Premium ContentMouse over Home then click on Premium Content for information.« With less than a month until the high holiday of St. Patrick, the Ancient Order of Hibernians tonight will honor all things Irish, including Lifetime Award recipient the Rev. George Sullivan.
Father George is a 1962 graduate of Creighton Prep who became a Jesuit, earned a law degree and served in the 1980s as Prep's president. He traveled to more than 20 countries as vice president of the Gregorian University Foundation before returning to Omaha in 2006 and helping Prep raise nearly $37 million.
Tonight's event at 6 is open to the public, $35 per person. Adding to the theme with music from the Emerald Isle will be the Omaha band Donnybrook.
If you're in the area — 3717 S. 120th St. — you'll notice a lot of people wearin' the green as they enter the venue — yes, the hall of the German-American Society.
« A touching moment at Sunday's sixth annual Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards show came with the announcement of its own Lifetime Achievement Award — ballet's Robin Welch.
The nearly 500 attending at the downtown Hilton Omaha, across from the CenturyLink Center, rose in a long ovation.
To make sure she attended and yet not to spoil the surprise, organizers had invited Robin and daughter Rachel Vickrey Hartley to present another award. Rachel, who knew about the impending big honor, invited lots of her mother's friends under the guise of supporting her for being a presenter.
The model for a U.S. postage stamp on the arts as a teenager, Robin moved to New York at 15, turned professional at 17 with the Harkness Ballet and toured the U.S. and Europe. In 1985 she moved to Omaha as principal dancer for Ballet Omaha and later as school director.
She founded the Omaha Theater Ballet and now, with Rachel, is co-artistic director of Heartland Youth Ballet.
The awards show is sponsored by the Omaha weekly The Reader. After a video and a recitation of Robin's career highlights, presenter Mark Hoeger said: "From her days as a teenage sensation to her role as an impresario, Robin Welch's passionate dedication to dance excellence has produced a life's work of exceptional achievement."
« Actress and Omaha native Gabrielle Union this week told the Miami Herald that she and her boyfriend, basketball star Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, "rarely get to have a day off together" but enjoy going to a spa at One Bal Harbour.
She also revealed that she is a bookworm.
"Even though I got a Kindle for Christmas," she said, "I love the smell of books. I love turning the page. I love dog-earing things and highlighting the passages."
The actress, who hosted the recent BET or Black Entertainment Television awards, said that she enjoys visiting Nebraska and that her mother recently retired there.
"I love Nebraska," Gabrielle said. "I love Cornhusker football. You can't keep me away!"
« Grammy Award-winning Victor Vanacore, pianist, arranger and guest conductor for the Omaha Symphony's Latin-music "Hot! Hot! Hot!" shows last weekend, noted that his father, himself and his son, the drummer in his combo, are all named Victor.
The naming started, he told the audience at the Holland Performing Arts Center, because his grandfather loved the old Victrola phonograph from the Victor Talking Machine Co.
Speedier than the rpms of an old record, Victor quickly quipped: "My father is 78, I'm 45 and my son is 33."
Contact the writer:
402-444-1132, michael.kelly@owh.com
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