Yes, honesty is the best policy. Except when you want to honor someone as modest as Ron Williams and you know that no matter how hard you’d try to convince him it was a good idea, he’d never agree to let it happen.
So you surprise him.
Just like the Denver Public Schools Foundation did at Achieve 2011, a dinner where 1,300 guests raised $925,000 for a host of initiatives that drive student achievement, including health and wellness programs, after-school enrichment and tutoring, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education.
Williams, the president/CEO of Gary-Williams Energy, is approaching his 10th anniversary as a member of the DPS Foundation board, a tenure distinguished by valuable — and generous — contributions of wisdom, time and money.
Kristin Richardson, chair of the DPS Foundation board, copped to being a bit sneaky as she and president Kristin Colon ensured his presence by asking Williams to chair the dinner with his wife, Cille. “We just left out a few key facts when we discussed what would be on the program.”
Williams was floored when his friend and business partner Sam Gary stepped to the stage to deliver an emotional tribute and present him with a commemorative painting by North High School sophomore Samuel Herrera.
He was clearly touched, but kept his acknowledgments short and sweet: “Thank you. This is a good opportunity (pause) to say nothing more.”
Gov. John Hickenlooper and Mayor Guillermo “Bill” Vidal delivered brief remarks, as did Superintendent Tom Boasberg and Mariner Kemper, chairman of presenting sponsor UMB Bank.
DPS students Musu Sirleaf and Tyler Quintana also spoke. Sirleaf, whose family came to America from Liberia when she was 6, will graduate from Montbello High School next month with a 4.1 grade average. She’s a finalist for a Gates Millennium Scholarship and a semifinalist for a Daniels Fund award. Quintana, whose mother is a DPS employee, is a senior at the Denver Center for International Studies and started the nonprofit Ambulances for Africa following a 2009 visit to Sierra Leone.
Guests included Denver School Board president Nate Easley; University of Colorado president Bruce Benson and his wife, Marcy; CU Denver chancellor Jerry Wartgow and his wife, Diane; Elaine Gantz Berman, a member of the state board of education, and her husband, Dr. Stephen Berman; state Senate president Brandon Shaffer; former Lt. Gov. Barbara O’Brien; Rose Community Foundation chief Sheila Bugdanowitz; Latina Chamber of Commerce president Tess Solano; Denver Health Foundation director Paula Herzmark; Denver Foundation president David Miller; artist William Matthews and Laura Barton; Joy Johnson; Blair Richardson; Dr. Michael Salem, president of National Jewish Health; and retired educator Marie Greenwood, after whom the Marie L. Greenwood Elementary School is named.
This and that.
Cancer League of Colorado is thanking the patron-level supporters of its May 14 Hope Ball by hosting a cocktail reception tonight at Linda and Dr. Richard Kelley’s Cherry Hills Village home. . . . Volunteers of America invites Denver-area residents to pay tribute to mothers and grandmothers by posting a message in a souvenir program to be distributed at the I Remember Mama brunch that Strings and Kaiser Permanente is having to give 175 elderly, low-income moms with no family in the area a happier Mother’s Day. Learn more at . . . . Boulder chapter of Stand Up For Kids kicks off the 16th annual outreach and awareness effort, 48 Hours on the Street, at 6 p.m. April 29. Find out more about this event and the national organization’s efforts on behalf of homeless youths by visiting .
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, seenfirst and GetItWrite on Twitter
