Ear to Tampa Bay
Things Heard by The Ear
Bailey Arts Studios includes one of
the country’s few on campus digital
fabrication laboratories, the Fab Lab,
which will allow students and faculty
members to turn their ideas and dreams
into actual prototypes and products.....
Kate Tiedemann and her spouse
Ellen Cotton of Largo, who continue
to give so generously to various groups
in the Tampa Bay area, recently stepped
forward to again help the University of
South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus
by donating $1 million to fund the
new Tiedemann-Cotton Endowed
Professorship in Finance position at
the Kate Tiedemann College of Business
there. The first three-year renewable
professorship will go to Gary Patterson,
the business school’s current associate
dean. The retired business women’s
latest donation follows a $10 million gift
to help build the school, an additional
$3 million to endow its dean’s position,
plus $50,000 to create an emergency
fund that provides students with the
finances needed to finish their degrees
during the coronavirus pandemic. We
are indeed fortunate to have kind,
giving and involved members in our
community…..Rita Garvey, who
served four consecutive terms as the
mayor of Clearwater between 1987
and 1999, is the board president for the
Friends of the Clearwater Library.....
Karen Higgins, president and CEO
of PARC in St. Petersburg, which is
known for turning clients’ disabilities
into capabilities, welcomed Brooke
The Ear is wearing an earring with blue
sapphires and diamonds set in white gold
from International Diamond Company in
Clearwater and Tampa.
INTERNATIONAL DIAMOND CENTER
JULY/AUGUST 2020 | TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE 83
The Honorable Bob Schmidt, mayor
of Belleair Shore, hosted his annual
Wild Game Dinner at Cafe Ponte in
Clearwater before social distancing
became the new norm…..Christine
Schaad and her fiancé Fabio Narvaez,
both of St. Petersburg, who postponed
their April 18th wedding because of
the coronavirus, rode their bikes
that day to the St. Pete Shuffleboard
Court, where they had planned to be
married, surrounded by family and
friends from here and afar.....The
Honorable Mel Sembler and his wife
Betty of St. Petersburg marked their
67th anniversary by congratulating
each other and celebrating his 90th
birthday at a socially distanced
formal family dinner served at tables
spread out on the driveway of their
son Brent Sembler and daughter-inlaw
Debbie at their home in Pinellas
Park....Liz Wolcott, daughter of Sara
and John Simmons of Tampa and
granddaughter of the late Dr. William
and Jeanette Hale of Dunedin, and
her husband Will Wolcott, who live in
New York City, are the proud parents of
a son, Hale William Wolcott, who is
their first child….Stephanie Gularte,
artistic director of American Stage
professional theater company in St.
Petersburg, was pleased that the wellreceived
virtual live performances with
props, online videos, workshops and
summer camps that the professional
theater company has been presenting
this summer will include 10-minute
new short plays and favorite scenes
from the group’s previously presented
productions…..Maestro Mark Sforzini
conducted St. Petersburg Opera’s full
cast, live streaming productions on
Facebook of The Merry Widow, which
was sponsored by Gloria Matyszyk
and Dick Caldwell, and La Traviata,
sponsored by Mary Alice McClendon
in honor of her mother Helen Frey
Cupit (more opera upcoming events at
stpeteopera.org)…..David Gudelunas,
dean of the University of Tampa’s
College of Arts and Letters, is proud
that the school’s newly transformed
/stpeteopera.org