Today is the birthday of the late Ross M. Lence, one of Houston’s finest teachers of the past generation. On Dec. 1st — the final day of classes for the fall semester at the University of Houston — I was privileged to be one of the speakers at the University’s memorial service for Ross at the A.D. Bruce Religion Center on the University’s central campus.
As with most anything that involved the reasonable Dr. Lence, the service was a joyous affair, alternately hilarious and moving. Bill Monroe, one of Ross’ colleagues at The Honors College, had one of the best cracks of the day when he passed along another colleague’s observation about the notoriously difficult-to-pin-down Dr. Lence:

“A colleague and mutual friend said that, for over a decade, he thought Lence was a liberal Jew from Chicago, only to discover that he was a libertarian Catholic from White Fish, Montana.”

After a festive reception at the UH Honors College, many of those who attended the memorial service walked across campus to Robertson Stadium to attend the Conference USA Championship game between the Houston Cougars and the Southern Mississippi, which the Coogs won in stirring style. All in all, a wonderful afternoon paying tribute to a dear friend and then an enjoyable evening of college football on a beautiful fall day in Houston.
The following are pdf’s of the tributes to Ross delivered at the memorial service. Take a moment to read a bit about a great teacher and fine man who influenced the lives of thousands of Houstonians over the past 35 years:

The program for the memorial service is here;
Bill Monroe’s opening and closing remarks are here;
Susan Collins, one of Ross’ colleagues in the UH Political Science Department, gave this tribute and also passed along this tribute to Ross for PS Magazine that Susan wrote with former UH Political Science Professor Donald Lutz, who was instrumental in bringing Ross to the University of Houston;
Ed Willems, a UH Professor Emeritus of Psychology and a longtime teaching partner with Ross, gave this heartfelt tribute entitled “Ross Lence: He taught students and me.”
Andy Little, one of Ross’ longtime students and a student advisor in The Honors College, read Ross’ moving essay On Teaching;”
My tribute to Ross is here, Harris County Treasurer-elect Orlando Sanchez’s tribute is here, and the tribute of Jeff Dodd, a partner at Andrews & Kurth who specializes in corporate securities law, is here; and
Finally, Honors College Dean Ted Estess was scheduled to reprise his moving eulogy that he originally delivered in July at Ross’ funeral mass, but he chose instead to pass along extemporaneously several anecdotes and observations about Ross, a couple of which brought the house down with laughter.

Inasmuch as Ross often used to help needy and deserving students financially, The Honors College has established a scholarship fund in Ross’ name. Donations to that fund may be sent to the Ross Lence Scholarship Fund, The Honors College, University of Houston, 212 M.D. Anderson Library, Houston, TX 77204-2001.