Community

TOP: Pictured with Mattie Terrell in 2021, Donna Pierce wears a string of pearls gifted to her for years of service to Highland Park ISD. MIDDLE: Pierce at the Rotary Club of Park Cities grand marshal luncheon with Cathy Bryce and Greg Pape. BOTTOM: Former grand marshals Brad Bradley and Marla Boone. (PHOTOS: JULIET

ALLAN, EASLEY “LEY” WAGGONER, AND RACHEL SNYDER)

AT A GLANCE

The 2022 ‘Together We Serve’-themed Rotary Club of Park Cities’ Fourth of July parade will begin rolling from Highland Park Town Hall to Goar Park at 9 a.m. July 4. Since 2016, the event has benefited the North Texas Food Bank, and this year, Rotarians hope the multi-year total will surpass 1 million meals provided.

PARADE SAFELY

• Don’t throw candy or other items directly at the crowd; instead, toss underhand and well away from your vehicle. • Don’t throw candy to spectators standing off the curb and in the road. • Don’t allow children under the age of 8 to throw candy or other items. • Don’t allow children to ride in the back of a pickup truck if it is pulling a float. • Don’t throw water balloons or shoot water guns or silly string. • Don’t throw balls or toys that can bounce back into the parade route. • Don’t allow anyone to exit a vehicle or float once the parade has started. • Don’t stop your vehicle during the parade or create a large gap in front of you unless otherwise directed. • Don’t enter more than one vehicle in the parade. • Don’t block alleys, streets, or driveways during lineup. • Don’t leave young children unsupervised on or in parade vehicles during lineup. • Don’t play speakers loudly during lineup out of respect for nearby residents. • Don’t transport open flames on your parade vehicle, so no grills, smokers, etc. Source: Rotary Club of Park Cities

MEET THE STAR OF THE FOURTH OF JULY PARADE

Longtime HPISD planetarium director will serve as 2022 grand marshal

By Rachel Snyder

rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com

This year’s Rotary Club of Park Cities Fourth of July parade is shaping up to be out of this world.

At least this year’s grand marshal, Donna Pierce, knows plenty about planets, stars, and galaxies after “88 orbits around the sun.”

The beloved teacher served as the director of her namesake Highland Park ISD planetarium from 1980 until she retired in 2021.

“Who could be as lucky as I am? You get K-12, and you do the objectives that the teacher wants, and people want to come to the planetarium,” Pierce said.

Affectionately known as “the planetarium lady,” Pierce also taught astronomy in the district from 1987 to 2001 and was the girls’ golf coach from 1990 to 2001. Many of her former astronomy students recall west Texas trips to the McDonald Observatory.

“I think I was put at Highland Park because kids would come and sit with me – in the dark, of course – and just talk about (how) they’re stressed out,” she said. “Their families, for the most part, are quite well along in their profession, and they want them to do something that they don’t want to do, and I’m a good example. I majored in architecture, and I teach astronomy, but give me credit, they both start with A’s!”

Before joining HPISD, the Pampa, Texas native impacted Dallas as the planetarium educator at the former Dallas Health and Science Museum in Fair Park from 1965 to 1980 (The museum, now known as the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, relocated to downtown).

She’s been a leader in her field, serving as associate editor of The Planetarian from 1989 to 1995 and as an International Planetarium Society council member from 1988 to 1996.

Her accolades have included the Southwestern Association of Planetariums’ H. Rich Calvird Award in 1980 and 1982, the Distinguished Service Award from the Dallas Health and Science Museum in 1968-1972, and selection as a fellow of the International Planetarium Society in 1988.

As the girls golf “coach who didn’t play golf,” Pierce was named Metroplex Golf Coach of the Year in 1999 and National Women’s High School Golf Coach of the Year in 2000.

“How’d I get that job?” Pierce quipped. “What I’m so proud of, and you know the story, every girl stepped up. We built up from five girls to four teams.”

Pierce also has enjoyed staying down to earth with volunteerism (when not flying open-cockpit planes). She volunteered with the Girl Scouts of North East Texas Council, was a mem-

I majored in ber of the Junior League, and more. architecture, and I In 2018, she received teach astronomy, but the Southwest Jew ish Congress Au give me credit, they drey Kaplan Inspirboth start with A’s! ing Women of the Southwest Lifetime Donna Pierce Achievement Award. Rotarian Cathy Bryce introduced Pierce at the Rotary Club of Park Cities parade grand marshal luncheon in June: “Donna Pierce is a treasure for the Highland Park school district, the Park Cities community, the greater Dallas area, and all the way out to McDonald Observatory in far west Texas.”

For years, I have been trying to get in shape. I have failed miserably for several reasons. I hate to breathe hard and sweat, and I don’t look good in leggings. My husband says my heart rate hasn’t been above 120 since I saw Troy MICHELE VALDEZ Aikman at Café Pacific on Valentine’s Day a few years ago.

So, during COVID, I decided to start walking with friends because a good gal pal will always challenge you.

I reached out to a retired former colleague and asked her to meet on the Northaven Trail. I wondered if we would be compatible walkers. She has long legs but talks nonstop, so I figured that would give me an advantage.

On the trail, after exchanging greetings, my old friend turned competitive ambler and took off like a Top Gun pilot blasting off an aircraft carrier deck.

She chatted endlessly and never lost her breath. As I galloped to keep up, I mentally calculated the distance to Medical City if I passed out. I was certain that day was my last on earth. Every part of me contributed to the effort. Body parts were bouncing that should never bounce. When I made it home alive, I quickly marked her off my list of potential fitness partners.

Next, I tried a tennis buddy who now lives in a palace in Buenos Aires. On my recent visit, she suggested we go walking. I quickly agreed. After all, it was the least I could do for my gracious host. Plus, she is older and shorter than me, so I trusted that keeping pace would be a breeze. Wrong. She mowed through the beautiful city parks like Rich Strike at the Kentucky Derby. I was breathing like my life depended on it. Upon our return to the palace, I collapsed face down in a puddle of sweat on one of the Persians.

I began to wonder if I have a defect. How could I be so slow given that almost every day, I hop on the treadmill at a decent saunter and a slight incline for at least 30 minutes?

Acceptance is always the first step. Maybe walking with friends isn’t for me. Maybe it’s best to go solo – stroll at my own pace, sans sweat, breathing comfortably.

That day, I increased both incline and speed on the treadmill.

THE URBAN TEAM PRESENTS LUXURY LOFT LIVING

Utterly unique and never o ered for sale until now, this 4,839 sf luxury loft within an 11 unit, boutique building boasts a spectacular two-story atrium entry, 100 year old pine floors and a 3,500 bottle climate-controlled wine room. An expansive living and dining area features custom teak built-ins and has spectacular views of Downtown Dallas. The gourmet kitchen is fully equipped with a gas range, Sub-Zero refrigerator, stainless appliances and granite countertops. The spacious master bedroom suite with fireplace adjoins a spa-like bath and walk-in wardrobe storage. The secondary bedroom has an ensuite bath. This remarkable residence would make an ideal Live+Work space.

1925 Cedar Springs Road #302 O ered for $3,500,000

BY KYLE CREWS AND TREY BOUNDS

Trey Bounds 214-883-4600 trey.bounds@alliebeth.com Kyle Crews 214-538-1310 kyle.crews@alliebeth.com

Not intended as solicitation of properties currently listed with another broker. Information contained herein is believed to be correct but not guaranteed. O ering made subject to errors, omissions, change of price, prior sale or withdrawal without notice.

Entry from HPHS students inspired by University Park’s Elbert Williams abode

AT A GLANCE

What: Unique structures go up for raffle during the 27th annual Dallas CASA Parade of Playhouses. When: See the playhouses on display at NorthPark Center from July 15-31. More: All proceeds from raffle ticket sales and sponsorships benefit the children served by Dallas CASA.

FROM LEFT: Brett Holzle of Stantec Architecture, Jim Bagby and Patrick Surrat of Lee Lewis Construction, HPHS MAPS program environmental architecture instructor Yvette Hightower, and students Avery Allday, Caroline Annett, and Meg Peters worked on a playhouse for Dallas CASA’s Parade of Playhouses inspired by the Elbert Williams

house in University Park. (PHOTO: RACHEL SNYDER)

By Rachel Snyder

rachel.snyder@peoplenewspapers.com

Visitors to NorthPark Center for Parade of Playhouses will see “the most important house in Texas” in replica form.

The Elbert Williams house, dubbed “the most important house in Texas,” is a Texas Regional-style home at 3805 McFarlin Boulevard designed by architect David R. Williams and built in 1933 for then University Park Mayor Elbert Williams. Jan and Trevor Rees-Jones bought the house to preserve it in December 2020.

Students in Yvette Hightower’s Highland Park High School Moody Advanced Professional Studies (MAPS) environmental architecture class designed the replica as a final project. With help from Preservation Park Cities, they reviewed the original plans for the house, re-drew them in AutoCAD computer-aided design and drafting software, and built a model of a portion of the historic home.

“(The project) required them to interpret 100-year-old construction drawings, which was a huge task, and they really rose to the occasion,” said environmental architecture instructor Yvette Hightower. “Thirty-five students drew the 35 drawings, and they all 35 built parts of the model, so it was a giant collaboration.”

Larry Good, co-founder of the design firm GFF and author of the book A House for Texas about the home, also spoke to the students about its significance.

Environmental architecture student Avery Allday said she and classmates Meg Peters and Caroline Annett had likely driven by the house daily.

“I never would have thought it had all these cool details,” she said.

Annett contrasted new homes with ones like the Elbert Williams house, where designers had to allow for good ventilation before air conditioning became widely used. “With the technology that we’ve developed as a society, you don’t have to have the intricately thought-out

I think it’s fantastic porches,” Annett said. “When you have the that we have a ability to just add an playhouse we get to AC unit, it’s just a flat white wall. It’s not as (raffle off) that’s a interesting to look at or replica of a beautiful, live in.” The students are custom historic working with, among home. others, Brett Holzle of Stantec Architecture Rosanne Lewis and Patrick Surratt of Lee Lewis Construction. Holzle and Surratt have also worked on design and construction projects across the school district. “It really speaks to the incredible linkage between the community and the school,” Holzle said.

Rosanne Lewis of Dallas CASA described the Elbert Williams house-inspired entry as a unique addition to the Parade of Playhouses.

“I think it’s fantastic that we have a playhouse we get to (raffle off) that’s a replica of a beautiful, custom historic home,” Lewis said.

The signature fundraiser for Dallas CASA, a nonprofit that advocates for abused and neglected children, features elaborate playhouses designed, built, and donated for the raffle.

“It was just a wonderful culmination of everything that Ms. Hightower had been teaching them in class with a lot of community partnerships,” added Polly McKeithen, business development administrator for the MAPS program and former co-president of Preservation Park Cities. “We try in the MAPS program to afford the students a chance to give back to the community with a philanthropy project, and this is certainly checking that box for the environmental architecture class.”

Tales of Novel Writing Persistence from Two Dallas Authors

CHECK IT OUT

Songs In The Key of H: Tales of Irony & Insinuation by Josh Hickman joshhickmanbooks.com $14.99

To Be by Robert M. Lebovitz amazon.com $23.95

JOSH HICKMAN

As an author, I know the journey can come with twists and turns punctuated by

straight lines.

My recent conversation with Dallas author Robert Lebovitz confirmed this as we shared our writing processes and experiences.

Though our backgrounds wildly differ, we both started writing novels in our mature years.

My past had been one of art, film, music, and odd jobs, interrupted by writing stints.

Bob had been rooted in engineering, eventually becoming an academic associate professor of neurobiology with forays into artistic photography.

Now a youthful 85, Lebovitz started his first novel 10 years after his 2000 retirement.

After struggling with four “serious” novels in my 40s, I finally gave in and found my natural niche in comic novels at 47, happily finishing four books in two years.

“I thought I couldn’t make a living being a writer in my 20s, so I continued with my Ph.D. work,” Lebovitz recalled. “I spend a lot of time outlining, then putting in the moment to moment action isn’t difficult.”

His first effort is also his latest release (though he has other published books and plays). It took over a decade to perfect To Be, a speculative novel based on reality, or “plausible fiction,” as he puts it, dealing with encroaching agism in modern society.

I also deal in plausible fiction, especially in my latest work, albeit more humorously. My sixth book, Songs In The Key of H: Tales of Irony & Insinuation, is a collection of short stories illuminating subjects of recent concern — aging, death, technology, hive-mind thinking — with a healthy helping of irony and absurdism.

Bob is an all-day writer; I’m best in the morning and work in bursts, editing in the afternoon. We’re both avid note-takers and outliners. His latest book took around 25 drafts. Mine required about six. I do a lot of editing in my head before I write. But we both agree on stopping when we hit a block. As he puts it, “I know from my days of computer programming, if you can’t figure out what’s wrong with the loop, leave it. Tomorrow, you’ll figure it out in five seconds.”

We both utilize creative visualization. “I write like I’m imagining a movie,” Lebovitz said — a tactic I employ, having a background in film. We mentally see each character, place, and situation before writing. I even sketch drawings of faces at times. And while I am perhaps a painter of words, Bob is a sculptor, observing, “I see what’s in there, and I keep pecking away at it until it gets into the form I’m happy with.”

Our recent writings deal in part with contemporary confu-

Robert Lebovitz (COURTESY PHOTOS)

sion in perception and action (or lack thereof). “It’s hard to know what’s real anymore,” as Lebovitz said, “and people and groups are making use of that.”

“I enjoy the process,” he added, chuckling. “I’m not so much goal-driven.”

I, too, write much more for the love of writing and self-expression than “for the money,” goodness knows.