Ball Gowns, Birthdays, Bocelli! Italian-Chic Soiree Raises Nearly $2M for UST Scholarships

Ball Gowns, Birthdays, Bocelli! Italian-Chic Soiree Raises Nearly $2M for UST Scholarships

Archbishop J. Michael Miller, CSB, Annie Graham, Rev. Dempsey Rosales-Acosta, Bob Graham

THE UNIVERSITY OF St. Thomas welcomed more than 900 black-tie-clad revelers to its annual Scholarship Gala, held in the ballroom of the Hilton Americas hotel Downtown. The event simultaneously toasted the 75th birthday of Cardinal DiNardo, the metropolitan archbishop of Galveston-Houston.

In attendance were a number of current and former UST students, who took time to share their experience at the university and how much scholarships have meant to them. It was revealed that proceeds from the live auction as well as the paddles-up segment would be put towards establishing an annual scholarship in the name of Cardinal DiNardo.

The celebratory affair took on an Italian theme, from the delicious dinner to the evening's entertainment, Matteo Bocelli, who wandered throughout the ballroom dancing with lucky partygoers. Live-auction packages tipped their hat to the theme, too, as in a private dinner with His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo and Dr. Richard and Melynda Ludwick in the private Positano Room at Amalfi restaurant.

The festive fete concluded with a dessert parade, which featured a sparkler-topped cake for the birthday boy and mini cakes for all the guests.

Cynthia and Tony Petrello

Denise Castillo-Rhodes, Robert Sergesketter, Paula Hanson

Dr. Richard Ludwick, Melynda Ludwick

UST student Christel Vallagomesa

Honorary Chairs Bishop Italo Dell'Oro, CRS and Raye G. White, Honoree His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Event Chairs Ginger and John Niemann

Isabel and Ignacio "Nacho" Torras

Matteo Bocelli

Megan Jarchow, Craig Jarchow, Angela Jarchow

Lois Davis, Father Charles Hough

Lois and Richard Folger

Parties

Nik Parr and The Selfless Lovers

THE WORD “FUNK” has been around a long, long time. In the mid-1950s, New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer popularized the word as a musical term when he instructed musicians on recording dates to “play a little funkier.” In his book Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy, historian Robert Farris Thompson goes back even further, and traces the origin of the word “funky” to the Ki-Kongo word lu-fuki, meaning “positive sweat,” an olfactory term used to praise an individual for the integrity of their art.

Keep Reading Show less

Fit Athletic Club, an institution of 20 years, was set to close its doors for good Aug. 31, having given members just hours' notice of the shuttering.

HARDBODIES IN THE Montrose and River Oaks area are in shock today as an institution of a gym abruptly announced it was closing.

Keep Reading Show less
Wellness+Giving Back