Apples don’t fall far from the tree
Kira Kalush, daughter of 7News anchor Anne Trujillo and her husband, filmmaker Mike Kalush, and Taylor Adams, daughter of Colorado Symphony president Doug Adams and his wife, Pamela, are among the debutantes to be presented at the 2007 Le Bal de Ballet. Young Men of Distinction also are presented at this ball, and they will include Scott Traina, whose dad, orthopedic surgeon Steve Traina is a Denver Nuggets team physician (mom Jill Traina has been active with the Gathering Place Association), and Tim VanBenthuysen, son of prominent cardiologist Karyl VanBenthuysen and his wife, Holley.
What makes Billy run
As a Denver Broncos rookie in 1969, Billy Thompson became the only player in National Football League history to lead the league in both kickoff and punt returns in the same season. In 13 seasons with the team, the defensive back also became one of only two players in NFL history to return four opponent fumbles for touchdowns. He’s been to the Pro Bowl three times and in 1987 was the only player inducted into the Broncos Ring of Fame. Thompson quit the gridiron in 1981, but didn’t halt his winning ways. The Broncos appointed him alumni coordinator and director of player relations while numerous community organizations sought him out as a board member, volunteer or spokesperson. “I’ve always thought of myself as a team player, so standing here (and) accepting this award feels a little awkward,” he admitted when the Colorado Prevention Center gave him its Robert W. Schrier Award at the 2006 Inspiration Ball. He accepted, he said, on behalf of “Pat Bowlen, who I feel is the best owner in pro sports, bar none … a man who wants his team to win on the field and be No. 1 in the community.”
Just like old times
The VIP party held on the eve of the opening of Macy’s Cherry Creek reunited some of the major players – past and present – from the city’s retail scene. Among them: Ron and Barbara Thring (she’s a former Estee Lauder executive and he’d been with The Denver Dry Goods Co. before signing on as men’s merchandising manager for Corral West Ranchwear); Artemis Khadiwala-Donian, former couture department chief at Saks Fifth Avenue; Charles Goldstein, who has been with Neiman Marcus Cherry Creek since it opened; and Joe Davis, who had been at the helm when the store first opened as a May D&F way back in 1990.
