Mistress of ceremonies Lisza Gulyas, left, with board president Denise Gliwa, Linda Yip and Jimmy Yip. The Yips started the Nathan Yip Foundation as a living memorial to their son. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)
The sixth annual Dim Sum Brunch, Under the Harvest Moon, was a record-setter.
Which in itself is the kind of news that could cause organizers to turn themselves inside out with joy.
And that could have happened. We just don’t know.
What we do know is that a show put on by 11-year-old contortionist Sandy Battulga, a sixth grader at , were the only twists and turns that the 400 guests did see during the event held at .
Sandy’s sister, Uyanga Battulga, played the violin as the very limber Sandy amazed everyone with her ability to move her body into seemingly impossible shapes. Uyanga, a Denver School of the Arts grad, is taking a gap year before attending Brown University next fall.
Lisza Gulyas emceed the brunch, which was highlighted by a nine-course meal that included shrimp hargao, pork sui mai, pan-fried dumplings, beef lo mein and egg custard tarts.
Pan-fried pork dumplings (foreground), Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce (background, right), and seven other items were on the brunch menu. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)
Linda and Jimmy Yip, who started the foundation after losing their only child, Nathan, in an automobile accident, welcomed such friends as:
• Peter Yu, who divides his time between Denver and Hong Kong. His guests included atist Paul Lockwood; Don Pangurn and Pangurn’s daughter and son-in-law, from France, Natalie Pangburn and Didier Descamps. Peter’s wife, Isabelle Yu, was out of the country and thus did not attend.
• Masakazu Ito and his wife Jennifer. Masakazu Ito is recognized as one of today’s top classical guitarists and will perform at the Shaver-Ramsey Gallery in Cherry Creek on Oct. 23 as a fundraiser for the Yip Foundation. Gallery owner Paul Ramsey also attended the Dim Sum Brunch.
• Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher.
• Linda and Dr. Richard Kelley. He is chairman of the board emeritus of the , parent organization for the Hawaii-based Outrigger Hotels and Resorts. The Kelleys, who donate a live auction item each year for the Yip Foundation’s Chinese New Year Gala, brought friends from Hawaii, Bellamann (Bell) Hee Jr. and his friend, Jackie Salon. Richard Kelley shared that Bell’s father provided key tags for their Waikiki hotels starting over 50 years ago and that Bell junior was a classmate of the Kelleys’ daughter, Jane, at the Punahou School in Honolulu before moving to Colorado to become a State Trooper.
• Nathan Yip Foundation board members Emily Barrett, and her husband, James; Okie Arnot; Sharon Scott and her husband, Dr. Douglas Scott, with daughters Annie and Grace; Mike Kalush and his wife, 7News anchor Anne Trujillo, who will emcee the foundation’s Chinese New Year Gala on Feb. 21; David Thomson; Dr. Larry Chan, who with wife Cynthia brought Bob and Wendy Kaufman, their son, Will Kaufman, and Betsy Bardsley as their guests; and president Denise Gliwa, who was there with her husband, Kevin, son, Charlie, and Sarah and Michael Healy. The Healys live in Colorado Springs, where Michael is the new director of corporate and foundation relations at Colorado College.
The Nathan Yip Foundation’s new associate director, Kate Sneed, hosted a table that included her father, Bob Sneed, sister, Mary Sneed, and Mary’s fiancé Bud Kop.
Other attendees were artist Susan Cooper and her husband, Rick Cohn; auctioneer Gary Corbett and his brother, John Corbett; Paul Mesard, who will chair the Chinese New Year Gala with Margaret Berzins, and his partner, Mike Waterman; Melanie Grant; Mary Monzon; Edie Marks; Gayle and Gary Ray; Susan Bachar, executive director of the Africa School Assistance Project, which the Nathan Yip Foundation partnered to build the Nathan Yip Foundation dormitory for girls in rural northern Tanzania; photographer Travis Broxton with his wife, Pat, and daughter, Amaiyah; attorney Harry Budsidartha; Darlene Silver, the gala’s silent auction chair; and Pam Sweetser, founder of Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families.
And, Christine Wanifuchi, chief executive officer of the Asian Pacific Development Center, and her husband, Howard; Alan Frosh, part of the “Friends of Nate Yip” group who will hold their third annual Nate’s Night on Sept. 26 at Moe’s Original on S. Broadway; Lien Loi and Allen Cheng with their son, Eric Chiu; Linda Wang, a concert violinist and assistant professor of violin at the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver, and her husband, Tom Miller, who is also on the faculty at Lamont and director of the Lamont Steel Drum Ensemble; Kathy and Larry Emmons; Libby Bortz and her daughter, Patty; Andy Hart; and Jan and Sheldon Steinhauser, the Chinese New Year Gala’s honorary chairmen.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com and @joannedavidson on Twitter
