D AV I D PAT R I C K C O L U M B I A pens. Not infrequently. I went back to bed. It’s 3 a.m. Gawd. I’m lying there, knowing Diana had told me about it a while back and I said yes. So I get back up again and go to my desk, turn on the computer and go through my emails. Scroll scroll… There it is! Monday October 21, at 11:30 a.m. at the St. Regis Roof. Oy. The only word for it. I go back to bed. I like this event for what it stands for. It’s a great and wonderful cause, and cancer has affected everyone’s life in one way or another. The event is basically a ladies charity luncheon. They’re wonderful but
I could live without going to another since I’ve probably been to hundreds over the years. I admire and support all the good works that I’m exposed to. And it’s a pleasure to be able to spread the word as much as possible. But 20 years later? Couldn’t I just stay home, ma, and phone it in? I could do that you know, and get it right. Ma says, “No, you gotta go.” I’ve been through this rap before in my life. More times than you can imagine. And on a Monday morning after a late work night, it’s rapping in my head. However, as much as I have
always found this luncheon to be an easy pleasure and sometimes amusing (and something to write about), Diana is the one. I basically go for her. She gives a speech at the beginning of each luncheon. I’m not sure what her job is. She’s a total volunteer, but it has something to do with organizing (or causing) these events. And she’s a good friend, and a good person. In her speech, she always talks about cancer and taking the lives from her life. We all get it, whether we’ve experienced it or not; we all get it. Diana’s mother died of cancer a little more than 20 years ago. Diana revered and
loved her mother. The grief was very difficult to move on from. Finally, Mrs. Henri Bendel, who was a close friend of Diana’s mother, advised her to “do something about it” rather than just mourn. And so she went to an American Cancer Society’s meeting and got started. Twenty years later, they were recognizing her work and devotion at this luncheon. Diana has a very cheerful demeanor with other people. She smiles a lot and laughs a lot, too. It’s a lightness that attracts but also the exterior of a very serious side. She had a good mother.
C O C K TA I L S FO R T H E I N ST I T U T E O F C L A S S I C A L A R C H I T EC T U R E A N D A R T I N T H E G EO R G E F . B A K E R H O U S E AT 6 9 E A ST 9 3 R D ST R E E T
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Lucy Danziger with Jackie and Michael Powers 42 QUEST
Carol and Dan Strone with Bunny Williams
Suzanne Santry, Gary Brewer and Anne Mann
John Rosselli and Edward Lee Cave
Margize Howell
PAT R I C K M C M U LL A N
Peter Kenny and Dick Button