Pell Awards, June 19, 2010

I attended the Pell Awards at The Foundry in Providence as guests of Nuala and Dallas Pell. Liza Minnelli was honored for lifetime achievement in the arts, and a crowd of more than 400 turned out for the event, which has benefited the Trinity Repertory Company since the first award, the year after Claiborne's retirement. Besides Nuala and her daughter, Grandson Clay attended (pictured with his grandmother and aunt), along with longtime aides Jan Demers (pictured with Clay and Minnelli) and Dennis Riley and his wife, Senators Jack Reed (who was instrumental in the biography) and Sheldon Whitehouse Academy Award-nominated actor Richard Jenkins, Providence mayor David Cicilline, and many more. With me in the photo beneath the poster of Pell is Yolanda.

Long ago...

Nuala and Claiborne are by the sea, one of their favorite places, in this uncaptioned photo from Dennis Riley's superb collection. My educated guess is that it was 1960s, on the rocks along their property in Newport. This joins the wonderful shot of the Pells in their automobile in 1960 as one of my favorite Claiborne/Nuala shots.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis P. Riley.

A beautiful rendition of Claiborne

Christina Pell, Claiborne's granddaughter, is an exceptionally talented artist (and, like her father, the late Bertie), a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. As i wrap up A VERY DIFFERENT SENATOR, Christina is contributing a story or two for the biography, and she sent a link to this wonderful painting of her grandfather toward the end of his long life. Thanks, Christina.
Here's a link to some of her other work on Facebook.

Last term, last stage of writing...

I have completed the first draft of my biography, having just finished the epilogue. Am now editing and fact-checking. The end of the book, of course, chronicles the end of Pell's years in the Senate, and the end of his life, when Parkinson's claimed him.
Here is a shot of him at the Capitol during his last term, which ran from 1991 (having beaten Claudine Schneider) until 1997. Isn't this a stately photograph? Thanks again to Dennis Riley, whose contributions have been enormous.
-- Photo courtesy of Dennis P. Riley.