There couldn’t have been a better spot than The Perot Companies headquarters to announce the honoree of the Turtle Creek Park Conservancy‘s 2024 Luminary Dinner, which recognizes the organization’s top donors.
About 150 guests at the two-hour event seemed to agree.
Filing into the sleek, 3-story stone, wood and glass building off Turtle Creek Boulevard for the announcement on Wednesday, October 9, guests were greeted with flutes of champagne and three string musicians playing pop tunes like “Strangers in the Night.”
Some of the guests, like Stacey Walker with her mom Kay Sim, made straight for Legacy Hall, the building’s amazing private museum of mementos from the career of the late Perot Companies founder H. Ross Perot Sr.
Meantime, attendees like Lyda Hill, Michael Faircloth, Pat and Charles McEvoy, Lisa Cooley, Laura Downing, Shannon Graham, Wendy Messmann, Shannon Graham, Jack Lowe, Jeanne Milligan, R.J. Grogan, Marion Flores, Jill and Bob Smith and Linda Perryman-Evans chatted with old and new friends.
The reception was underwritten by Suzy and Bob Kriscunas (he’s chairman of the conservancy’s board).
Suddenly, about halfway through the event, Turtle Creek Park Conservancy President and CEO Tiffany Divis took to a raised stage to end the suspense about the dinner honoree.
After extolling the “sweet little space” and the “sweet crowd” that had gathered, Tiffany revealed that Louise Griffeth (“a sweet friend”) would be the the 2024 Luminary honoree during a seated, invitation-only dinner at Salum Restaurant on Wednesday, November 6.
Louise, as many in the crowd knew, is a former chair of the Crystal Charity Ball and the founder of the Equest Women’s Auxiliary and Kappa Kappa Gamma Tablescapes, among her many other good works.
Summoned to the stage after listening to her introduction, Louise joked, “I’m exhausted!” Then she added simply and humbly, “I’m honored to be a very small part of it.”
The Turtle Creek Park Conservancy is a non-profit group dedicated to the conservation, preservation and care of Turtle Creek Park and Arlington Hall.