Rex will also be remembered for his service to the Petrolia Volunteer Fire Department, the Mattole Valley Community Center (for whom he engineered the move of the old school building across Mattole Road to its present site), and the Mattole Union School Board. He lent his tools unremittingly to his neighbors; he and his wife Ruth opened their home to those needing comforts of civilization, from phone service to hot showers, that were unavailable on their as-yet undeveloped homesteads. Dozens of neighbors took up Rex and Ruth on their generous offer to use their line as a message phone, and would each look for their unique message flags in the window of the Ranch House as they drove past on Lighthouse Road.