When you’re as big a deal in the Republican Party as Carl and Lisa Williams are, it would stand to reason that President Bush himself would be interested in knowing they were to be honored at a gala benefiting the Arthritis Foundation.
Interested enough to attend? Maybe not, but co-chairs Dick Saunders, Jeanne Portmann, Steve Edmonds, Lori Marks-Connors, Jan Rice and Dr. Stuart Kassan pulled off the next best thing: They brought in comedian Steve Bridges.
A regular on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” whose looks, voice and mannerisms are so much like the nation’s chief executive that even Dubya himself is fooled, Bridges had the bipartisan crowd howling with laughter.
“I know I’m not popular with the polls,” Bridges intoned after being escorted into the Marriott City Center ballroom by a cadre of “Secret Service” agents. “But if I wanted to be popular with the polls, I woulda run for president of Poland.”
Carl Williams, a former state legislator and telecommunications pioneer, is a major donor to the GOP. He and Lisa were honored for their longstanding support of the work of the Arthritis Foundation, a commitment inspired by the fact that their mothers suffered from debilitating forms of the disease. They are members of the Arthritis Foundation board.
Also honored was 9News morning anchor Gregg Moss, whose own battle with psoriatic arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis was only recently made public. Moss’ television colleagues Kyle Dyer and Gary Shapiro emceed the gala that raised $150,000 for the cause.
The 300 guests dined on chicken breasts topped with porcini mushrooms at tables decorated with arrangements of lilies donated by Paula Arnold of Newberry Bros.
Board member Jan Rice and her husband, architect Jim Johnson, hosted a patron table with Alf Gimbel, a former chairman of the board.
Their guests included 9Health Fair chief Jim Goddard; Celeste Fleming and her daughter, Anne; and artist Jeanne Pear. In the “small world” department, Jim Johnson had been the architect for the Fleming family’s former Carr Street home while Pear and Fleming became friends through their husbands, now deceased, both of whom were radiologists.
Anesthesiologist Rick Garbe, there with wife Margaret, said he is training for a summer bike ride across America that will raise money for the University of Colorado Cancer Center; 11-year-old Alex Fernandez, who has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, was there to let people know arthritis affects all age groups, not just adults or the elderly.
Others there to pay tribute to the honorees: Secretary of State Mike Coffman and his wife, Cynthia; former legislator Sally Hopper; Barry and Arlene Hirschfeld; Sarah Hite; Howard and Susan Noble; Jo Farrell; Walt and Georgia Imhoff; Jay and Kristina Davidson; Larry and Jill DiPasquale; Roscoe Hill; Leo and Linda Goto; Linda Bowen Scott; and John Deutschmann, general manager of the Ralph Lauren shop in Cherry Creek Shopping Center.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also,
