Doris Sue Tessieri

A native Houstonian and fifth generation Texan, she was born on the 3rd of October 1926. She was the only child of Alfred and Dorothea Moellenberndt. Descended from German immigrants on both sides, she had roots in both Galveston and Fayette County. She attended grammar, junior high, and high school in the Houston public school system graduating from San Jacinto High School where she served as editor of the San Jacinto Star and was a member of the National Honor Society.

She graduated from Rice University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1948. She was a writer for the school newspaper, the Rice Thresher, and was the founder and first president of the Sarah Lane Literary Society. After graduation, she was the class of 1948 reporter for the alumni magazine, The Sallyport, until shortly before her death. While at Rice, she met a dashing young chemical engineer, Karl C. ten Brink, at a school dance. They married March 12, 1949.

Karl worked in research at Texaco, beginning his career at Texaco’s research facility in Bellaire, Texas. During the time Karl worked in Bellaire, the couple built a life in Houston making many lifelong friends. During this time, Doris raised two children and assisted her father in his various business ventures. A lover of history and the arts, she did volunteer work for various arts organizations and worked as a docent at the Heritage Society Houses. A cradle Episcopalian, she was an original member of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church. No matter where life took her, she always considered St. Martin’s her spiritual home.

In 1965, Karl was transferred to the Texaco Research Laboratories in Beacon, New York. During their time in the Hudson Valley, Doris continued her involvement in volunteer work for historical societies. She served as a docent at Constitution Island at West Point and Friends of Boscobel in Cold Spring, New York. She continued her involvement with the Episcopal Church as a member of Trinity Episcopal Church in Fishkill, New York and then Zion Episcopal Church in Wappingers Falls, New York. Living close to New York City, she enjoyed visiting the museums of fine art there, attending opera performances at Lincoln Center, and going to Broadway shows. Doris and Karl were members of the officers club at the United States Military Academy at West Point, across the Hudson River from their home in Dutchess County, New York. She made numerous friends of faculty and cadets and maintained contact with many of them for the rest of her life.

Following Karl’s retirement, the ten Brinks moved back to Houston in 1982. Back in Houston, Doris happily rejoined her beloved St. Martin’s and continued her volunteer work. She served as a docent at the MFAH Bayou Bend Collection, earning her 20 year pin. An amateur historian and collector of American decorative arts, Doris acquired a rather impressive collection of antiques of her own. She could tell you the history of each and every piece of her cherished collection. She was also the president of The Tanglewood Garden Club and served on the Rice Alumni Board as vice president. While in New York she joined PEO and continued her participation with the Houston Chapter. After many years of happy marriage, Karl passed away January 1, 1993. Following his death, Doris established the Karl C. ten Brink Scholarship in Chemical Engineering at Rice University.

On the 12th of February 1994, Doris married John Tessieri. Both recently widowed, they were happy to have another chance at married life. Doris and John split their time between his home in New York and her home in Houston. John passed away in 2010. She was particularly fond of his granddaughter, Monica Harrington and her family. Disappointed that her own grandchildren showed no interest in attending Rice University, she was pleased when John’s great grandson, Jack Harrington, recently transferred to Rice.

She lived her last years at The Hallmark where she continued her friendship with a number of people she had known for most of her life and new friends as well.

She was a great cook, a gracious hostess, a faithful and devoted wife to both her husbands, and a dear mother and grandmother.

She is survived by her son, Hal ten Brink (wife Barbara) of Austin; daughter Charlotte ten Brink (husband Rolf) of Houston; grandchildren, Sam ten Brink (wife Samantha) of San Angelo and Emma Laub of Austin.

The family would like to express their gratitude to Bobby Holmes, Louvelle Armstrong and Chanda Holmes for the incredible care and love they gave Doris in her later years. The family would also like to thank Dorothy Childs, Marta Ortiz and Gussie Braxton for their many years of dedicated service, and to Kenzo and Tracy for doing her hair every Saturday morning.

Interment is to be conducted at noon on Thursday, the 1st of November, at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery; 6900 Lawndale Street in Houston.

A Memorial Service and Celebration of Life will follow at two o'clock in the afternoon, at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road in Houston, where The Rev. R-J Heijmen and The Rev. Dr. Suse E. McBay ae to officiate.

Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception in the adjacent Bagby Parish Hall.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in her name be directed to St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 717 Sage Road, Houston, TX 77056; or to the Karl C. ten Brink Scholarship in Chemical Engineering at Rice University, Office of Development MS-81, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX, 77251-1892, (online at giving.rice.edu).