In the spring of 1948 the second baby, a boy named Peter was born. He was demanding and stressed his mother constantly with his crying and need for attention. Rex took Margaret to his studio in San Francisco for weekends. They would eat in restaurants in Chinatown and Margaret would draw and read while he worked. Renee would go to her parent’s house in west Berkeley with the baby, pushing him endlessly in his stroller to keep him from crying. Her parents doted on the baby and helped spell her from the demands of the child.

Rex’s parents came for a visit in 1950 and he wanted to show his father the work he was so proud of doing. His mother, dutifully proud, if not totally comprehending, was eager to see his work. His father refused to enter the studio and insisted on remaining outside. After some discussion he was persuaded to enter. Once inside he sat down and stared at the floor, refusing to look at his sons work.

A larger apartment opened up in the building where they lived now and they were able to acquire it, along with management duties. Renee continued to work in the bookstore at times, and Rex move out of his studio in San Francisco and into a store front nearby on Euclid Avenue. He continued studying at the School of Fine Art and began some teaching as well, there, the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland and also at Berkeley Evening Adult School.

At work in the bookstore Renee discovered a book called There Is a River by Tom Sugrue. It was the biography of famed psychic Edgar Cayce. She became so enamored with the ideas described in the book that she wrote a letter to the author in care of the publisher. Hugh Lynn Cayce, the psychic’s son wrote back telling her how pleased they were with her interest and asking if she could help them with a west coast lecture tour they had planned for the near future.

Rex was studying perspective, color theory, how pigments were made, classical techniques, art history and anything else that related to his interests in any way. He devoured biographies of artists and attended the local museums and galleries at every opportunity. He gave up the studio in San Francisco and rented studio space in neighboring store fronts and sheds.

Together the couple attended the ballet and symphony when they could afford and Rex listened constantly to classical music on the radio and the broadcasts of the Metropolitan Opera from New York on Sunday.

From his studies with painter David Park at the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco Rex soon found himself being asked to teach classes to younger students. He began teaching painting at California College of Arts and Crafts and at the adult evening education school at Berkeley High School. He was so popular they expanded the class room space and added a second class.