Getting to know you
It sure looked like Fred and Jane Hamilton had no problem greeting each and every one of the 718 guests by name when they stood at the entry to the Denver Art Museum wing that bears his name. Not everyone at the Sept. 30 gala had their depth of knowledge, though, and so here’s a couple of folks you might have missed:
Mary Peck, vice president of the post-war and contemporary art department at Christie’s. She grew up here (her dad is Denver attorney Neil Peck), attended Graland and Yale and found herself on the same flight back to New York (United’s 10:33 a.m.) on Oct. 1 as SmithBarney VP Paul Esserman. He was heading to the Big Apple to observe Yom Kippur with a longtime friend.
Art consultant Barbara Guggenheim of New York and Los Angeles. The wife of celebrity lawyer Bert Fields, Guggenheim was a guest of DAM benefactor Estelle Wolf. Guggenheim has made a name for herself as an author, blogger, lecturer; she has also assembled art collections for such notables as Tom Cruise, Steven Spielberg and Sylvester Stallone.
A real shoe-in
If your name isn’t Gisele Bundschen or Heidi Klum, it takes a heckuva lot of nerve to walk a fashion runway – especially in shoes with heels higher than some of us are tall. But four members of the Hearts for Life Guild agreed to give it a go when Macy’s Cherry Creek hosted a shoe fashion show and night of pampering to promote the American Heart Association’s 2007 Go Red for Women Luncheon. Holly Butler modeled because she’s a heart attack survivor and wants young women, especially, to know they’re vulnerable, too. Ditto for Dawn Nakamura Kessler, who has had two open-heart surgeries. Jamie Angelich and Kit Leventhal both have histories of heart disease in their families, and Ilene Sloan, who sits on the AHA’s Denver Metro board, discovered she had a heart problem when she passed out after climbing a flight of stairs in a parking garage. Because she was young, doctors initially pooh-pooed the idea that Sloan had heart disease, but she persisted until she found someone who took her seriously. Today her heartbeat is regulated by a defibrillator and Sloan tells everyone she can that heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death in women over age 25.
Wagons, ho!
Advocates for Children marks its 10th year of “pulling together for children” by honoring Colorado Avalanche honcho Pierre Lacroix and his wife, Coco, at the Red Wagon Ball. Guests are encouraged to think red when deciding on what to wear for this $125-a-ticket dinner and auction held at the Wildlife Experience museum in Parker. Amy Leonard is the chairwoman; Gary Corbett will solicit bids and Fox-31 news anchors Libby Weaver and Ron Zappolo are the emcees. Call 303-695-1882.
