around town
Gardens and Grace Woodrow Wilson House’s annual garden fête and a journey of faith By DONNA SHOR
PROPER TOPPERS: Cool winds didn’t
lessen the fun at the 27th Annual Woodrow Wilson House Garden Party; there were too many amazing hats to spot while speculating on the annual contest’s possible winners. Occasion’s intriguing buffet and live music occupied guests as they enjoyed live music in the two-tiered garden of the 28th president’s former home. Woodrow Wilson is the only U.S. president (with the possible exception of Bill Clinton) to make Washington his postWhite House permanent home. He retired here after leading the country through World War I, establishing the League of Nations and winning the Nobel Peace Prize. His Kalorama home is maintained as a privately funded museum by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The house holds many historic objects among the original furnishings bequeathed by his widow, Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. Back to those hats and the contest featuring Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as guest judge. The winners were: Mary Lee Malcolm (Most Creative); Sophie Pyle (Best Use of Flowers); Nicky Sund (Best Men’s Hat) Dr. Dianne McRae (Best Fascinator); and the winner of the Show-Stopper Award, Rhonda Septlici, swathed in black and f lame red chiffon. SALLY QUINN’S JOURNEY: Philanthropists Shaista and Rafat Mahmood welcomed 80 guests at a dinner held at their Mount Vernon home benefiting the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD), with Sally Quinn as the guest of honor. Shaista Mahmood has supported the nonprofit group for many years and serves on its board of directors. The ICRD addresses identity-based conf licts af lame throughout
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Shaista Mahmood, Sally Quinn and Ray Mahmood at the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy Dinner (Photo by Neshan Naltchayan)
the world — tribal and cultural clashes, warring beliefs and factional religious battles beyond the reach of traditional diplomacy. The group incorporates religious considerations into international politics. In Afghanistan it secured the release of 21 Korean missionaries held hostage by the Taliban; in Iran it sponsored a delegation of high-level visitors to the U.S., opening the way for Track II initiatives to improve relations. In Kashmir ICRD promoted “peace from within,” facilitating a cooperative spirit in that troubled Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist land; in Sudan, it helped facilitate an end to the 21-year civil war between the Islamic North and the Christian/African South. Douglas Johnston, ICRD founder and president, presented the Faith-in-Action Award to Quinn for leadership with her writings in the religion section of the Washington Post. Speaking of her early journalistic career, she mentioned one bizarre adventure during her travels, which developed unexpected religious connections. Some acquaintances, which she left unnamed, invited her to go to an “important undercover meeting” with them. After agreeing, she was blindfolded and driven to an unknown spot where she found herself in a room with a group of
men in heated discussion. She realized she was hearing their factional plans to overthrow the Shah of Iran. Excited at her “scoop,” Quinn sent it in. No luck; the verdict was “what did she know?” Not long after, the revolution began and the Shah was deposed. Quinn gave a frank and unadorned account of her personal journey, speaking from the standpoint of her acknowledged (yet unbelievable) 74 years of life. “For many of those 74 years, I was an atheist,” Quinn said, outlining her life as the wife of the dynamic editor Ben Bradlee and having to watch him slowly slip away into dementia and death. She also spoke as the mother of a learning-disabled child, Quinn Bradlee, and the faith and effort required to steer him along as he gradually emerged from the darkness of his disability. In that spirit, and looking at the myriad facets of her life and the enhancement her son and husband brought into it, she found her spiritual center, and began the faithbased writings for which she was being honored.
Hat Contest winner Sophie Pyle and Jane Pyle (Photo by Ben Droz)
WA S H I N G T O N L I F E
| j u ne
2015
| washingtonlife.com