And the fundraising continued into the night of Saturday, May 16. The Flight YPO Gala was taking place at the Hall of State at Fair Park for Vogel Alcove. Over at the Dallas Zoo, the Kids to Do was underway, with the Giants of the Jurassic having 18 animatronic dinosaurs competing with the Giants of the Savanna for giant attention. And still more was happening like:
Kids Come First Partners’ Roundup
In the past the Communities in Schools of the Dallas Region’s Kids Come First Partners’ Roundup Party has embraced the western way of partying. A couple of years ago, they hoe-downed at Eddie Deen’s. Last year it was at Brook Hollow, with guests looking like they were expecting a rodeo in the ballroom.
But some folks decided the fundraiser needed just a little polishing. In other words, keep the spirit of fun but dress it up with silks, satins and suits instead of denims and bandanas. Despite the decision to dress up, still some die-hards just wouldn’t give up their boots and jeans.
But the vast majority of the 300 guests including Honorary Co-Chairs Allie Beth and Pierce Allman, Betty Turner and Lois Dusza got all gussied up and were photographed in frames held by students.
Event Chair Cynthia Beaird even arranged to have the place decorated with a “bluegrass/Kentucky” theme complete with “Silver Mint Julep” drinks and music provided by Milo Deering’s Hickory Hill band. Cynthia’s husband, musician Brice Beaird, was late to arrive. Seems he was doing the music at St. Michael’s.
As the silent auction including celebrity guitars and sports memorabilia was checked out and casino games played, Lisa Laughlin rehearsed the DISD’s John Reagan Elementary School students in “Getting to Know You.” The presentation by CiS students is always a highlight and reminds guests that the event is a major fundraiser to support the group’s mentoring and tutoring program for at-risk kids.”
It was an especially poignant evening, since CiS CEO Sandy Chavarria was retiring. She’ll be replaced by present CiS President Dr. Judith Allen-Basemore. To commemorate Sandy’s leadership, she was presented with Sandy’s Super Scholars “to continue her legacy in the Dallas region and to help students experience travel outside of their neighborhood.”
After all the formal presentations were done, the informal partying got underway with dancing and loads of selfies.
Frontiers of Flight Museum Gala
Those hifalutin types like Joanne Stroud, Mary Jalonick and Judy and Patrick Kelly lived up to their monikers at the Frontiers of Flight Museum Gala on the upper level of the Frontiers of Flight Museum with planes floating in the background.
Silver-haired U.S. Representative Pete Sessions was three-deep with folks seeking his counsel and vice versa. Across the way, U.S. Representative Sam Johnson was a wee bit less center ring and doing the one-on-one with constituents.
Frontiers of Flight Museum’s Cheryl Sutterfield was sky-high about the sold-out affair and having Amelia Earhart as the keynote speaker. No, it wasn’t the Amelia Earhart, who disappeared back in 1937. Rather, it was Amelia Rose Earhart, the youngest woman to fly around the world in a single-engine aircraft back in 2014.
After last year’s event honoring the U.S. astronauts, it was hard to follow up, but they did. To add to the polish, the George E. Haddaway Award was presented to Sean Donohue. In addition to his being D/FW International Airport’s CEO, he has also served as Virgin Australia Airlines COO.
Part of the evening’s presentation was a video — “The Dirty 1/2 Dozen.” It showed a special ops team arriving in a Huey Helicopter and “busting” into the Museum using night gear. When the commandos lifted their night goggles, they turned out to be Fort Worth Mayor Betsy “The Mayor” Price, former Fort Worth Mayor Mike “Rider” Moncrief, Mark “Air Boss” Duebner, Bill “Coach” Thorton, Sam “The Negotiator” Coates, Dale “Big-Picture” Petroskey and Lillie “The Chair” Biggins. The commander calling the shots in a darkly lit room was none other than Dallas Mayor Mike “The Commander” Rawlings. One person noted that there were seven in the half dozen. Perhaps the filmmakers were thinking Baker’s Half Dozen.
Six of the team then appeared in formal attire raising flutes of champagne to toast Sean. Then in real life, Sean emerged from a helicopter in the Museum escorted by members of the Liberty Jump Team and took his place at the podium.
Talk of the night included former Dallas first lady Laura Leppert updating friends about the November 11, 2015, Daughters of Wold War II celebration…Emcees NBC5/evening Deborah Ferguson and husband WBAP sports anchor Steve Lamb were doing double duty as a date night…Another date night was underway for Juliette and Ross Coulter and Stacey and John Lanius.