Gray Malin was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He is a modern day fine art photographer and New York Times best-selling author based in Los Angeles.
Gray has received commercial recognition for his inventive aerial beach, ski, and park scenes of the world’s most iconic destinations, and has photographed unique collections at historic properties across the world including The Beverly Hills Hotel, The Plaza Hotel, The Breakers Palm Beach and Hôtel Plaza Athénée.
In 2010, Gray launched his namesake brand, Gray Malin. Forging his work into a larger lifestyle with the philosophy to Make Every Day a Getaway®, Gray’s photography has since expanded into a line of luxury products for home and travel. Gray has collaborated with global brands including Disney, Google and Don Julio engaging diverse audiences to experience his work in new and exciting ways.
You can shop Gray Malin’s photography and accessories at Saint Michael’s Women’s exchange in Highland Park Village.
Dear Friends,
We welcome you to the 29th year of Kappa Tablescapes! Kappa Tablescapes was founded to help raise critically needed funds for our selected beneficiaries. For the past 29 years, Kappa Tablescapes has been able to have a profound impact in the Dallas Fort-Worth community by pledging annual grants to many different charities.
The Philanthropy Committee selected four outstanding 2023 beneficiaries: Crossroads Community Services, Community Partners of Dallas, New Friends New Life and the North Texas Food Bank. Funds raised from table and ticket sales, sponsorships, donations and raffle sales go towards their programs including - providing needs to abused women and children, and providing hunger relief throughout Dallas Fort-Worth. We thank our beneficiaries for their commitment and focus in protecting the most vulnerable in our population. And we thank you for your generous support of today’s Luncheon which allows us to partner in their mission to serve others in our community.
We are delighted to have an incredible group of talented designers who have imagined, produced and executed truly one-of-a-kind tablescapes.
MORGAN HOBBS PIEPER & KRYSTAL SCHLEGEL DAVIS CO-CHAIRMEN 2023
This year, we honor two very special Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae: Ellen Benson Merriman as our 2023 Platinum Key Honoree and Kay Scholberg Weeks as our 2023 Honorary Chair. Their service and commitment to our community and to the Dallas Alumnae Association of Kappa Kappa Gamma are an inspiration to all.
Our Kappa Tablescapes committee members have helped make this event possible, along with our incredible underwriters and sponsors, especially Central Market, Highland Park Village and Sewell Automotive Group. Thank you for being a vital part of Kappa Tablescapes!
We would also like to thank the immensely talented aerial photographer Gray Malin for serving as our featured speaker. Gray says it best in the introduction to his new book Coastal, “Each destination has its own unique idiosyncrasies but the beach itself is a symbol of happiness that is universally joyful, nostalgic, and calming… Capturing this feeling in my images is the best part of my work and what I’ve built my brand upon.” We are filled with gratitude that such an artist, who spends half his time hanging out of a doorless helicopter to shoot the photos people cherish in their homes, is here with us today to swoop us away into his point of view.
It is a privilege for us to co-chair this event together, as we have been friends since we were Kappa Kappa Gamma sisters at SMU. We hope you enjoy this year’s Kappa Tablescapes!
With sincere gratitude and appreciation,
Morgan Hobbs Pieper and Krystal Schlegel Davis
Kappa Tablescapes Co-Chairmen 2023
KAY WEEKS
2023 HONORARY CHAIRMAN
The Dallas Alumnae Association is pleased to honor Kay Weeks as its Kappa Tablescapes Honorary Chairman for 2023. Kay pledged Kappa at Bucknell University where she developed her strong bond with and appreciation for the Fraternity and its members. She moved to Dallas in 1980 and has built a successful career as a Realtor and became involved in community service and the Dallas Kappa Alumnae Association. Kay has held numerous leadership roles with KKG having served on the National Council and as a Trustee of the KKG Foundation. She is also a proud recipient of the Louise Barbeck Award for her contributions to the Association and the Fraternity. Her many community activities have included leadership positions with the Women's Council of The Dallas Arboretum, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League, Preston Hollow Women's Club and the MetroTex Association of Realtors. She is currently an active member of the Dallas Woman's Club, Dallas Garden Club, Crystal Charity Ball and a sustaining member of the Junior League of Dallas. Kay has been married to her husband, Peter, for 40 years and are the proud parents of their Kappa daughter, Lizzie Weeks Bumpas, who is carrying on her mother's tradition of serving Kappa and the community. This year Kay is celebrating her 50th anniversary as a Kappa. Throughout those 50 years, she has embodied the Fraternity motto, “Kappa is truly for a lifetime”.
ELLEN MERRIMAN
2023 KEY HONOREE
Ellen Benson Merriman born on January 23, 1963, was raised in Kansas City, Missouri and Mission Hills, Kansas, and lives in Palm Beach. She attended Southern Methodist University and graduated with a business degree. Ellen and Michael have four children and 13 grandchildren. Ellen is a stay at home mother and an active community volunteer. She is past president of Belles of the American Royal and Children Mercy Hospital board. Past Chairman of The Jewel Ball. Ellen serves/served on the following boards: the American Red Cross, Kappa Kappa Gamma, University of Kansas Hospital, Children Mercy Hospital, American Royal, Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, past chairman of Hats off to Mothers and past president of Committee of 100 which supports the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and the Symphony. Ellen has chaired numerous fundraising events in Kansas City. She is a member of the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri and The Garden Club of Palm Beach. Her hobbies are being a grandmother, horse back riding, bridge, investment club, book club, gardening, floral arrangements, party planning, painting, tennis, and running Brush Creek Ranch.
TABLESCAPES 2023 UNDERWRITERS
GOLDEN FLEUR-DE-LIS
Louise Spence Griffeth, Sheri Shelby Krause & Shelby Krause Goff, Ellen Benson Merriman, Pauline Seay Neuhoff
SILVER FLEUR-DE-LIS
Margaux Merriman Blackwell & Mattie Merriman McGee, Pat Cooper & Mary Virginia Reid, Becky McCamey, Debbie Oates & Ruth Kupchynsky, The Robert Schlegel Family Foundation, Kay Sim & Stacey Walker, Kiki Busby Simpson, Lisa Troutt
FLEUR-DE-LIS
Community Partners of Dallas, Kathy Crow & Amy Ware, Elizabeth Fronterhouse, Sheilon King, Jill Powell Goldberg, Sarah Hancock/A Place to Love, LLC, Carol Huckin, Joan Blaffer Johnson, Cathy & Carol McEachern, Betty Sanders, The Tyler Foundation, Kay Weeks
GOLDEN KEY
Barbara Barton, Cynthia H. Beaird & Marcia Shannon, Beverly Bogel & Dare Gillette, Elizabeth Phillips, Frances Mitchell & Katherine Sundby, Morgan Pieper & Gray Malin, Nan Self, SMU ‘90s Kappas, True Blue Friends, Elle Cole/Elle Cole Interiors
CANDLELIGHT KEY
Jenny Jeter, Karen Sargent
KEY FRIEND
St. Micheal’s Woman’s Exchange
BENEFICIARIES
For over two decades, Crossroads has been compassionately serving the residents of Dallas and surrounding communities by building longterm relationships with clients and community partners to alleviate food insecurity.
Feeding Texas reports that in the years between 2018 and 2020, 1 in 8 Texans were food insecure–that is, nearly four million of our fellow Texans had limited access to sufficient nutritious food and/or experienced hunger as a result of economic hardship.
Here in Dallas County, Feeding America estimates that 1 in 5 children are food insecure, and 28% of these children are ineligible for federal nutrition assistance.
Crossroads is meeting the desperate need in our community for quality, nutritious food by distributing meal essentials to an average of 26,598 people every month. In 2020, we distributed over 11.8 million pounds of food–enough for 9,841,236 meals!
We are first and foremost a food pantry. But we are also so much more than that. By compassionately serving individual households through food equity research, innovation, and distribution partnerships, Crossroads is revolutionizing food pantry services and building nutrition-stable communities.
Child abuse and neglect are dire and widespread problems in our community. They traumatize children and can overwhelm even those with the resources and best intentions to help them. This is why Community Partners of Dallas was created. Our mission is to provide what abused children urgently need today to thrive tomorrow.
Community Partners is where anyone who cares about these precious children can make a meaningful difference in their lives. We were founded as a nonprofit in 1989 as a way for the community to support the work of Child Protective Services (CPS) in Dallas County. Since then, thousands of caring individuals, companies and organizations have joined with us to meet the needs of 15,000 abused and neglected children annually. Community Partners remains the first and only nonprofit to address these specific needs in Dallas County, and our programs have been replicated by more than 155 cities across Texas.
We are here, every day, with what these children need for the first steps to healing. Seemingly small things can make a big difference for a child recovering from abuse and neglect – a car seat for a ride to safety, a bed in a home they can trust, or the first holiday celebrated in years. By providing for their basic and individualized needs, we can send the message someone cares and open the door to healing.
Equally important to our mission is our role in encouraging and equipping CPS caseworkers. A child’s chances of finding a safe and loving forever home significantly increase when caseworker turnover is reduced. Supporting caseworkers in their critical and ceaseless work is not only right but essential to bringing healing to our community’s most vulnerable children.
New Friends New Life restores and empowers trafficked and sexually exploited teen girls, women and their children, and drives awareness of the issue and its prevalence.
By providing access to education, job training, interim financial assistance, mental health and spiritual support, New Friends New Life helps women and their children overcome backgrounds of abuse, addiction, poverty and limited opportunities.
Founded in 1982, the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a nonprofit hunger relief organization that distributes donated and purchased foods through a network of more than 400 Partner Agencies and Organizations in 13 counties.
In 1982, four Dallas women pledged to fight hunger in North Texas. These visionary leaders – Jo Curtis, Kathryn Hall, Lorraine Griffin Kircher, and Liz Minyard – began collecting and distributing donations of surplus food and grocery products through a network of charitable organizations across North Texas, establishing the North Texas Food Bank (NTFB).
This network covered 13 counties that comprise the current NTFB service area: Dallas, Denton, Collin, Fannin, Rockwall, Hunt, Grayson, Kaufman, Ellis, Navarro, Lamar, Delta, and Hopkins.
Through persistence and generous community support, in its first year, the NTFB distributed more than 400,000 pounds of food to our neighbors experiencing hunger. In 1983, members of NTFB’s organizing committee joined members of the Texas Legislature to help pass the Good Faith Donor Act, which protected donors from liability of donations or donated product. After this, many more North Texans were inspired to donate.
Today, nearly 40 years later, the NTFB is still supported by a generous and compassionate community that cares deeply about helping North Texans achieve food security. As the hunger crisis has grown over the years, NTFB has expanded from distributing 400,000 pounds of food a year to distributing 125 million meals in its last fiscal year – more annual meals than ever in our history – through its Feeding Network of more than 400 Partner Agencies.
As we commemorate our 40th anniversary of serving our neighbors facing hunger, we know the need is greater than it has ever been. The COVID-19 pandemic has both caused and exposed an unprecedented level of food insecurity in our community. According to Feeding America, approximately 800,000 North Texans do not know where their next healthy meal will come from –including 1 in 5 children. North Texas the 6th most food insecure region in the nation.
The NTFB is committed to providing Food for Today and Hope for Tomorrow as we continue to work toward our vision of creating a hunger-free and healthy North Texas.
RAFFLE PRIZES
$2,000 value
The lucky Gray Malin raffle winner will head home with two of his fabulous large framed prints, both limited editions of 150.
“Ocean Beach Waves, San Francisco”
“Two Cowboys II, Prada Marfa”
$1,000 value
Really into food? Shop Central Market’s unmatched selection of produce, wine, floral and specialty foods.
$1,000 value
Shop and dine at Dallas’ Premier Open-Air Shopping and Dining Destination, Highland Park Village. Enjoy a $1,000 gift card to be used at any one of Highland Park Village’s 60+ luxury boutiques and acclaimed restaurants.
$1,500 value
Filled with beautiful and unique finds, MADISON is the perfect place to shop for luxurious home accessories. This table linen package includes 12 custom monogrammed dinner napkins, 12 custom cocktail napkins and two hand towels.
$2,000 value
One of the world’s most sought-after aesthetic doctors, treat yourself to youthful, healthy skin at Dr. Barbara Sturm’s Highland Park Village spa. Indulge in a spa facial and pamper yourself with an abundance of products.
$5,000 value
Custom diamond handwriting pendant necklace. Cherish your child, grandchild or loved one forever by engraving their name, in their handwriting, on this beautiful family heirloom piece.
CORPORATE SPONSORS
PRESENTING SPONSOR
Central Market
CANDLELIGHT SPONSOR
Highland Park Village
VALET SPONSOR
Peggy & Carl Sewell/ Sewell Automatic Companies
ENTRYWAY & CANDLELIGHT
FLORAL SPONSOR
The Garden Gate
GRAPHIC DESIGN SPONSOR
Tara Berg Design
PRINTING SPONSOR
Ellis Hill
CANDLELIGHT DECOR SPONSOR
Perch Event Décor
MEDIA SPONSOR
Paper City
Exclusive Luxury Print & Digital Media Sponsor
MEDIA PARTNER
My Sweet Chairty
EVENT COORDINATOR SPONSOR
Jacqueline Events & Design
2023 TABLESCAPES DESIGNERS
A Place to Love, LLC/Sarah H. Hancock
A Well Dressed Home/Emily Hewett
Annie Griffeth Art
Audrey Defforey
Avant Garden/Todd Events
Barrington + Fenwick Fields
Blue Print
Branching Out Events
Caitlin Wilson
Cathy Kincaid Interiors
Central Market
Chambers Interiors and Tour Décor
Charlotte Comer Interiors and Collectibles, Inc.
Christie’s Auction House
Collins & Sweezey
Don Lino
Elle Cole Interiors
Ellis Hill
Gray Malin
Gro Designs by Nathan
Houses & Parties/Rebecca Gardner
Krane Home/Sharon Lee Clark
Lele Sadoughi
Lucky Dog Barkery
Lynda Piepgras
Misette Nardos
Neiman Marcus
Noel Pittman
Olivia G + Ivy House
Paige Rippey Locke, ASID
Philip Thomas Vanderford/Studio Thomas James
Pierce Hardware & Cherryl Bittner Design
Rosanne Beck Collections and Madeleine Creative
Sand and Lavender Floral Designs + Nest Interiors
The Garden Gate
Traci White
TRUNK by Kimberly Schlegel Whitman
Williams Sonoma
KEY HONOREE TRIBUTES
Anonymous, in honor of Megan Parks Beckner
Anonymous, in honor of Becky Guillot
Anonymous, in honor of Julie Parks Seale
Sandy Ammons, in memory of Anne Bunten
Sandy Ammons, in memory of Susan Cooper
Sandy Ammons, in honor of Kay Weeks
Sandy Ammons, in honor of Carol Nichols, 2023 Louise Little Barbeck Golden Key Award Winner
Sandy Ammons, in honor of Ann Lawrence
Sandy Ammons, in memory of Robin Brown
Sandy Ammons, in honor of Elizabeth Mills
Melinda Ball, in honor of Morgan Pieper
Cynthia Beaird, in honor of My sisters: Sandy Saalfield, Chris Anderson, Debby Smith
Cynthia Beaird, in honor of My Daughter, Jane Louise Beaird
Teresa Bristol, in honor of Ellen Benson Merriman
Monika Burdett, in honor of Ellen Merriman
Linda Caldwell, in honor of Ellen Merriman
Shannon Wilson Callewart, in honor of Kay Weeks
Kathryn Carrere, in honor of Elizabeth Carlock Phillips
Nancy Carter, in honor of Louise Griffeth
Cheryl Chantilis, in honor of Morgan Pieper
Elise DeCleva, in honor of Cathy McEachern
Elise DeCleva, in honor of Kay Weeks
Nicole Devlin, in honor of The 2023 Kappa Tablescapes Beneficiaries
Nicole Devlin, in honor of Kay Weeks
Allison Doherty, in honor of Annie Doherty
Marsella Fults, in honor of Kay Weeks
Susan Glassmoyer, in honor of Louise Griffeth
Susan Glassmoyer, in honor of Victoria Snee
Susan Glassmoyer, in honor of Morgan Pieper & Krystal Davis
Susan Glassmoyer, in honor of Kay Weeks
Louise Griffeth, in honor of Kay Weeks
Louise Griffeth, in honor of Barbara Barton
Louise Griffeth, in honor of Morgan Pieper
Louise Griffeth, in memory of Mary John Spence
Louise Griffeth, in honor of Krystal Schlegel Davis
Louise Griffeth, in honor of Julie Halley-Wallace
Julie Halley-Wallace, in honor of Kay Weeks
Betty Harlan, in honor of Lisa Garvey
Betty Harlan, in honor of Mary Van Armistead
Betty Harlan, in honor of Marcia Shannon
Jan Hegi, in memory of Belle Drye Shaffer Petkas
Adrienne Higginbotham, in memory of Jane B Higginbotham
Adrienne Higginbotham, in memory of Ann W Higginbotham
KEY HONOREE TRIBUTES
Mary Joy Hinton, in honor of Betty Sanders
Morgan Hobbs Pieper, in honor of Krystal Schlegel Davis
Morgan Hobbs Pieper, in honor of Susan Sessions Hobbs
Sally Holmes, in honor of Ellen Merriman
Harrison Hoskins, in honor of Ellen Benson Merriman
Carol Huckin, in honor of Kay Weeks
Holly Hartwell Huffines, in honor of Community Partners of Dallas
Holly Hartwell Huffines, in honor of Kay Weeks
Traci Hummel, in honor of Kay Weeks
Caroline Hundley, in honor of Kay Weeks
Catharine Recht & Jennifer Cheek, in honor of Elise DeCleva
Kristin Kaufman, in memory of Gretta Dameron Kaufman
Kristin Kaufman, in memory of Leslie Squair Baker
Kristin Kaufman, in honor of Pat McGinnis Cooper
Kristin Kaufman, in honor of Gretchen Lee Kaufman
Kristin Kaufman, in honor of Kay Weeks
Melanie Lake, in honor of Cathy McEachern
Kay Lawson, in honor of Miss McKinley Ann Lawson
Beth Lee, in honor of Ellen Merriman
Lauris Massa, in memory of Roberta Whitfield Brown
Pat McCall, in memory of Sally Kay Davis
Cathy McEachern, in honor of Krystal Davis & Morgan Pieper
Cathy McEachern, in honor of Elise DeCleva
Cathy McEachern, in honor of Kay Weeks
Jennifer McIlyar, in honor of Cathy McEachern
Ellen McStay, in honor of Nan Self
Ellen McStay, in honor of Barbara Barton
Patti Mitchell, in honor of Kay Weeks
Michelle Moody, in honor of Ellen Merriman Benson
Jennie Nance, in honor of Kay Weeks
Karen Sargent, in honor of Kay Weeks
Christie Schmitt, in honor of Ellen Merrriman
Julie Seale, in memory of my Mother, Gretta Y. Parks
Victoria Snee, in honor of Krystal Davis and Morgan Pieper
Tricia Stewart, in memory of Priscilla Rettger Bell
Susie Taylor, in honor of Cathy McEachern
Kris Terry, in honor of Sandy Ammons
Kris Terry, in honor of Kay Weeks
Kris Terry, in honor of Peggy Meyer
Janice Walsh, in honor of Kay Weeks
Wynne Wideman, in honor of Louise Griffeth
Wynne Wideman, in honor of Becky McCamey
Sherry Wilson, in honor of Jan Hegi
2023 TABLESCAPES & PHILANTHROPY COMMITTEES
TABLESCAPES COMMITTEE
CO-CHAIRMEN
Krystal Schlegel Davis
Morgan Hobbs Pieper
DALLAS ALUMNAE PRESIDENT
Elise DeCleva
FOUNDING CHAIRMEN
Barbara Barton
Louise Griffeth
COMMITTEE
Sandy Ammons
Cynthia Beaird
Amy Burgher
Beverly Burk
Tracy Davy
Marsella Fults
Robin Galloway
Sid Gray
Meg Henderson
Kristin Levoyer
Becky McCamey
Cathy McEachern
Jennifer McIlyar
Tinsley Merrill Paul
Kim Purnell
Kim Ridley
Annie Tucker
Billye Turner
Carolyn Tobin
Becky White
Emily Wiebe
Catherine Wilson
PHILANTHROPY COMMITTEE
PHILANTHROPY CHAIR
Becky White
PHILANTHROPY CHAIR-ELECT
Catherine Wilson
RESEARCH COMMITTEE
Sandy Ammons
Elise DeCleva
Nicole Devlin
Susan Glassmoyer
Sid Gray
Laura Heatherly
Jenny Hedges
Adrienne Higginbotham
Kim Webb Horton
Lynn Johnson
Mary Kardell
Sheilon King
Becky McCamey
Toni Meier
Amie Moyer
Claire Rathbun
Robin Seckel
Page Tucker
Louanne Weeks
FINANCIAL REVIEW COMMITTEE
Laura Onsgard
Ellen Smith
Dana Turner
Blooms Bright Kappa Spirit
Central Market has proudly supported Kappa Tablescapes since we joined the Dallas community more than 20 years ago.
Just like Kappa friendships, flowers make everything brighter—they make meals magical and celebrations special. And at Central Market you’ll always find the season’s freshest flowers, delivered directly from our farmers every day.
