The crowd that filled the University Club for a Young Audiences dinner honoring Cynthia Rippey Kendrick may have expected the occasion to be dignified and low-key, and it was. Up to a point.
Once the formalities had been dispensed with – Kendrick received the Ann Robinson Levy Award for Excellence in the Arts – it was time for some entertainment. If ever there was an instance of not being able to tell a book by its cover, it was that night when master ventriloquist Mark Hellerstein – who also happens to be chief executive officer of St. Mary Land & Exploration Co. – and his sidekick “Baltimore Jackson” had the audience roaring with laughter.
Hellerstein has been a ventriloquist since he was 17 and is considered to be among the best at his craft. He takes his often zany act to schools; other times he wears his CEO hat and does corporate presentations on leadership skills and being effective in the workplace.
The Ann Robinson Levy Award, named for the co-founder of Young Audiences’ Colorado chapter, is given annually to an organization, artist or individual who has made a significant contribution to arts education. Kendrick is a longtime supporter of the Aesthetic Education Institute, providing scholarships for teachers who otherwise would be unable to attend AEIC’s annual conclaves in Denver and Telluride that are hosted by the University of Denver College of Education and Young Audiences.
Dinner guests included Kendrick’s brother and sister-in-law, Gordon and Sally Rippey; her cousin, Eula Hoff; and good friends Barbara Neal and Ed Ellis. Also, Jane and Ed Wasson; AEIC director Barbara Barnhart and her husband, John Kjos; former Young Audiences board members Todger Anderson, Stuie Froelicher (with husband Chuck), Lynne Conner (and hubby Steve), Lynette Emery, Deborah Whittaker and Ann Levy.
Also there: Bruce Tsukamaki of the accounting firm EKS&H, a Premier Table sponsor; Colorado Bar Association chief Charles Turner and his wife, Debbie; Barbara Knight; Kim Morrill; Tom and Claire Brown; Joe Hodges, who escorted one of his wife Jean’s best friends from college, former Niwot resident Adele Burnham; Karin Writer; Jim Robertson; Chris Meza; YA treasurer Gordon Stenger; identical twins Dash and Zach Victor of Deloitte & Touche; Kara McAlpine; and Rick and YA executive director Angela Norlander.
The museum rocks
Denver Museum of Nature & Science rocked with the three decades of music that Moment’s Notice provided for a cocktail and dessert reception celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Minoru Yasui Community Volunteer Award.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
