Moody mergers
In the spring of 1960, Jerry Conn was walking home from wrestling class and stopped by The Daily Texan offices for a brief respite. Reclining on the office couch, he overheard a conversation about a campus issue, and he popped up to offer a different viewpoint.
“This girl, she completely disarmed me. First because of how cute she was – cute, bright and well-spoken,” Jerry remembered. “I left the Texan office without knowing her name but trying to find out.”
A week or so later, they met again at a newspaper staff party. He found out her name, Becky Reynolds.
“We began dating and really hit it off – a wonderful beginning,” Jerry said.
Becky and Jerry have been together for 60 years, including 58 years of marriage. They both graduated from The University of Texas with journalism degrees. They recently established a scholarship to assist current Daily Texan staffers.
Why were you individually drawn to major in and study journalism? I think both Becky and I were affected by the importance of news from our earliest memories.
We were born into an era when news was earthshaking. The world was on the brink of World War II. Some of our first memories were of radio news leading up to the war. Though we didn’t understand exactly what was happening, from very early ages, we formed impressions that this war, and the news about it, were so very important.
What is the key to a lasting marriage? Our key is Becky looking past my stupidities. And now she has Alzheimer’s Disease, and that is teaching me a lot about patience. The grace of God has helped us. Sometimes that grace is known as good luck or fate.
How do you keep your relationship fruitful? Remembering our love all the way back to the beginning – that “boing!” that hit us in The Daily Texan office and evolved so well from there. That can be done all through the years, through ups and downs, and keeping the transitory things from seeming so big. This, and learning and remembering that we’re different people with different temperaments, abilities and convictions, and that love can override differences.
