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Author Monica Shaw (front right) with her husband Tony and three children Katie, Sam and Sarah. The author and her children are proud Woodrow Wilson High School Graduates. Shaw and her six siblings also graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. She is currently on a book tour introducing "The Rainwater Secret" to new her fans. Local Book clubs, school and libraries are encouraged to contact her for a reading and book signing.

Woodrow Wilson Graduate Researches Amazing life of her great Aunt, Publishes “The Rainwater Secret”

Monica Hartmann Shaw was born in Dallas and enjoyed a big family growing up: she was one of seven siblings, including a sister and five brothers, all proud Woodrow Wilson High School graduates. 

Monica grew up wanting to be a mom like her mom, who travelled quite a bit. “She drilled it into my head to do everything I wanted to do before I got married and had kids,” Monica recalls. As for a career, she wasn’t sure what her path should be.

She ended up being a published author who is sharing the story of her great aunt’s life in Africa with the Medical Missionaries of Mary. Her book is dedicated to the Medical Missionaries of Mary, which is “Rooted and founded in Love.”

Monica attended UT Austin where she earned a Geology and Petroleum Engineering degree. She met her husband, Tony, on a blind date, and they have three kids.  Katie, a Texas Tech graduate currently earning a master’s in hospital administration from UTA; Sam, who helps run City Park Cabinets, and Sarah, a UNT media arts major.

When she’s not writing or raising kids you might find Monica working on vacations for her clients at Hartmann Travel or helping run her husband’s business. She also teaches classes at the White Rock YMCA.

Her true passion is telling a story she knows is full of hope. The Rainwater Secret is based on the true story of her great aunt who went to Nigeria to teach the leper children.  A portion of the book’s proceeds is going to The Medical Missionaries of Mary.

Monica feels that both her great aunt and her cousin Eileen, who passed away as she was writing the book, “have been instrumental in guiding me and leading me in the direction that will honor the missionaries and their story.” Even the launch party, held locally at the popular Times Ten Cellar, was inspired. As Monica went back and forth with the wine bar to pick just the right date where nothing local would conflict with it, she ended up with the perfect night: it also happened to be Eileen’s birthday. “Small deal, maybe—but it was cool,” Monica relates. One hundred people turned out. 

When interviewed for an article in the Dallas Morning News when she was in Dallas, Lily, Monica recalls, “said it best. The reporter asked her about the missionary work, and Lily said that her work has been ‘rewarding to me mostly in that it was what I wanted to do…no thrill, you know, working just for oneself.’"

That attitude of working and living for one another is what Monica hopes will inspire readers.

It came in handy during the toughest time of her life, when Monica’s mother was diagnosed with, and died from, Alzheimer’s. Monica got through it by hugging her kids, a little counseling, and crying—a lot. She says of her mother, “She was my best friend.”

Her goal is to continue to tell the story of her great aunt and possibly see the book made into a movie. She also has an idea for a children’s book, and hopes to go to Africa with the Medical Missionaries of Mary one day soon to see where her great Aunt Lily worked and taught.

Her days, and many evenings, are now filled with visits to book clubs, speaking engagements, and book signings, bringing the true story of a late-in-life missionary in Africa alive for all of us back home in Texas who still have a chance to learn “to live and work for others.”

 

Monica Shaw has a schedule of events coming up where you can meet her, including the Lakewood Country Club, Lucky Dog Books in Casa Linda and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Rowlett. Contact her directly at: therainwatersecret@yahoo.com for her schedule of readings and book signings or see er website: www.therainwatersecret.com, www.facebook.com/therainwatersecret 

Judy Porter is a Dallas writer who focuses on stories of local heroes, small businesses, students and non profit agencies. Email her your story idea: judy-porter@sbcglobal.net

 

 

 

 

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Oak Cliff Lions Club President Attorney John McCall Jr. has created a new way for Oak Cliff area residents and business men and women to get involved in serving their community: an evening monthly dinner meeting held a La Calle Dolce on 12th Street. Meetings will be held the first Tuesday of each month, beginning August 1, 2017.

Breaking from Eight Decades of Tradition, The OCLC Holds First Evening Meeting August 1

The public is invited to come tonight to learn more about the world's largest service organization

For the first time in 88 years, the Oak Cliff Lions Club is introducing a dinner meeting. 

“I realize this is a new and different concept and I hope you will take advantage of this unique venue,” says newly-installed Oak Cliff Lions Club President John McCall Jr. His reign began June 29, 2017 with the Lions Club’s annual Installation Banquet, and McCall plans to try a few new tweaks to help grow the club. Oak Cliff used to boast the largest Lions Club in the world. It is still one of the largest with more than 100 members.

The dinner meeting will be Tuesday, August 1, at LA CALLE DOLCE on 12th St. in the back private dining room. A special menu will be offered, and Happy Hour prices for Margaritas will be available for the first hour. 

The Oak Cliff Lions Club of Dallas is a member of Lions Clubs International, the World’s largest service Club’s organization with over 1.3 million members in nearly 46,000 Clubs and 750 Districts in some 193 countries and geographic areas of the World.

The Motto of the organization is “We Serve.” Lions are “Knights of the Blind,” as labeled by blind teacher Helen Keller, a key founder of the organization. The local club provides free monthly eye clinics and exams for the uninsured and underinsured, and new eye glasses for school children whose parents can't afford them.  

The objectives are the club include:

  • To create and foster a spirit of understanding among the peoples of the world.
  • To promote the principles of good government and good citizenship.
  • To take an active interest in the civic, cultural social and moral welfare of the community.
  • To unite the members in the bonds of friendship, good fellowship and mutual understanding.
  • To provide a forum for the open discussion of all matters of public interest; provided, however, that Club members shall not debate partisan politics and sectarian religion.
  • To encourage service-minded people to serve their community without personal financial reward and to encourage efficiency and promote high ethical standards in commerce, industry, professions, public works and private endeavors.

For more than eight decades the Oak Cliff Lions Club has met for a weekly noon lunch on Wednesdays, most recently at the Methodist Health Center’s Weiss auditorium. Recognizing that not everyone who wants to join the club can attend these noon meetings, McCall searched for a place to have a monthly evening meeting.

The pay-as-you-go evening meeting is open to the public, and a speaker is coming to update the group on the Kidney Foundation’s work to help those with kidney issues.

The regular Wednesday Club meetings are from 12:10 – 12:55 PM every Wednesday. Guests are welcome.

Martin L. Koonsman, MD, FACS, is president of Methodist Dallas Medical Center, is the speaker this week. He has been practicing medicine for 27 years as a general surgeon. Prior to be named president, he served as the chief medical officer for Methodist Dallas, working with all medical staff to advance the quality of care provided and services offered.

For more information see the club’s website: www.oakclifflions.com

Questions? Call Sara Kitto at (214) 943-9725 or contact any board member listed below:

President John McCall Jr. john@attorneymccall.com

1st VP Tasie Semos aksemos@sbcglobal.net

2nd VP Diana Ezzell diana.ezzell@yahoo.com

3rd VP Paul Nielsen pauln@texaspnc.com

Secretary Nia MacKay niamackay@aol.com

Treasurer Stan Altschuler alt7811@sbcglobal.net

Chaplain Judy Porter judy-porter@sbcglobal.net

Lion Tamer Brooks Morrow brooks.morrow@lpl.com

Tail Twister Perry Flowers  perryflowers@ebby.com

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University of Texas at Arlington graduate Denise McPherson enjoys her career in the Information Technology Project/Program Management field.  She has a desire to help people achieve their goals in life and see them attain their full potential. Along with two friends she has created a non-profit with an emphasis on supporting education and entrepreneurship of individuals. She is raising money to help college seniors complete their educations, and is pictured with one of W.A.M.’s co-founders, Wouter Nieuwstad of Zurich, Switzerland, on her property with a neighborhood stray dog they rescued.

“Get your education, career and independence before you get married and have kids…”—Denise McPherson, MBA, PMP, Board President and Executive Director, WAM Foundation

 

Denise McPherson is on a quest to help men and women complete their education and get a good job and career so that they can be independent.

Her best friend in college dropped out to get married at a young age, although Denise begged her to stay in school to finish. “My parents were both college educated and I knew growing up I would go to college too. Completing a degree was a commitment my parents and I made to each-other. They felt it was key to my future success.” She took it to heart and was devastated as her college classmates dropped out one by one for lack of funds, work, or marriage.

She kept in touch with her best friend and encouraged her to finish her degree. Ten years after dropping out, her friend had three children—and her husband left.

“Suddenly she was in charge of her family’s finances. She didn’t have a job, didn’t know how to pay bills. She admitted to me that I had been right all along: you need an education and a good job to become financially independent and ready for a successful life.”

Denise said both her parents worked until the day they died. “They were happy, but after they both died I realized I didn’t want to work all my life.”  She took a year off to travel and see the world, and plan her future.

She joined with two friends to create a non-profit with a broad approach to making the world a better place. Her friends Wouter Jan Nieuwstad, MBA, of Switzerland and Aimee Muir, MBA, in Dallas collaborated to create the 501©3.

The WyattAnnMarie (WAM) Foundation, named after herself, parents and brother, is raising funds to help others. The website states: “The W.A.M. Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is bringing and supplying the means to elevate people out of the darkness and into the light and supporting charities who aspire the same!”

The mission of the WyattAnnMarie Foundation is to “improve the quality of life in the community and nationally by providing support and donations for educational and social services to people in need as well as provide opportunities for people or group of people who explore a passion for entrepreneurship.”

Denise says the foundation is “dedicated to making real, meaningful differences in our community.” Animal Welfare, College scholarships, Educational programs, Veterans and those recovering from Brain Injury are the five areas the non-profit supports. 2017 grant recipients include Texas SPCA, Hope After Brain Injury, and the PMI Educational Fund.

Now, at 40, Denise’s goal is to help as many college students as she can to complete their educations. The focus for WAM this year, 2017-2018, is to help college seniors complete their degrees. 

A Happy Hour to introduce the foundation to the Dallas area is planned for later in August. Denise owns a home both in north Texas and Atlanta, and plans to work with Texas college students to help them pay for and complete their college educations. Denise will be speaking at local events in the metroplex to raise awareness of the Non-profit, and the board members are updating the scholarship application for college students who need a little financial assistance to complete their associate or bachelor of science degree.

In the meantime, Denise and her friends are happy to talk with anyone interested in helping to make the world a better place. To learn more, see the W.A.M. website or e-mail her at Denise.McPherson@WyattAnnMariefoundation.org

http://www.WyattAnnMarieFoundation.org 

Phone: Direct 404.400.2935

Judy Porter is a writer in Dallas who writes about non-profit agencies, small businesses and local heroes. Contact her at judy-porter@sbcglobal.net

 

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Principal Rachel Dzurilla watches as St. Elizabeth of Hungary graduates Faustina Richardson and Elizabeth Stratton speak to 200 attendees of the school's annual Auction and Fiesta, to raise money to fund research to end childhood cancer. Their new campaign begins with the new school year, and they are encouraging both public and private schools, both in the metroplex and nationally, to get involved in the fight to find a cure for childhood cancer.

Two Teens decide "there has to be more to service than babysitting and helping with laundry."

Faustina Richardson made a statement at the annual St. Elizabeth of Hungary Silent Auction and Fiesta in May.

Along with her friend and former St. Elizabeth classmate, Elizabeth Stratton, the two girls volunteered at their alma mater’s (class of ’15) annual fund raiser to tell the crowd of 200 what the school had meant to them.

“You may have heard it takes a village to raise a child,” the two, speaking from the stage area, said. “St. E’s is the village where you want your child raised. St. Elizabeth’s is a school that teaches diversity, acceptance of others, discovering one's hidden talents and is always positively pushing you harder. The motto, ‘Challenging kids to be their best,’ prepared us not only to be successful students, but also young leaders in society.”

The two girls explained that doing service hours in 8th grade lead them to realize that “there has to be more than babysitting and helping with laundry.”

The two brainstormed and came up with a new concept: Got3, for “Giver of Time, Talent and Treasures.” Just as they began their non-profit, Faustina lost a close friend, Joshua, to childhood Cancer. She met him while attending Camp Esperanza, a summer camp for kids diagnosed with cancer, and was there at his bedside when he passed away.

Elizabeth saw Faustina’s struggle with “survivor guilt” and together the girls decided to continue their mission of doing quality community service, and providing meaningful volunteer opportunities for their friends, while helping to raise funds for childhood cancer research.  The girls felt, “Just as every child needs a village in which to be raised, no child should die from Cancer.”

Their principal, Rachel Dzurilla, continued to support the girls’ efforts through this time, even after they graduated from St. Elizabeth's.  Together the girls worked to raise  funds and in December of 2016, GOT3  donated $4,000 to Children’s Health, where the money was used to assist in the development of a database to track  late effects of childhood cancer to develop future therapies.

The girls got permission from Principal Dzurilla to come to the school's annual 2017 Fiesta Fund Raiser in May. They stood up and presented two baskets to the audience to bid on, explaining the funds would be going to GOT3 to continue in the St. Elizabeth graduates’ efforts to change the world for the better.

Parent Andy Goza was the live auctioneer for the Fiesta, and he and his co-chairs, wife Susan and St. Elizabeth’s parent, Melissa Maldanado, previously agreed with Principal Dzurilla to allow the two  girls to use the venue to raise money for Childhood Cancer rather than the school.

The girls had a basket for the ladies in the audience, filled with Mary Kay certificate, a free hair cut from Aveda’s, a bottle of wine and a wine tasting event for 20 people.

The second basket, “Wild Hogs and Baseball,” was targeting the men in the audience, which included a hog hunt for two, an overnight stay in a local lodge, four Ranger tickets, a Dick’s Sporting Goods get card and a bottle of an “adult beverage.”

Each basket raised hundreds of dollars the girls will donate to help find a cure for children’s cancer.

To learn more about the girls’ efforts to help cure childhood cancer visit www.got3service.com as the next campaign, entitled SCHOOL, is currently seeking schools to participate.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church and School is located at 4019 South Hampton Road, Dallas, TX 75224 next door to the Walgreens on the corner of Loop 12 Ledbetter and Hampton. The school offers grades pre-k 3 through 8th grade. For more information see the school’s website: http://saintspride.com/

The public is invited to come tour the school and meet the exceptional faculty and staff. For more information contact Sandy Walkley swalkley@saintspride.com
(214) 331-5139 x21 or Carolyn Campos, Business Manager, ccampos@saintspride.com (214) 331-5139 x23.

Judy Porter is a Dallas writer who writes about local heroes, small businesses, schools and non-profits. Contact her at judy-porter@sbcglobal.net  or on Twitter: @judyeporter

 

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As the heat outside reaches above 100 degrees on the prairie land in Lake Highlands, many Dallas residents head inside to cooler temperatures.

Texans Can Thank a Yankee for our Cool Buildings This Hot July

"The greatest contribution to civilization in this century may well be air-conditioning—and America leads the way." – S. F. Markhum, British scholar

Ever wonder where air conditioning was invented? Maybe some miserably hot engineer in Houston one summer day a few decades ago decided “enough is enough” and went to work to cool his office?

You’d be a few centuries and a few thousand miles off.

Experiments to cool our air began probably earlier than you think:

It all started with the great inventor Ben Franklin. He knew all liquid evaporation has a cooling effect. Together with a Cambridge University professor, John Hadley, who discovered that evaporation of alcohol--which evaporates faster than water—the two began experimenting on how to cool an object enough to freeze water. The year was 1758.

Seventy years later, in 1820, Inventor Michael Faraday made a similar discovery in England when he compressed and liquified ammonia.

A decade later, a doctor in Florida, John Gorrie, built an ice-making machine that used compression to make buckets of ice and then blew air over them. He patented the idea in 1851, but had no financial backing, so his idea to cool buildings throughout the US didn’t materialize.

A new attempt to cool a room was the result of an assassination attempt in 1881. President James Garfield was shot on July 2, and naval engineers went to work to keep him cool by building a cooling unit that used water-soak cloth and fans, pushing hot air up to keep the air below cool. It worked, but used an enormous amount of ice—a half million pounds in 60 days--and the president died from his injury.

YANKEE Ingenuity

It wasn’t until 1902 in Brooklyn, New York, that a machine that truly worked to cool air was invented.

Willis Carrier invented an “Apparatus for Treating Air” for a local Lithographing and Publishing Company, which blew air over cold coils to control room temperature and humidity, to keep paper from wrinkling and ink aligned.

Other companies quickly became interested in his apparatus and Carrier opened the Carrier Air Conditioning Company of America.

Four years later, Stuart Cramer, a textile mill engineers in North Carolina, created a ventilating device that adds water vapor to the air of textile plants, and coins the term “air conditioning” to explain it.

Eight years later, he first home to have air conditioning installed went into the mansion of Millionaire Charles Gates. It was as big as a room: seven feet tall, six feet wide and twenty feet long. And it didn’t get used much: the house was unoccupied, and located in Minneapolis.

The first window unit came in 1931, invented by two men, H.H. Schultz and J. Q. Sherman. By 1932 they were manufactured for sale, but only the very rich could afford them: at $10,000 to $50,000 each, equivalent to $120,000 to $600,000 today, not many sold in those first years.

The first air conditioned are arrived in 1939. The Packard could keep its passengers cool, but if they were too cool, the driver had to stop the car, turn off the engine, and disconnect a compressor belt under the hood.

It wasn’t until the post-World War II economic boom in the 1950’s that air conditioning began to be installed in homes.  Over a million window units were sold in 1953, and by 1970 window units gave way to central air conditioning. R-12, more commonly known as Freon-12, is used as the refrigerant.

How they work today

Central air conditioners have two separate components: the condenser and the evaporator. The condenser unit is usually located outside the house on a concrete slab. The evaporator coil is mounted in the plenum, or main duct junction, above the furnace.

Most central air conditioners are connected to a home's forced-air distribution system. The same motor, blower, and ductwork used for heating are used to distribute cool air from the air conditioning system. When a central air conditioner is operating, hot air inside the house flows to the furnace through the return-air duct. The hot air is moved by the blower across the cooled evaporator coil in the plenum and is then delivered through ducts to cool the house. When the air conditioner works but the house doesn't cool, the problem is probably in the distribution system.

Whatever your air conditioning, heating, or plumbing needs, there are plenty of local and national HVAC companies in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex to call upon for help. Many offer an annual fee for a twice-a-year check up on your Air Conditioning units and you’re your heating system. Look for the Better Business Bureau (BBB) sign of approval as you google for a company. Often, just asking a neighbor or business associate for advice on which company he or she uses works well.

Oak Cliff women business owners may have a suggestion for your HVAC needs and many other tips. The Group, Oak Cliff Women in Business (OCWIB) meets monthly.  See their Facebook page for updates or contact Vicky Gouge at gouge@fullmoondesigngroup.com for information about the August meeting.

Judy Porter is a Dallas resident and writer. Contact her at judy-porter@sbscglobal.net

 

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Clouds over the prairie land in Dallas may be the only thing cooling down the city as the summer drones on. Temperatures in the high 90's make Air Conditioning indoors crucial to the good life in Texas. But A/C was first installed indoors in a house up north--way up north!

Texans Can Thank a Yankee for our Cool Buildings This Hot July

"The greatest contribution to civilization in this century may well be air-conditioning—and America leads the way." – S. F. Markhum, British scholar

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The Oak Cliff Lions Club welcomes popular writer and author Skip Hollandsworth on July 12, 2017, as its speaker. The public is encouraged to RSVP and attend to hear him and learn more about the service opportunities organized by the Lions Club including a twice-a-month Farmer's Market held in Oak Cliff.

The Public is invited to hear Skip Hollandsworth on Wednesday, July 12, at the weekly Oak Cliff Lions Club meeting

Popular Texas Monthly writer and author Skip Hollandsworth is the speaker for the Oak Cliff Lions Club luncheon meeting on Wednesday, July 12, 2017. The meeting begins at noon at Weiss Auditorium in the Methodist Health System complex on Colorado Boulevard and ends at 1:00 p.m.

Walter Ned "Skip" Hollandsworth is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and executive editor for Texas Monthly magazine.

Before joining the Texas Monthly staff, in 1989, executive editor Skip Hollandsworth worked as a reporter and columnist in Dallas and as a television producer and documentary filmmaker. During his time with the magazine, he received several journalism awards, including a National Headliners Award, the national John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism, the City and Regional Magazine gold award for feature writing, and the Texas Institute of Letters O. Henry Award for magazine writing.

He won the 2010 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing from the American Society of Magazine Editors, for "Still Life," the story of John McClamrock. His true crime history, The Midnight Assassin, about a series of murders attributed to the Servant Girl Annihilator that took place in Austin, Texas, in 1885, was published in April 2016 by Henry Holt and Company.

Guest lunch fee is $10.50.

Hollandsworth became a Texan at eleven years old, when he moved with his family to Wichita Falls in December of 1968, where his father served as pastor of Fain Memorial Presbyterian Church. He graduated from Texas Christian University in 1979, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, and in 1981 he worked as a sports reporter for the Dallas Times Herald. He married Shannon Peterson in 1995.

“Midnight Assassin” is for sale on Amazon and received four out of five stars.the

This year the Oak Cliff Lions Club, one of the largest service clubs in the nation, will enjoy one evening meeting a month on the first Tuesday, to be held at La Calle Dolce located at 415 w 12th street in Oak Cliff. The rest of the month the club will continue to meet at the Methodist Health Systems’ Weiss Auditorium at noon on Wednesdays. Both the evening meeting and luncheons are open to the public. The first Tuesday evening meeting is scheduled for August 1, 2017.

For more information see the club’s website: wwww.oakclifflions.com

Of the Oak Cliff Lions Club Facebook page or Oak Cliff Lions Club Farmer’s Market Facebook page.

To RSVP for an upcoming luncheon or evening meeting, contact club secretary Sara Kitto at: sara.kitto@oakclifflions.org

For more information contact any current Board Member:

President Lion John McCall Jr. - john@attorneymccall.com

1st VP Lion Tasie Semos - aksemos@sbcglobal.net

2nd VP Lion Diana Ezzell - diana.ezzell@yahoo.com

3rd VP Lion Paul Nielson - paul@texaspnc.com

Secretary Lion Nia MacKay - niamackay@aol.com

Treasurer Lion Stan Altschuler - alt7811@sbcglobal.net

Chaplain Lion Judy Porter - judy-porter@sbcglobal.net

Lion Tamer Lion Brooks Morrow - brooks.morrow@lpl.com

Tail Twister Lion Perry Flowers - perryflowers@ebby.com

 

 

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The 2017-18 President of the 100-year old Oak Cliff Lions Club is John McCall Jr., following in his father's footsteps. The younger McCall has already brought fresh food to Oak Cliff by creating the Oak Cliff Lions Club Farmer's Market. More innovative plans for the year are in the works, including a monthly night meeting for Lions who can't attend a noon lunch meeting.

“WE SERVE” is the Motto of the Oak Cliff Lions Club for 100 Years

Oak Cliff Lions Club President Layne Vincent broke with a long-standing tradition when he passed the presidential gavel to his successor, John McCall Jr., on Thursday, June 29, 2017.

As each past president in Hitt Auditorium on the Methodist Health System's campus passed the ceremonial gavel down the line, Vincent told the crowd assembled of Lions, spouses, children and friends, that “I am going to break from tradition tonight, and ask John McCall Senior to pass the gavel to his son.”

The elder McCall was at the event following a recent stroke, so temporarily in a wheel chair. His son, John McCall Jr, an attorney and judge like is father, was touched by the gesture. Vincent’s father was also a former president of the Oak Cliff Lions Club, and Layne had told the crowd earlier that evening that he remembered meeting John years ago with his father, and “thinking how cool he was.”

Both Layne’s mother Judy, also a Lion, and John McCall’s mother, Suzanne, were in attendance.

Past Oak Cliff Lion President and Past District Governor Darla Wisdom, Vice President of Texas Capital Bank, directed the induction ceremony, hilariously using candy bars to represent her thoughts on each officer and board member that was inducted into their position.

John McCall Jr. has already begun some new and exciting ventures in the 100-year-old club. His ongoing fund-raiser in the community is as host to Oak Cliff’s first Farmer’s Market. Last year it was held monthly on Zang Boulevard, and this year is held twice-a-month in the parking lot of Lula B’s antique mall located at 1982 Fort Worth Avenue, in southern Dallas, 75208.

The venture is a win-win for all: the residents of Oak Cliff have fresh produce brought in twice a month for purchase, Lula B’s has more customers and the Oak Cliff Lions Club earns a small fee for each vendor, which adds up to a good bit of funds the club can use to help local agencies that support the Oak Cliff Community.

The idea was the brain child of the new president, who did the yeoman’s work to get the appropriate licenses, venders, location and volunteers necessary to set up a successful venture. Past President Carol Donovan recognized his efforts last year in her final evening as President, awarding McCall the Oak Cliff Lion of the Year award.

This year the club will enjoy one evening meeting a month on the first Tuesday, to be held at La Calle Dolce located at 415 w 12th street in Oak Cliff. The rest of the month the club will continue to meet at the Methodist Health Systems Weiss Auditorium at noon on Wednesdays. Both the evening meeting and luncheons are open to the public.

THIS Week at the Oak Cliff Lions Club

Popular Texas Monthly writer Skip Hollandsworth is the speaker for the Wednesday, July 12, 2017 meeting, to begin at noon at Weiss Auditorium in the Methodist Health System complex. Walter Ned "Skip" Hollandsworth is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and executive editor for Texas Monthly magazine. He won the 2010 National Magazine Award for Feature Writing from the American Society of Magazine Editors, for "Still Life," the story of John McClamrock. His true crime history, The Midnight Assassin, about a series of murders attributed to the Servant Girl Annihilator that took place in Austin, Texas, in 1885, was published in April 2016 by Henry Holt and Company.

Guest lunch fee is $10.50.

For more information see the club’s website: wwww.oakclifflions.com

Of the Oak Cliff Lions Club Facebook page or Oak Cliff Lions Club Farmer’s Market Facebook page.

To RSVP for an upcoming luncheon or evening meeting, contact club secretary Sara Kitto at: sara.kitto@oakclifflions.org

 

For more information contact any current Board Member:

President Lion John McCall Jr. - john@attorneymccall.com

1st VP Lion Tasie Semos - aksemos@sbcglobal.net

2nd VP Lion Diana Ezzell - diana.ezzell@yahoo.com

3rd VP Lion Paul Nielson - paul@texaspnc.com

Secretary Lion Nia MacKay - niamackay@aol.com

Treasurer Lion Stan Altschuler - alt7811@sbcglobal.net

Chaplain Lion Judy Porter - judy-porter@sbcglobal.net

Lion Tamer Lion Brooks Morrow - brooks.morrow@lpl.com

Tail Twister Lion Perry Flowers - perryflowers@ebby.com

Past Oak Cliff Lions Club presidents include Bank Presidents, county treasurers, local mayors, a Miss Texas and a wide variety of successful business owners:

Rene Cox*
Dr. W. C. Jones* 
Vervon Singleton* 
Fred A. Kelly* 
Dr. H. K. Crutcher* 
W. P. Mathews* 
James R. Temple* 
L. B. Randolph* 
Dr. S. T. Bailey* 
Dr. F. M. Shultz* 
Gus Cook* 
W. J. Bryan*
J. W. T. Major* 
Dr. R. A. Self * 
H. L. Jennings* 
H. M. Craig, Jr.* 
Teddy Harris* 
H. E. Wolfram* 
Harley Hightower* 
Dr. W. B. Wilkinson* 
S. W. Taylor* 
Fred "Red" Harris* 
S. V. McCarley* 
A. E. Harris* 
Roger E. Parks* 
Charles E. Watson* 
O. N. Moffett* 
G. C. Harrell, Jr.* 
Abe Meyer*
Marion B. Snider* 
J. E. Willis, Jr.* 
Edward P. Thompson* 
N. W. Alexander* 
George W. Puckett* 
Charles H. Storey* 
Paul B. Craig* 
Dr. Dennis L. Lindsey* 
Allison Snyder* 
David R. Braden* 
Henry M. Lively* 
Kenneth W. Ritchel* 
Bill Sullivan* 
Tom Young* 
Gordon Rea 
Dr. Parmer Richardson* 
Fred Ferguson 
Sam Monzingo* 
Bill Lewis 
Bill Melton 
Dennis Jeter 
Jack Henigan
Dr. Marvin Grantham*
Bennie Brigham
Jerry Gilmore
Jack Frampton 
Gene Willard* 
Dr. Wm. J. Lawhorn 
Jerry Vincent* 
Kenneth Beard* 
Mark G. Snyder 
Dr. Burt Bryan 
Dan Cunningham 
Steve Levine 
John McCalib 
Jerry Adkins 
Steve McGregor* 
Carolyn Dunnigan 
Steve Elwell 
Bonnie Breazeale 
John Dodd 
John McCall, Sr. 
H. Wayne Meachum 
Robert Hirsh 
Michelle Metzger 
Stoney Greene
Bill Harper
Amy Alburtis
Rich Buickerood
Tom Timmons
Darla Wisdom
Charlie Tupper
Danny Boyce
Mike Lott
Iris Smith
Durhl Caussey
Steve Bayless
Carol Donovan

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Tickets for the last two performances of "Law Law Land," a musical variety show and spoof of the legal profession, are on sale now for Friday and Saturday night's final performances. Funds raised provide scholarships to minority Law students attended Law Schools in Texas.

"LAW LAW LAND" is 32 years in the making! Tickets for Friday, Saturday night shows available at http://www.barnoneshow.com/

 

Attorney Martha Hardwick Hofmeister is directing another hilarious show playing now at SMU’s Greer Garson Theater through Saturday night, June 17, 2017.

“Law Law Land,” is the 32nd annual show created by the Bar None cast and supported by the Dallas Bar Association and Dallas Bar Foundation.

A lively musical variety show, it features skits poking fun at the legal profession and local and national politics.

Hofmeister is a University of Texas Law School graduate. She studied English at Emory University and is a graduate of Trinity Prepatory School.

Martha is married to attorney Kent Hofmeister, who has also been involved in the Bar None show for years as a musician and singer/actor, along with hundreds of other attorneys, judges and “legal Eagles” over the three decades. Funds raised go to provide scholarships for minority law students attending any law school in Texas. Kent also sings and plays guitar in a local Band, The Cat Daddies, which plays at many metroplex events including local runs for charity.

Family Law Attorney Rhonda Hunter has been the choreographer of the show since its first show 32 years ago. She spends hundreds of hours teaching steps to the Bar None cast, and is often featured in the big dance numbers if nobody else can master the fancy footwork necessary to pull off the steps.

Members of Altrusa International of Downtown Dallas serve each year in the Box office and as ticket-takers and will once again be at the theater to meet and greet guests, cast and crew. See: altrusadtd.com or the Altrusa Downtown Dallas Facebook page for more info, or the Bar None Facebook page.

For more information and tickets: http://www.barnoneshow.com/

BAR NONE XXXII
"Law Law Land" TICKETS & SPONSORSHIP INFORMATION FORM
June 14-17, 2017 Greer Garson Theatre, SMU Campus

If you have a problem completing your order online, please contact the Dallas Bar Foundation at (214) 220-7487
Group Discount! Purchasing 10 or more tickets below gets you the discount price of $25 each!

All seats are General Admission, and tickets are non-refundable. Ticket Exchanges may be made up until the day of the performance. 

Judy Porter is a local writer and a member of Altrusa International of Downtown Dallas. Contact her at judy-porter@sbcglobal.net

 

 

 

 

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Lauren Medel survived a near-fatal car crash 11 years ago and had to re-learn many simple tasks from talking to walking. Now she helps others with disabilities through her expanding law practice. A graduate of Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, AZ, class of 2000, she went on to Scottsdale Community College where she received her Associate of Applied Science (AAS) in Business; Arizona State University where she received her BAS in Political Science and Communications; Western International University, to get her MBA; and finally St. Mary’s School of Law, to receiver her JD (doctor of Law) degree.

CAR CRASH SURVIVOR GOES ON TO LAW SCHOOL, NOW HELPS OTHERS

The Law Office of Lauren Medel is already expanding, barely one year after the first office opened at 1813 Balboa Place in Oak Cliff.

You may have already seen her two billboards on Highway 67 and Interstate 35.

But you may not know that 11 years ago, on June 4, a serious car crash nearly killed her.

She survived, but suffered a brain injury which changed the course of her life.

A native Texan, Lauren was born at St. David’s hospital, in downtown Austin. Her family moved to Scottsdale Arizona, where Lauren grew up with identical twin sisters Aya and Keighsie Huffman. She also has half-siblings Tammy, Dixie, Robbie and Lisa from her father’s first wife and then Matt and Andy from her father’s second wife and step brothers Ben, Joseph and James.

She credits her multiple younger siblings with growing up knowing that she wanted to “be in charge!”

At 35, she is!

Her all-female law firm has been helping clients in southern Dallas and as more and more come from cities south of Dallas, such as DeSoto, Duncanville and Lancaster to the Balboa Street office, Attorney Medel realized she could do more.

Medel said, “A great opportunity came available for me to have a new location in East Oak Cliff, which is a highly underserved area in terms of legal representation.  In my current location, I noticed that MANY of the clients I was serving were from East Dallas and Lancaster and this location became available.”

Medel adds, “The location chose me!  The owner is an acquaintance of mine and he asked me to come see an opportunity.  He saw the underserved area and gave me an opportunity I could NOT PASS UP!!”

La’Mesha Antoine is the office manager at the new space, located at 1117 S Beckley Dallas 75203 at the corner of Beckley and Clarendon.

Medel will be hosting an Open House next Tuesday, June 13, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. at the original Balboa office, 1813 Balboa Place, Suite 206, Dallas 75224, as host to the Oak Cliff Women in Business networking group. Any business woman can attend, or one who is looking for a new career.

“Queens and Future Queens” is the non-profit that will be highlighted. The agency works to help girls grow up to be young women of substance, and have a women’s empowerment summit coming up on September 30, 2017, in Grapevine. Medel is one of the speakers for the summit, along with other nationally-recognized women including Keynote “Laser Focus” motivational speaker Cynthia Bazin, Fitness Guru Sky Landish, Civil Rights Advocate Carmen Perez and Queens and Future Queens Founder Pauline Holmes.

Medel says her new law office opened on May 26, 2017. Running the office will be an exciting adventure for her, a JD, MBA who just left corporate America in August.  “I’m building the plane while flying it, and couldn’t be more excited about it.  I have a fantastic team of professionals by my side making the growth possible.”

Medel will be expanding her services to new clients. “We will really be trying to help with immigration and other needs that tend to be overlooked in this underserved community.  I’ve noticed lots of families in this part of Oak Cliff have real estate issues to resolve and more.  I want to expand to help everyone that I can!”

Married now for six years to Brandon Medel, they are the proud parents of two children, Noah Jack and Liberty Dale.

Coming from the struggle of a divorced, destructive, abusive home, Lauren grew up with a real sense of justice and right and wrong. She feels blessed to have both the intelligence and good luck to be academically strong. She is also extremely patriotic. “I love America almost more than I love my own children--note my daughter’s name—but I knew I could never be in the military, so I figured lawyering was the next best thing.”

Her goal is to provide peace of mind to all her clients.

And she’s already doing it from two different offices in the Oak Cliff area.

 

To learn more, contact her at lauren@laurenmedel.com or see her website: http://laurenmedel.com

For more information about the Oak Cliff Women in Business, see the group's Facebook page: OCWIB or contact Vicky Gouge: gouge@fullmoondesigngroup.com

Author Judy Porter can be contacted at judy-porter@sbcglobal.net.