert never fully retired and continued to work on occasional jobs late into his life for longtime friends and clients.
With the help of his father in 1955, Bert purchased a small tract of land in Fayette County, "the Farm", where he spent a great part of his adult life improving land, running cattle and building a large house of his own design. In addition, he also spent time at the Old River Ranch in Burleson County, helping to improve cattle operations and land use.
In 1960, he married Elizabeth Hohlt Pecore and, beginning in 1961, had 3 sons: Daniel Arthur Pecore, Douglas Wilkin Pecore, and John William Pecore. He and Betty raised their sons in a lively Houston neighborhood that produced lifelong friendships; at the end of his life, he would joyfully recount in detail adventures between his sons and their neighborhood friends on the block. Most weekends, he would take family and friends to the Farm in Fayette County. Throughout his adult life, he also hunted, fished, and sailed the coastal area of Texas extensively with friend and family.
In 1989, he met and married Wilda Leigh Mitchell Ryvers. Her daughter Leigh Ann Moran and children Jacob Belzeski and Olivia Olmedo became a second family for Bert. He and Wilda divided most of their time between Houston and the Farm. When not sailing or farming, they also traveled throughout the US. and the U.K., Ireland, Africa, France, Mexico, and the Bahamas. Always passionately interested in land conservation, he became a Texas Master Naturalist and, with the help of Wilda, Leigh Ann, and a host of advisors, oversaw the return of native grasses to the Fayette County Farm.
He is survived by sons Daniel Arthur Pecore, Douglas Wilkin Pecore (wife, Paige), and John William Pecore (wife, Ivory) and their mother Elizabeth Hohlt Pecore. Bert's grandchildren include Arthur, Phillipe, Wilkin, Henry, Brittany, Hohlt, Elsa, and Enzo. He is also survived by wife Wilda Ryvers Pecore, daughter Leigh Ann Moran and grandchildren Jacob Belzeski and wife, and Olivia Olmedo, including numerous nieces and nephews and their children.
A memorial service for Bert will be held on Saturday, May 4th, at 11 AM at St. Stephens Episcopal, 1805 W. Alabama St., Houston, TX, with a Reception to immediately follow in Pecore Hall. Family and friends are invited to share remembrances of Bert at 3 PM at the Farm. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Pines and Prairies Land Trust, 1018 Main St. Suite B, Bastrop, TX, 78602.