SKETCHES, SCRIBBLES & SCRAPS OF
INFORMATION ABOUT PEOPLE, PLACES
& ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE UPFRONT
Sterling Society Tea
The Sterling Society, which helps support the Dunedin Fine
Art Center, held a Japanese-inspired Mother’s Day Tea at the
Dunedin Golf Club. The program included a Japanese tea
ceremony, kimono demonstration, silent auction and raffle, along
with sandwiches, scones and desserts. The event was chaired by
Julie Graham-Pels, the society’s treasurer.
Celia and Jim Ferman are the major
supporters of the new academic
building at the University of Tampa
that will carry their family’s name.
Charlie Hounchell Art Stars
Scholarship Awards
36 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | JULY/AUGUST 2019
Doing the Most Good
T he Salvation Army of Upper Pinellas
County held its 14th annual William E. Hale
Memorial Community Prayer Breakfast at
the Army’s Clearwater Community Worship
Center. During the breakfast, which was
prepared by the Belleair Country Club,
community leaders including Clearwater
Mayor George Cretekos offered prayers, and
the family of Dr. Hale, the event’s founder,
was recognized. The annual William E. Hale
Community Spirit Award was presented
to attorney Don Newman of Belleair, a
Salvation Army advisory board member
and former Undersecretary of Health and
Human Services. The morning’s guest
speaker was Dr. Tonjua Williams, president
of St. Petersburg College.
UT’s Ferman Center
for the Arts
The University of Tampa has
broken ground for its new fine
and performing arts center, a fourstory,
90,000-square-foot building
that is scheduled to open at the end of
2020. The Ferman Center for the Arts
is being named in honor of Tampa’s
ever generous Ferman family and will
have a recital hall, a 200-seat black
box theater, class and practice rooms,
art and dance studios, offices and
other spaces. David Gudelunas, dean
of the university’s College of Arts
and Letters, says the unified space
will facilitate collaboration, creative
synergies and cross-disciplinary
teamwork.
Stephen Gay, chair and president of the Tampa
Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts, and
Susana Weymouth, the organization’s executive
director, welcomed guests to the 11th annual
Charlie Hounchell Art Stars Scholarship Awards
presentation. The awards reward and encourage
the endeavors of artistic prodigies in instrumental
and vocal music, theater, dance, visual and literary
arts by providing financial assistance to help
these students pursue a path to excellence and
leadership in arts related fields and beyond.
Stephen Gay and Susana Weymouth
encourage artistic prodigies through
their Tampa Bay Businesses for
Culture and the Arts.
GRAM
Linda Wittmershaus-Macik, president of the Sterling Society, and
Sara Kessinger, the society’s vice president, welcomed guests to
the group’s annual Mother’s Day Tea in their kimonos.
Emmanuel Lelekis, chair of The Salvation
Army Clearwater advisory board, and the
Army Corps’ Major Ted Morris welcomed
guests to its 14th annual William E. Hale
Memorial Community Prayer Breakfast.
GRAM
GRAM
GRAM