Precious memories, precious lives

Organizers called the dinner meeting a Gathering of Friends. It was much more.

Adult Day Services of Orange County attracted more than 400 guests to the Turnip Rose in Costa Mesa to honor people with Alzheimer’s disease and to pay tribute to the work of Adult Day Services in partnership with Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.

Led by Executive Director Cordula Dick-Muehlke, Adult Day Services is a residential care facility in Huntington Beach that offers comprehensive support for Alzheimer’s patients and their families.

For one patient and one family in particular, the work of Dick-Muehlke and her caring staff has made a difference that was celebrated on this particular night in Costa Mesa.

Actress Diane Keaton, an Orange County native, came home to share with the community the path and the plight of her mother, Dorothy Hall, a Newport resident and courageous Alzheimer’s fighter. Keaton and her sisters and brother surrounded their mother at the dinner while a video, made and narrated by sister Dorrie Hall, told the wonderful story of their family life in Orange County.

The Grand Newport Plaza ballroom of Turnip Rose was silent as the family story unfolded on giant screens.

Then Diane Keaton took the microphone and delivered a speech that was directed as much to her mother as it was to the other 400 people in the room. It was as if we were eavesdropping on a very personal conversation as Keaton told her mother how much she loved her and appreciated everything she did for the family.

Keaton’s emotional tribute ? she broke into tears, her voice cracking, on several occasions ? reminded all how challenging Alzheimer’s can be for anyone touched by it.

“You have to let them go,” Keaton said, adding, “You have to love them in the moment and let them go.”

Chaired by Joan Lund and vice-chair Eve Thompson, the evening raised an impressive $225,000 for Adult Day Services. The sum was largely due to the support and appearance of Keaton. Celebrities make an enormous difference for charitable work. Beyond the artistic contributions of their careers, making this sort of difference is perhaps the most valuable and noble involvement for a person of fame to offer society.

Keaton is not just a fine actress, she is an incredible daughter, sister, mother, wife and hero to Alzheimer’s patients. The crowd offered her a standing ovation.

In the crowd was Dr. Gwyn Parry, director of community medicine at Hoag, who also was recognized as “distinguished friend of the year” at Adult Day Services for his remarkable 11-year contribution to the facility.

Dick-Muehlke said, “If it had not been for Dr. Parry’s leadership, vision and personal commitment, there would be no state-of-the-art facility to care for Alzheimer’s patients in Orange County.”

Adult Day Services is recognized as one of the leaders in Alzheimer’s care in America.

The Turnip Rose staff served a fine three-course dinner following a lively cocktail hour.

The crowd was filled with local dignitaries including Assemblyman Tom Harman, Alzheimer’s Assn. Executive Director Jim McAleer, Hoag President Dr. Richard Afable and Robert Detloff, president of the Huntington Beach Council on Aging.

Also in the crowd were Costa Mesa resident Steven Fink and his fiance Wendy Weber, Newport’s Lin and Al Auer, Janet and James Ray, Cindy Picquelle, Karen Johnson, Michael and Michelle Haynes, Mary Lou and Wayne Shattuck, Jack and Jan Stephenson and Michael and Diane Stephens.

Dorrie Hall began the video presentation on her mother by quoting a clipping that was taped to her mom’s workroom wall when she was growing up. The yellowed magazine clipping read, “Memories are simply moments that refuse to be ordinary.”

Forty years later, as her mother fights Alzheimer’s, the quote is a chilling reminder of just how precious memories are.