Committee Members for the The Signature Event of “Wine, Women and Shoes,” benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation. From Left, up the stairs: Dee Dean, Laura Meyer, Whitney Moss, E’Shaina Harned, Allison Timberlake, Angela Cox, Shelley Shelby, Sundee Busby, Lezel Safi. Not pictured: Caroline Mathis, Oyla Volotoko, Janice Loyd, Mary Ellen Alexander.

By Adrianna Iwasinski
Contributing Writer

She may live in California, but Oklahoma City native Elaine Honig hasn’t forgotten her roots. Honig, a Casady graduate, is the founder of “Wine, Women, and Shoes.” She is using her unique concept to help raise money for the Oklahoma Chapter of the Make-Wish-Foundation.

“I saw a real synergy there.” After all, what woman doesn’t love hanging out with friends, having a glass of wine, and getting in a little retail therapy in….all while supporting a great cause? So, I wondered, how did Honig come up with the idea?

“It all started with a funny conversation with a friend in the wine business. We were already doing dinner and wine pairings for several fundraising events around Sonoma and wanted to do something a little different. We thought a wine and shoe pairing would be just the thing and that’s how the idea was born.”
 

From left, Circuit Judge Jerome Holmes chats with District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange before her formal investiture as chief judge for the western district of Oklahoma. Miles-LaGrange is the first black and only the second woman to serve in the post; Holmes is the first black man on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

By Patrick B. McGuigan
Managing Editor

In a ceremony combining judicial pomp and a powerful sense of history with emotion and moments of levity, Vicki Miles-LaGrange became chief judge for the western district of Oklahoma, the federal trial court for most of the Sooner State.

Immediate past Chief Judge Robin Cauthron, the first woman ever to hold the post, presided over the ceremony of formal investiture for Miles-LaGrange, the first black person to hold the position. Judge Robert Henry, the appeals court chief judge, said it was significant that the post had become, at least in this succession, “matrilineal” in passing from one distinguished woman jurist to another. While sharing fully the widespread affection for Miles-LaGrange, he placed her rise in stirring historic context as a sign of American social progress and justice.

Photos by Robin Dorner-Townsend
Attending the Interfaith Dialogue Awards Ceremony were, from left, Marilyn Kotulek, state Representative Anastasia Pittman and Maggie Green.

By William F. O’Brien
Contributing Writer

The Institute of Interfaith Dialogue of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University  held an award ceremony last week at the Petroleum Club in downtown Oklahoma City, honoring Oklahomans who have worked to bring people of different faiths and beliefs together.