In 1964, when the late Erik J. Jonsson was sworn in as Dallas major, Ashlee Hunt and Chris Kleinert were just toddlers. It would be years later that Ashlee and Chris would meet on a blind date and magic happened … not just for their family, but for “doing good for Dallas.”
So, the overwhelming requests to attend the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award Luncheon honoring Ashlee and Chris Kleinert should have come as no surprise.
When the requests came pouring in, the original plan to hold the event at SMU’s Martha Proctor Mack Grand Ballroom was scrapped and the event was moved to the campus’ Armstrong Fieldhouse on Thursday, April 11.
But before the program got underway, the crowd of heady mustangs (Gail and Gerald Turner, Bobby Lyle, Caren Prothro, Brad Cheves, Dom Haskett, Linda Custard, Richie Butler, Norm Bagwell, Gail Thomas and Ashlee’s folks Nancy Ann and Ray Hunt) and friends like Diane and John Scovell, Elaine Agather, Chris Durovich, Kathleen Gibson, Kern Wildenthal, Peter Brodsky, Brent Christopher, Anika Cail, Tracey Nash-Hunter and Carla Mendelsohn looked right at home, with the overhead windows casting natural light on the turf field with scoreboards. Separating the rows of tables and chairs in front of the stage from the reception area was a huge freestanding sign reading “SMU # Ethics” in SMU red-white-and-blue.
In addition to Ashlee and Chris being surrounded by well-wishers, guests were catching up. Connie O’Neill has a new puppy named Lucy. Already the pooch is having her way by crying until Connie caves in and lets her sleep in bed with her. Connie admits that she’s going to have to take a stand and let Lucy know who’s boss.
Mustang David Miller scored major points with his 1972 Southwest Conference Championship basketball teammate Larry Delzell taking him to the Final Four. According to Larry, “Check that one off the bucket list.”
Margo Goodwin opted to head to her table, bypassing the stand-around conversations. It seems that despite a compression sock on her left foot and ankle, her Achilles heel was still making the stand-around hard.
The program started off with a real crowd pleaser thanks to Clark Johnson and the Project Unity Choir, followed by a welcome and recognition of key members of the audience by Brad Cheves and Gerald Turner.
After a break for luncheon, Gerald returned to the stage and addressed the crowd followed by SMU Maguire Ethics Center William F. May Endowed Director Rita Kirk, who told a favorite story about a forest fire. As the animals fled the fire, a jaguar noticed a hummingbird going back and forth from a source of water to the fire several times. When the jaguar asked if it was confused, the hummingbird explained it was trying to stop the fire. It was then confronted on how such a small amount of water could quell the fire. The little bird replied that the forest was its home and that of its family and he wanted to try to save it. Upon hearing the little bird’s reason, the forest spirits sent a torrential downpour to put the fire out.
A touching video was then shown about the Kleinerts, filled with accolades from people like Tom Meurer, Peter Brodsky, Gerald Turner, Bianca Davis, Angelia Villa, William T. Edwards, Dr. Terry Flowers and Kleinert sons Tyler Kleinert and TJ Kleinert.
Their daughter Connie Kleinert Babikian recalled in the video when she was eight-months pregnant during a recent ice storm and her husband was out of town, she called Ashlee saying she needed help. Ashlee arrived and with Connie and her two youngsters went to the grocery store. Ashlee said “we need a cart,” and all of a sudden they started loading up the cart with milk and baby formula and bread. Then they went to another grocery store and started loading up more carts. Puzzled to this point, Connie said they then found themselves delivering the supplies to a huge list of people across the city who didn’t have cars and were stranded with young children. “There we were, the one car on the road delivering milk,” Connie said. “And my son and my daughter were out there passing out the groceries.” It was at that moment that she realized the lesson that was being passed on to her own children.
The video was followed by the presentation of the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award to the couple and a conversation with Ashlee and Chris moderated by Perkins School of Theology Professor of Ethics Steven Long.
Chris told how a young woman had join Ashlee’s truck team in the late 2010s and developed the confidence to begin taking nursing classes. And so she had gone through Dallas College first and then to a four-year institution. She applied for a placement and she really had her heart set on one particular place. She was disappointed that she hadn’t gotten what she had wanted. Ashlee asked what her letter of acceptance said. The young woman replied something called “UTSW.” Ashlee was ecstatic, explaining that her future lay with UT Southwestern and this news was such a testament for all her hard work.
For more looks of the people on hand for the luncheon, check out MySweetCharity Photo Gallery.