William Rice Scholarship
The William Rice Scholarship Fund was established in honor of an elder and educator who had a lifelong love of learning. (Read more below.)
Attending the annual Peter Rice Family Reunion was always a highlight of his year. He loved engaging in conversation with relatives, sharing family history — and hitting the dance floor.
Scholarships will be awarded in his name to students who exemplify his love for family and example of educational excellence.
Applicants should be graduating high school seniors who plan to further their education, current undergraduate or graduate college students, or returning college students. To apply, write a 500-word essay on the importance of education. Also include your contact information, educational goals, report card or transcript. (Unofficial transcripts are fine initially to start the application process.)
Submit your application packet to yanickricelamb@gmail.com or 7palms4me@gmail.com.
Donating to the Scholarship Fund
You can make a donation by clicking here or on the PayPal button below. You can also include a gift in your registration fee or use Zelle at 646-228-6270. Your gifts will determine how many students we can support each year and how much we can give them. Thanks for supporting the students in our family!
Joining the Scholarship Committee
If you’re interested in joining others on the Scholarship Committee, please send a message to the email addresses above or call 646-228-6270. Thanks in advance for your service.
The First William Rice Scholar: D’Shai Wilkerson
D’Shai Wilkerson is the first recipient of a $500 William Rice Scholarship, which was presented at the 45th annual reunion in July 2016 in Washington, D.C.
D’Shai attended Seminole Ridge High School in Belle Glade, Florida. In May 2019, she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Florida A&M University in Tallahassee.
She plans to continue her education by attending Florida State University for a Master’s in Integrated Marketing Communications.
About William Rice
“Joie de vivre,” joy of living, is the perfect definition of the eight decades William Radford Rice spent on this earth.
First, because the phrase reflects Professor Rice’s full and joyful life, and secondly because it’s French, one of five languages – Spanish, Portuguese, German and English being the others – he mastered.
A lifelong educator, Professor Rice was called home on Sunday, April 26, 2009, at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Ga., due to complications of colon cancer.
An assistant professor emeritus and former department chairman at Albany State University, Professor Rice retired in 1994 but continued teaching English and foreign languages until his death. His love of learning and teaching extended to other realms; Professor Rice shared his language skills, passion for history and intellectual curiosity by teaching in everything from literacy programs to prison ministries. He also served as an interpreter for the U.S. military, federal and local governments, law enforcement, hospitals, literacy programs for immigrants, business and the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Born Sept. 29, 1929, on a sharecropper farm near Fort Valley, Ga., William Rice grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., where the sounds and scents of Cuba and Puerto Rico in his neighborhood piqued his interest in international culture and history.
“It created an undying interest in me to learn more,” he said in a 1962 Air Force article for the Blue Tiger Rag. “At that early age, I saw the need to study another language.” His Spanish teacher at Stanton Senior High School encouraged him to hone his language skills in college.
Professor Rice studied French and Spanish at Xavier University in New Orleans from 1949 to 1950. He then moved to Ohio, where several family members had migrated to work in the rubber factories. In 1950 he entered the University of Akron, joining the Army and Air Force ROTC.
The following year he began a four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force, the beginning of a 38-year military career. Professor Rice spent four years with the Strategic Air Command, partly in Northern Africa where he worked as an interpreter while teaching Spanish and French classes. He retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a senior master sergeant on his 60th birthday in 1989.
After his active duty, Professor Rice worked his way through the University of Akron as a Magnaflux operator at Babcock-Wilcox in Barberton, Ohio. His hard work paid off; in 1959 he completed a double major in Spanish and French with a minor in English. In 1966, he received a master’s degree in French with a minor in Spanish and Secondary Education from Kent State University, where he also taught Spanish.
In the early sixties, he also wrote about Haiti and other topics for The Umpire, a now-defunct Akron newspaper. An active member of Stanton’s class of 1949, he returned to his alma mater to teach French and Spanish from 1963 to 1968. In 1967, he was among 4,000 French teachers selected to attend the NDEA Institute in Arcachon, France. He also attended three other institutes.
In 1971, Professor Rice was part of an 80-member delegation of scientists, doctors, educators and other professionals that toured Moscow and Leningrad, sponsored by the Association for International Medical Studies Inc.
In a Dec. 18, 1970, article in the Southwest Georgian, he discussed his love of traveling and how it fueled his role as a humanist. “Traveling makes me more aware of my personal commitment; I believe in the brotherhood of man,” he said. “Getting to know people helps me to know myself better. Another thing: I like to meet people – black or white or whatever the case.”
In subsequent years, Professor Rice traveled throughout Europe, Africa, North and South America, Singapore and the Caribbean. He considered his language skills invaluable in helping to dispel false notions globally about African-Americans.
In 1976 and 1977, Professor Rice served as president of the Foreign Language Association of Georgia. During his tenure Georgia Gov. George Busbee requested his advice in naming a Task Force on Education. He was invited to serve on the 1974 Naval ROTC College Scholarship Program Committee in Washington, D.C., where he was commended by Emmett H. Tidd, Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy Commander.
Small in stature, Professor Rice was gifted with an outsized personality, a giving, enthusiastic heart, and a warm, ready smile. Besides traveling, he enjoyed public speaking, reading and church work. He loved to attend the Peter Rice Family Reunion, missing the annual reunion only if he was severely ill or out of the country, which he tried to avoid. Before his passing, he and his children were making plans to attend the Columbia, S.C., reunion, which took place just three months after his death. One highlight of his life was campaigning in Southwest Georgia to help elect the first black president of the United States. He was instrumental in opening Barack Obama’s campaign office in Albany. Fellow campaign volunteers described him as a tireless worker who joyfully stuffed envelopes, put up signs, interpreted and knocked on doors.
No matter how many hours he put in while campaigning, when asked how he was doing Professor Rice always responded “I’m Obama well!”
Professor Rice followed Barack Obama’s career several years before he sought the presidency and was long ago certain Obama was “the one.” Despite waning health, he bubbled with excitement when he traveled to Washington, D.C., in January 2009 for the inauguration. “I’m Obama happy!” he told anyone who asked, describing the week in the nation’s capital as a high point of his nearly 80 years.
He stood mesmerized at the sight of the President and First Lady during the Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball, proclaiming Michelle Obama as “the most beautiful First Lady ever.”
Another life highlight was pinning Lieutenant Colonel rank on his daughter, Michelle Rice Trotter, during her November 2007 promotion ceremony at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. He also enjoyed dancing, working at the local flea market and debating hot topics.
Professor Rice was a proud member of the Gamma Omicron Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. and a lifetime NAACP member who participated in civil rights marches in Jacksonville and Georgia. He was a member of the Albany and Dougherty County Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Black of Journalists and the Warner Robins Enlistment Club.
In addition, Professor Rice was a member of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Inc., the French national honor society Pi Delta Pi, the Spanish national honor society Sigma Delta Pi, the American Association of Teachers of French, the Academic Alliances: School/College Faculty Collaboratives of Georgia, the Academic Committee on Foreign Language of the USG Advisory Council, the Southern Conference of Language Teaching, the Regents Global Center and the Linguistics Club of the University of South Florida.
He kept a magnet in his office that read: “I touch the future; I teach.”
His Grains of Rice and Where He Fits on the Family Tree
Those carrying on the legacy of William Rice include his wife, Merquia Maribel Rice, of Albany, Ga.; daughters, Yanick Rice Lamb, of Bowie, Md., and Lt. Col. Michelle Rice Trotter (Gary), of Columbia, Md., from his marriage to Carmelie Jordan; son, Pastor Terrence James Rice (Michelle), of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and daughters Kim and Linda Rice, of Miami, Fla., from his marriage to Vinades Holloway; granddaughters, Takira Lundy-Rice and Christine, Destiny and Joy Rice, all of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; grandsons, Hurtis Chinn, of St. Louis, Mo., Brandon Lamb, of Bowie, Md., and Marcel Joseph, of Columbia, Md.; and great-grandson Santana Lamb.
He also leaves to cherish his memory, his mother-in-law, Paula Rivera of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; niece, Brenda Outlaw, of Jacksonville, Fla.; devoted cousin, Mildred Barnes, of East Orange, N.J.; close friend, Dr. James H. Marquis, of Albany, Ga.; honorary son, Thurmond Howard, Albany, Ga.; and a host of relatives, friends, colleagues and students
Born on Sept. 29, 1929, in Fort Valley, Ga., William Rice was the:
- Son of Rudolph and Ida Mae Rice
- Grandson of Willie and Louella Rice
- Great-Grandson of Peter and Sophie Ingraham Rice
He is featured in an essay by his eldest daughter, Yanick, called “Daddy, My Brother Barack and Me.” Click here to read the essay, which appeared in the book Bet on Black: African-American Women Celebrate Fatherhood in the Age of Barack Obama, edited by Kenrya Rankin.
DANCING TIME! William Rice dancing with Valerie Lemon at the 2007 Peter Rice Reunion in Columbus, Ohio. (Video: Trevor Powell)