Actress Kate Mulgrew acquired legions of fans for her portrayal of Capt. Kathryn Jane- way on the 1990s TV series “Star Trek: Voyager.” These days her ever-expanding base of admirers is heavy with non-Trekkies who feel her role as spokeswoman for the Alzheimer’s Association is Oscar-caliber indeed.
She can bring an audience – like the 650 who gathered at Lakewood’s Belmar Center for the sixth annual Memories Lost & Found luncheon – to tears as she speaks matter-of- factly, yet with much poignancy, about the effect Alzheimer’s has had on her family as her mother experiences the final stages of this incurable disease.
“A lot of things happen when you turn 50,” Mulgrew said. “Your husband has a heart attack, you get hot flashes and your mother, after pausing to take a good look at you, says: ‘I like you, you’re funny, but who are you?’ This is the same mother who, after having eight kids, comes home from the hospital following a hysterectomy and puts a jar on the mantel with a sign that says ‘From Whence You Sprang.”‘
Alzheimer’s, Mulgrew continued, “is not so much a disease as it is a tragedy. Death comes with aching slowness, and the grief is almost unbearable. If you’re like me, with some modicum of celebrity, you can afford to hire caregivers (who can offer much-needed respite), but for hundreds of thousands of others, Alzheimer’s becomes an overwhelming burden.”
On the bright side, she added, “Where there is commitment there is success” and every day is one step closer to a cure.
Memories Lost & Found is the signature fundraiser of AWARE, the Alzheimer’s Women’s Auxiliary for Research and Education. The 2005 edition, chaired by Susan Barnhill, Terrie Fontenot and Susan Mostow, raised a record $240,000, bringing the six-year total to $1.165 million. Denver philanthropist Richard Gooding was the honorary chairman, and AWARE president Kathy Klugman happily accepted an “incredibly generous” check from him following the luncheon.
CBS4 weatherman Ed Greene, whose own mother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, emceed and introduced AWARE founder Helen Ginsburg, who noted that funding for an Alzheimer’s Memory Grove and Garden in Denver’s Stapleton neighborhood is going well. Stapleton’s president and CEO, Richard Anderson, attended the luncheon.
Donna and Gary Antonoff were among the presenting sponsors (others were Cummins Rocky Mountain, the Integer Group and
Coors Brewing Co.) Also on hand were the Rev. Susan Kiely, who delivered the invocation; Phyllis Coors and Dave Graebel; Jerilyn Bensard; and nature photographer John Fielder, whose wife, Gigi, recently succumbed to Alzheimer’s.
Others taking part in the benefit were Deb Smith, Myra Mourning, Diane Fatheree, Elenora Crichlow, Judy Bowman, Toni Butler, Marian Gelfand, Jackie Watters, Jo Dutton, Sandra Arkin, Noreen Stillman, Dawn Nakamura-Kessler, Sue Larkin, Deborah Davis, Carol James, Mary Bennett, Barbara Flowers, Deborah Massa, Lyn Schaffer, Jane Wilson, Nancy Sagar and Linda Mitchell, the chief executive at Rocky Mountain chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
