Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival
Marshfield, MO
* Order early if you are interested in participating in next year’s State Dinner. Seating is limited and tickets generally are sold out very soon after they are announced on sale.
Mary Jean Eisenhower was born in Washington, D.C. during her grandfather Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first term in office as President of the United States. She was christened in the Blue Room of the White House and grew up in nearby Gettysburg, PA, in a home with property abutting the Eisenhower Farm, where President Eisenhower eventually retired.
She attended several schools in Pennsylvania until her father, John, was named as US Ambassador to Belgium. She lived in Brussels with her family from shortly after her grandfather’s death in 1969 through 1972.
Mary Eisenhower is Chairman Emeritus of People to People International, which was founded September 11, 1956 by her grandfather. Mary says that she joined PTPI hoping to carry on her grandfather’s dream, but that now it has become a dream of her own. President Eisenhower founded PTPI with the financial backing of his friend Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards, who insisted it be headquartered in Kansas City.
Mary Eisenhower established the PTPI Friendship Fund in 1999 following an inspirational visit to an orphanage in Morocco. The fund is designed as a way for people to help the friends and facilities they visit throughout the world and to help the PTPI Chapter network assist each other.
To date, the fund has provided assistance to causes such as the Global Humanitarian Eradication of Landmines; Children’s Mercy Hospital in London, England; earthquake relief in India; disaster relief to victims of September 11, 2001 and their families; support of schools for the underprivileged in China and Sri Lanka; a home for leukemia victims and their families in Cuba; Operation International Children; New Horizons (a library project in Viet Nam); The Survivors of Rwanda; Japan Tsunami Relief; Haiti, and Friends of Egypt, among others. One-hundred percent of all funds received through the organization go to the efforts and projects as specified by the donors.
Following September 11, 2001, Mary’s focus intensified toward getting young people from around the world together to learn about each other and conflict management. Her vision resulted in “Peace Camp 2003: An Evolution of Thought and Action” and “The Global Peace Initiative.” Both efforts have brought people from diverse areas, more than 30 nationalities, together in Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, to discuss issues and reach a better understanding of their unique and individual cultures. The program remains active today.
Highlighted awards of Mary’s are: the Knight of Peace Award from the International University in Assisi, Italy; the Medal of Honor from the Slovak Republic; The Consular Corps Award of Excellence; The Harry S. Truman Award for Public Service; Friendship Ambassador from The Peoples’ Republic of China, among others. Eisenhower has received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Schiller International University, Park University and William Jewell College.
Mary is currently continuing her humanitarian work through, Outreach International, a humanitarian organization dedicated to alleviating poverty throughout the world.
For more information, please visit www.mjeisenhower.com.
Affiliations:
People to People Ambassador Programs
Spokane, Washington
Humanitarian Ambassador
Member, Advisory Board
The Eisenhower Foundation
Abilene, Kansas
Corporate Secretary
Member of the Board of Directors
Executive Committee
Selection Committee: Museum Design
Snowball Express (Families of the Fallen)
Dallas, Texas
Member, Advisory Board
People to People International
Chairman Emeritus
Member, Board of Directors
Member, Board of Trustees
Sister Cities International
Washington, D. C.
Member, Advisory Board
Rocky Top Ranch (Equestrian Therapy)
Keller, Texas
Member, Advisory Board
Boy Scouts of America
Washington, D.C.
Member, Advisory Board
LuLu Roman has enjoyed many successes in her life, but also more than her share of disappointments and hardships. She is best known for her side splitting humor and jovial disposition, but a lesser known story lies behind those sparkling radiant eyes which have often been filled with tears, both of pain and of joy.
LuLu is best known as the most requested female cast member on the long running hit television Show “Hee Haw.” The show ran from 1969-1993, and is now in reruns on the RFD-TV network. LuLu is also known for her accomplished and celebrated songwriting and singing all over the world.
A native of Dallas, TX, LuLu was born in a home for unwed mothers, and placed in an orphan’s home shortly after birth. She was born with a thyroid dysfunction, and it would be in the orphan’s home that she first endured the pain of being unaccepted because of her weight. Her weight made her the brunt of much name-calling and teasing, and also prevented her from being adopted into a loving home. It was then she learned to use her sense of humor as a defense mechanism.
LuLu’s sense of humor later evolved into a highly successful career as an actress and comedienne with a lead role on “Hee Haw.” However, success and wealth proved poisonous to the young actress. LuLu’s search for acceptance and happiness eventually lead her to a drug addiction, which sent her down a spiral that nearly destroyed her life and career in 1971.
In 1973, a chance meeting with an old friend lead her to discover a new found faith in the Lord, and changed her life forever. It was in this revelation that she discovered she had a hidden talent in her voice. LuLu then began singing Gospel music, and eventually introduced it to “Hee Haw.”
LuLu’s new found career as a vocalist proved to be very successful. She is the recipient of a Dove award, and has been nominated many times. She is also a member of the Country Gospel Music and Christian Music halls of fame. LuLu has also been honored with the JD Sumner Living Legend Award and named Favorite Crossover Artist by the Country Gospel Music Association. The TV Land network also awarded LuLu with their prestigious Entertainer’s Award.
To date, LuLu has recorded 21 albums and is still singing in churches, seminars, fairs, performing arts centers, and anywhere she is welcomed to share her life story and music.
Her latest gospel project “Seven Times” has garnered an international hit song (“Do You Know How To Fly”), and is still being shared across the globe. It also features one of the last songs her precious friend Dottie Rambo wrote for her, “Move Upon Us.”
LuLu has just completed a new project entitled “At Last.” The album features 12 of her favorite standards and classics, such as “I Will Always Love You,” “Summertime,” “You Don’t Know Me,” “Til I Can Make It On My Own, ” and the title song. LuLu’s dear friends Dolly Parton, T. Graham Brown, Linda Davis, and Georgette Jones also joined her on the album.
In addition to “Hee Haw,” LuLu has also been a guest star on such television programs as “The Love Boat” and “Touched By An Angel.” She is also an accomplished author, with her autobiography and her cookbook “Kitchen Komforts.”
Although she has been performing for over 40 years, she has no plans to rest or retire. LuLu continues to travel sharing her testimony, her humor, and her music.
Thursday, April 23 at 4:30 PM
Marshfield Assembly of God
*Will also have local authors signing books
Dawn Wells, best known for playing Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island”, is a fan favorite at the Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. Dawn will be appearing again this year and will be receiving the Ella Dickey Literacy Award for her new book “What Would Mary Ann Do?: A Guide to Life”. Keep updated on Dawn Wells by visiting her web-site Dawnwells.com.
Sally Tippett Rains is the author of 11 books including the award winning The Making of a Masterpiece,The Story of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind, and producer of a documentary based on the book–which aired on HEC- Higher Education Channel and won a Telly Award. She is co-owner of StLSportsPage.com with her author/sports writer husband, Rob Rains, bringing her back to her sports roots at KMOX Radio– writing and producing for Bob Costas and Jack Buck. Sally Rains worked in radio sports for five years, switching to book writing and charity work while raising their two sons B.J. and Mike Rains. She is also the volunteer Executive Director of Rainbows for Kids, a 501 (c)(3) charity for families of children with cancer, started and run by her family. She attended the University of Missouri- Columbia and graduated from Webster University in St. Louis with a degree in Media/Communications. In 1992, Sally Rains was on the board for the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. and put on a reception at the U.S. Capitol attended by two U.S. Congressmen, to honor the Missouri Cherry Blossom Princess, who, coincidentally, was from Marshfield, MO that year.
Born into a family of nine children in the tiny village of Bonnay, France, Roland Mesnier discovered his vocation by accident on a summer day at the age of twelve. Apprenticing to his older brother Jean, Roland began working at the local patisserie in exchange for room and board. From there he was hired as the pastry sous chef at the iconic Savoy Hotel in London, then was hired as the Executive Pastry Chef at what is now the Four Seasons Hotel George V in Paris. He then spent nine years at the legendary Princess Bermuda resort where he met his wife, Martha. Chef Mesnier came to the U.S. in April 1976 as Executive Pastry Chef at The Homestead, a venerable resort hotel in Hot Springs, Virginia.
Hired in 1979 by first lady Rosalyn Carter, Roland Mesnier became the first ever non-American to serve in the White House and went on to become the longest tenured chef ever – pastry or culinary – in the history of the White House.
He developed and taught the first professional Pastry Arts Program at L’Academie de Cuisine in Bethesda, MD – currently ranked in the Top 10 Culinary schools in the U.S. Chef Mesnier has won 18 Gold medals, 4 Silver and 3 Bronze for his pastry creations in competitions around the world. He is a member of the Academie Culinaire de France and the recipient of many awards and accolades which include: the French Legion of Honor in 2005 – the highest honor bestowed on a French citizen; that same year he was inducted into the Chocolate and Pastry Hall of Fame. He was awarded a Doctorate of Culinary Arts from the prestigious Johnson & Wales University in South Carolina. He is the author of three books, Dessert University, Basic to Beautiful Cakes and All the Presidents Pastries: A Memoir. His fourth book, A Sweet World of White House Desserts, was released in the fall of 2011 by the White House Historical Association.
While Chef Mesnier retired from the White House in 2006, he still travels the U.S. and around the world giving speeches, judging pastry competitions and participating in fund-raising events and book signings.
Visit his website www.chefrolandmesnier.com for more information and pictures of his work and to subscribe to his monthly newsletter.
Heather Berry is the associate editor for Rural Missouri. Before joining the award-winning magazine staff in 1989, she was part of Governor John Ashcroft’s communication’s team.
She currently serves on the institute planning committee for the Cooperative Communicators Association, a national group of co-op communicators comprised of writers, photographers and editors across the United States, Canada and England.
Heather and her husband, Rick, live on a small farm in Callaway County with their adopted shelter dogs — a sheltie named Cody and one rowdy black labrador mix, Nicholas, who chews on everything in sight.
Actress, writer, radio station owner and personality Dreama Denver met her husband of almost 30 years, television icon Bob Denver (Gilligan of Gilligan’s Island, Maynard G. Krebs of Dobie Gillis), when she was cast as his love interest in the Woody Allen play, “Play It Again, Sam”. After marrying the popular television personality, Dreama continued her acting career, appearing in a Gilligan’s Island reunion movie with Bob, co-starring with him in a TV pilot titled “Scamps” and touring the U.S. and Canada successfully and happily with her husband for over a decade.
The birth of the Denver’s son Colin, diagnosed with severe autism, changed everything for Bob and Dreama, who retired from show business and moved back to West Virginia to devote the next two decades to Colin’s full time care. During this time, the pair also founded The Denver Foundation, which honors their son and is dedicated to assisting special needs children and their families.
“The Denver Foundation and Little Buddy Radio, a nonprofit radio station owned and operated by the Foundation, were Bob’s last and most important legacies,” Dreama says, “and making these two entities as successful as possible became my mission after Bob passed away. His desire to give back to West Virginia was huge. He loved this area, considered himself an adopted West Virginian and was a tireless ambassador for the state. Regardless of how important and far reaching his television legacy was, and is, his love for our son and his desire to help other families like ours trumped even that.”
Since Bob’s death, Dreama has discovered new passions and new directions in which to take the foundation. Founding Always Free Honor Flight, WV’s first Honor Flight program, honoring WV veterans with free trips to Washington, DC to visit the memorials built to honor their service is especially close to Dreama’s heart. Leading the effort to have John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” adopted, successfully and unanimously, as an official WV state song ranks as one of the proudest days of her life, rivaled only by being chosen one of West Virginia’s Wonder Women by WV Focus magazine. The American Legion Riley-Vest Post #9 honored Dreama with their Outstanding Citizen Award in 2014 and this past January, the Princeton Mercer County Chamber of Commerce chose her as Citizen of the Year. In March, Dreama will be honored once again with the Sons of the American Revolution’s Outstanding Female Citizen of the Year.
Dreama’s recently published memoir, Gilligan’s Dreams, recounting her almost 30 year marriage to Bob, is her love letter to Bob and her gift to Bob’s fans. In detailing the Denver’s journey through autism with their son and Bob’s courage during the last 6 months of his life, Dreama allows Bob’s fans a personal glimpse of the man behind the iconic television characters he created.
“Bob would be proud,” Dreama says. “The life I had known for close to thirty years changed dramatically when Bob passed away, but I came to understand that honoring his memory meant living a full and happy life, carrying on the work we started with a heart as big as his.”