William Burwell:
CLASS OF 1966
Westbury High SchoolClass of 1966
Houston, TX
University of Houston - Architecture Class of 1971
Houston, TX
William's Story
Life
After graduation, I recieved my Bachelors of Architecture from UH, and began my practice one year later. I married in 1968 and have three children 34, 32 and 20. I have recently remarried, March 2000. I still practice Architecture in downtown Houston. My firm is Burwell Architects. In 2009 I sold my firm and now lead a semi-retired lifestyle, working as a consulting Architect to the firm I sold to and spending the rest of my time undoing many of the sins of working very hard without good balance. Now I am working to regain a more healthy lifestyle and spend more time with kids and family.
My wife, Kim, is an Attorney in Houston and is self employeed. Not really wanting a divorce but at the same time not being happy for many years, it is a significant feeling to marry someone that is so wonderful to be with. Love is great. My son Andrew is married and is a graphic designer and art director specializing in web, print and publishing working for Schlumberger. My oldest daughter, Sarah is also married and is a Marketing Coordinator for a large Houston Architectural firm, and my son-in-law has worked in my office for the past 4 years. My youngest daughter Rebecca, is the smartest and most creative one of the bunch - she is in her 4th year of college and is enrolled at UH with a major in Graphic Design. She turned 21 in 2009 and we took her and her current BF on a cruise from Boston to Bermuda to celebrate.
My wife and I enjoy vacations in the mountains of Colorado and northern California, hiking and enjoying the natural...Expand for more
beauty of the mountains trees and rivers. I enjoy the occasional trip to Vegas where I can be found at the blackjack tables for hours on end.
College
University of Houston in the late 60's was a lot of fun. Somehow I did not find drugs appealing although they were everywhere, I was very focused on staying in school and getting my degree in Architecture. The Architectural college was a lot of fun, the projects were exciting and the experience was excellent. I made a lot of friends, a few I continue to see periodically. Now that I am self employeed, I regret not pledging a fraterity, but the class hours and demands of Architecture would not have mixed well with a strong party atmosphere.
Towards the end of my college, the Vietnam war was winding down, but still active, so my deferment ran out and I was reclassified 1A. I went down to the Army and enlisted in the medical corp, but they had no openings that month and so I took all the tests and was accepeted pending an opening. Later that month, there was an amnesty declared on the draft. Since I had drawn draft lottery number "55", I decided to take my chances and sweated out the lottery. I declined the position with the medical corp when it opened up and by some good luck my number was not called up in the lottery and the war began to end. I started my own Architectural practice 6 months after college graduation and am still self employeed. I have now been practicing for 35 years and am looking forward to semi-retirement (new career direction) in a couple of years.
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