Robert Rice

Sebastopol resident Robert Rice died of multiple myeloma, an
aggressive blood cancer, at his home on Aug. 2.
Rice was born and raised in Ohio, and began tap dancing at age
3. He was a tap-dancing waiter in college, where he did musical
theater, and studied ballet and modern dance.
In 1984 he moved to California to work for the Institute in
Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland.
He also worked at Mount Zion Medical Center in San Francisco,
directing a program bringing artists, musicians, poets and actors
to homes of confined elderly persons and to the bedside of AIDS
patients.
Rice settled in Sonoma County and became coordinator of arts
programs for the Cultural Arts Council in Santa Rosa.
He  met his wife Joan Rice in a line dancing class in
Sebastopol. They were together seven years, and married two years
ago.
Rice is survived by his wife as well as a son, Mitchell Rice of
Santa Rosa; daughter, Dana Rice of Hartwick, N.Y., and two
grandchildren.
A celebration of his life and retrospective of his art will be
held Sept. 20. For more information, e-mail Joan Price at jo**@jo*******.com.
Memorial donations may be made to Memorial Hospice, 821
Mendocino Ave., Santa Rosa, CA 95401.