Rex was elected to the Friends of Bosque del Apache NWR board in 2021 and serves on the Friends Advocacy Committee. Rex and his wife Susan Richards “discovered” Bosque del Apache and New Mexico in the mid-1990’s, returned to Socorro annually enjoying both, and retired to the area in 2017.

Rex is a former college faculty member and administrator. He has a Ph.D. in U.S. History from the University of Montana and published books and scholarly articles, as well as short stories and poems. He taught at colleges and universities in California, Montana, South Dakota, Vermont, Colorado, Wisconsin, and Wyoming plus held administrative positions at several schools. Also actively involved in community life, Rex has been a Kiwanian since 1973, and served on boards of many public/non-profit organizations: chambers of commerce, arts, libraries, Buffalo Bill Dam Visitors Center, Amigos de la Sevilleta, and others. He is also a volunteer Santa. Rex and Susan have been members of Friends of Bosque del Apache for more than twenty years, hiked all the refuge trails more than once, and keep an annual tally of birds they see.