ANOTHER WONDER

The amazing Lolo Sarnoff, still active and involved at 92 and counting, received much deserved praise from Ambassador Pierre Vimont at the French embassy reception in her honor. How is she wonderful? Let me count the ways – well, actually, the ambassador did that for us by citing the Swiss-born artist’s World War II stint as a driver for the Red Cross, her scientific work as co-inventor of the Electro-Phrenic Respirator (which replaced the iron lung), her pioneering of fiber optics and plexiglas sculptures (see her piece The Flame, which has been on exhibit at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House since it opened), and her long-running presence, as philanthropist and volunteer, with many of Washington’s landmark charities. By founding Arts For The Aging 20 years ago, with its network of dedicated teachers, she has brought art to brighten the lives of the area’s elderly and infirm, and to aid them in combating aging problems.

After Vimont finished the litany, Lolo exclaimed, “My French grandmother would have loved it!” when he decorated her as a Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres. Among the 60 present: Nina Pillsbury, Ann Boyd, Ana Utley, Bill Webster, Shahin Mafi, Evelyn Nef, Lovida and Bill Coleman, Olga Hirshhorn, Grace Bender, Dr. Steven and Julia Hopping and Julia’s brother and sister, Eduardo Sevilla and Lorena Sevilla-Somoza, Dr. Doree Lynn, Debby and John Toll, and Dean and Cathi Philpott, who hosted many of the same people at their home a few nights earlier.

FORE!

Talk about over-achievers, here’s another: Kathy Kemper, founder of the Institute for Education (which helps develop leadership qualities in youths), who, when she isn’t posting Hill Pundit items, organizes her group’s recent Ambassadors Cup for golfers.

Tee-off at Congressional Country Club was at 7:30 a.m., followed by a jolly luncheon with almost everyone but the dog winning a prize. The lineup included Swiss ambassador Urs Ziswiler and his wife Ronit, Canadian Ambassador Michael Wilson, Belgian Ambassador Dominique Struye de Swielande, and former Secretary of Labor Ann McLaughlin Korologos and Tom Korologos, who was our ambassador to Belgium.

For her philanthropic efforts, Beverly Perry, Pepco’s senior vice president for government affairs and public policy, was presented the IFE 2008 Leadership Award by former Mayor Anthony Williams, who won it in 2007.

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