It was eons in the planning and fundraising, but the new Parkland Hospital holds all the promises of wishes come true.
Saturday, March 21, 250 guests including Nancy and Jeremy Halbreich, Janie McGarr, Lyda Hill, John Wiley Price, Caren Prothro, Veletta Lill, Kathy and Richard Holt, Joan and Alan Walne, Gillian Breidenbach, Troy Schiermeyer and Mary Suhm with Laurie and Phil Evans celebrated “The Evening in the Park” at the 2.8M-square-foot facility. It was an amazing feat both structurally and financially. Thanks to I Stand For Parkland Co-Chairs Don Glendenning and Nancy Halbreich, more than $150M was raised through private donations to build the hospital that is scheduled to officially open for business on Thursday, August 20.
Honorary Co-Chairs Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones arrived and posed for photos with David Krause. Trevor had just flown in from a Charles Russell auction in Montana and a quick stopover in Calgary.
As “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” was being sung, living statuary stood in place. When one of the white painted live statues was asked how they were going to shed the white stuff, the statue admitted, “I don’t know.” Think loofahs and lots of scrubbing.
But the facility needed no scrubbing or hesitation. As one person put it, “What an amazing facility!”
Over to one side, characters in early 20th century attire played croquet. In another area, an artist did portraits of folks. Looking very closely at a wall mural of Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte,” something seemed a bit askew. It was a long figure, whose painted body blended in perfectly with one part of the artwork.
Other entertainment included special performances by the Dallas Summer Musicals Academy of Performing Arts and Young Strings Students of The Dallas Symphony Orchestra in the lobby and members of the Turtle Creek Chorale in the cafeteria.