Pensal McCray and Dr. Christophe McCray, who died in July, were honored as Colorado Parents of the Year at a dinner Saturday at Lakewood Country Club. The honor, bestowed by the Colorado Parents’ Day Council, commemorates the years the couple spent helping minority youths make their dreams of a college education come true.
Twenty years ago, building on expertise gained in raising their own five children, the McCrays started the Ethnic College Counseling Center. Working with volunteers, the couple conducted bi-weekly workshops and provided tutoring and mentoring that would help 500 Denver-area youths land scholarships.
Every other year, Mrs. McCray would take groups of prospective students on tours of historically black colleges and universities.
At the same time they were helping others, the McCrays supported and nurtured their own children to be successful, educated and responsible adults. They instilled solid values of respect, love, integrity and service in them and never accepted excuses for poor performance. Today two of the children are medical doctors, two have earned Ph.D.s, and another is a teacher and coach.
When one daughter, now a college professor, wasn’t working as hard in school as her parents throught she should be, Dr. McCray said he’d be happy to come to class every day to help her and, by the way, would be wearing a pair of colorful clown pants, her study habits miraculously improved.
It’s a date
Casino Royale, the Rocky Mountain Multiple Sclerosis Center’s 18th fundraising gala, begins with martinis and magic at 6 p.m. Saturday at Invesco Field. Dinner and awards to Marie Windlinger (Humanitarian of the Year), the Kenneth King Foundation (Organization That Cares) and the MS Young Professionals Network (Young Philanthropists) are next, followed by music by the 17th Avenue Allstars. Ginny Messina, Sandy Unrein, Sandee Walling, Mary McNicholas and Ginny Mayers are the co-chairs; for tickets, call 303-788-4030 … Those who’ve signed up for the Volunteers of America Legends of Golf Tournament will be treated to dinner with Dusty Baker, former manager of the San Francisco Giants, at the Denver ChopHouse on Aug. 8. He’ll pose for pictures, sign autographs and answer questions during the dinner and auction sponsored by CoBiz Insurance. The tournament, presented by Re/Max International, takes place the following day at Sanctuary. Call Denise Robert, 303-368-5208 … Friends of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts will be treated to a preview of The Container Store in Cherry Creek on Aug. 9; in addition to a look around, there’ll be champagne and hors d’oeuvres, and music for dancing. Ten percent of the weekend’s sales will go to the DCPA.
