Million-Dollar Mountainside Party Takes Memorial Hermann to New Heights

Daniel Ortiz
Million-Dollar Mountainside Party Takes Memorial Hermann to New Heights

Matthew and Audrey White, Julie Longoria Chen and Stephen Chen

DOZENS OF HOUSTON do-gooders chilling in Colorado this summer gathered for a mountain-chic soiree in support of Memorial Hermann.


A two-day celebration in Aspen, chaired by Melissa Juneau, Leticia Trauber and Hallie Vanderhider, culminated in the announcement of a substantial $5 million gift to the hospital system’s Life Flight — the nation’s first and busiest air-ambulance program.

The donation, made by the John M. O’Quinn Foundation, marks the launch of a campaign to purchase new helicopters for Life Flight, which supports the highest-volume Level I trauma center in America. Previous donations by party attendees Charlie Lusk, Jim Smith and Laurie Krohn, along with the John S. Dunn Foundation, helped Life Flight acquire its current fleet. Partygoers raised their glasses, filled with potent “Red Duke” cocktails homaging Life Flight’s creator, to everyone who has contributed to the groundbreaking — and high-flying — program.

Amalia Stanton, Laurie Krohn, Melissa Juneau, Laura Escalona

Will and Elizabeth Galtney

Anne Neeson, Melissa Juneau and Leticia Trauber

Amanda and Terry Boffone

Tony Bradfield, Amy Pierce

Felicia and Rafael Stone, Leticia Trauber, Gretchen Sheirr

Roslyn Bazzelle Mitchell and Derrick Mitchell

Kathy and Charlie Lusk

Mike Lowenberg, Dr. David and Tonya Callender, Bess and Rob Wilson

Nina and Edd Hendee

Michelle Koskie, Laurie Krohn, Susan Plank

Bess Wilson, Dr. Michelle McNutt, Lisa and Jerry Simon

Parties

David Ansell, Bennie Flores Ansell, Thuy Tran and James Tiebout

THE ROTHKO CHAPEL held its Inspirit fundraiser — a celebration of the power of art and activism — at the industrial-chic Astorian. The evening featured cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and an onstage conversation with actor Cheech Marin, one of the world’s foremost collectors of Chicano art; 2023 Art League of Houston Texas Artist of the Year Vincent Valdez; and legendary civil rights advocate Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America with César Chávez. (She’s 93, by the way!)

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Art + Entertainment

Cheech Marin reflecting outside of The Cheech (photo by David Fouts)

WHEN YOU TALK to Los Angeles-born actor Cheech Marin, regardless of how serious the subject, you can’t help but smile. His pop-culture presence is infused with an astute awareness of politics and history, and a “can do, make do, find a way to move ahead” spirit he connects to the word “Chicano,” a derogatory term that came to signify resilience, creative thinking, and social consciousness. “My dad, who died at age 93, always described himself as a Chicano, because it described him,” says Marin.

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