Last night, Dick Henning got what he deserved! The founder and moderator of Celebrity Forum, an unsung hero for many of us in Silicon Valley, got a good dose of praise and recognition for his 40 years of bringing excellent speakers to the Bay Area to educate and delight us.
The audience rose to its feet in an enthusiastic standing ovation as Judy Miner, President of Foothill College preempted his usual punctual 8pm appearance and introduced the great man. She presented Dick with a special plaque as a “small token of appreciation for 40 years of leading Celebrity Forum with distinction and panache.”
The “panache” part is doubly apt as it recognizes Dick’s excellent style and also his lovely wife: Paulette, who is French.
I was thrilled to see the cover story I wrote about Dick for the Los Altos Town Crier projected on the enormous screen behind Dick. He actually looked rather overwhelmed for an instant, but gathered himself and with his usual humility said, “If you do something long enough, someone will eventually give you an award.”
There was great hilarity and then Dick smiled and thanked Judy and “all those involved in this nefarious deed.”
Then it was on with the show: Dick introduced Bill Frist, former senator, top surgeon and big fan of Al Gore. Frist told us all we wanted to know (and more!) about the dire state of US Health Care.
Afterwards, it was excellent to congratulate Dick in person at the Green Room reception; and finally meet Judy Miner who is even more sparkling in person than I’d anticipated. I also got the chance to thank the Editor Bruce Barton, Paul and Liz Nyberg (the publishers) for using my working title for the piece – a rare honor for this lowly writer. I look forward to interviewing Judy when I get my show up and running on Women’s Radio
