Growing up on Long Island and in new Hampshire, Sylvia Bennett White had no inkling that she would become one of America's foremost herb experts. She transferred to Rice from Barnard College in New York City in the middle of her sophomore year with entirely different plans. "I dreamed of being the next Perry Mason," she says with laugh. At Rice, she took an area of major in legal studies. "I wanted a solid standing from which to apply to law school, so I took every class I could that would give me a background to the law. I was fascinated by it."

One of the reasons Sylvia came to Rice was because her father's side of the family was from Texas and he always wanted one of his children to go Rice. "I was the last of in line of five children," she explains, "so it was up to me to fulfill his dream." She also appreciated Rice's smaller size. "It was a lot steadier foundation for learning than the frenetic race I experienced in New York," says former Hanszen College member. "It was a very caring environment." She especially remembers professor of Philosophy Baruch Brody. "He always had time whenever I needed to talk with him. Now that I'm in the work-a-day world, I appreciate more than ever that he took time not just to answer my question but to find out who I was."

After Sylvia graduated from Rice, she went to law school at Texas Tech, but there her dreams of being the next Perry Mason evaporated. "I was miserably disappointed," she says. "Studying about the law is very different from learning the law." She changed to business and earned an M.B.A. in finance and marketing in 1981.

Although her desire to be a lawyer was finally arrested, she never lost here two other life-long interests: writing and cooking. "Writing has been a common thread throughout my life. As a youngster, I even had an article published in Highlights for Children. Writing fulfills my eagerness to learn more, to meet people, and to express myself." Her maternal grandfather, a professor of English at Columbia University, was a major influence. "He wrote several books," she says, "and I looked toward him for a great deal of support and encouragement."

Her love of cooking was inspired by her father and grandmother. "They were very affected by the Depression in their use of foods," she says. "Dishes had to be economical and nutritious, yet they always valued attractiveness in what we ate. That taught me to be resourceful and creative in meeting this very basic need. Also, meals were a very social time when we all got together at the the table to share. That has carried through to my own personal family."

Sylvia found a job in the oil industry and, by 1983, was a senior financial analyst for a company in Houston. That same year,she met William Varney while going to church at St. Luke's.

Bill Varney had always been interested in plants and gardening. "When I was eight, I asked my parents for a greenhouse for my birthday," he admits, chuckling. Although originally from the Oklahoma Panhandle, he grew up in Houston. While he was in high school, his grandfather became ill and needed help working the farm in Oklahoma, so Bill moved back there to lend a hand.

After high school, Bill attended Oklahoma Panhandle State University, where he earned a degree in business and horticulture. By then, his grandparents had died, and wanderlust bit him. "I sold everything I owned, and I went to Australia and worked there on a ranch for a year," he says. He then returned to Houston, where he was employed as a buyer for Cornelius Nurseries when he met Sylvia. The couple married in 1984.

by:
Christopher Dow
photos by:
Tommy LaVergne

Originally
Published in
Sallyport
The Magazine
of Rice University
Summer 2001

Click on any of
the small photos
to view full size