Iconic Houston Department Store Scion Trades Quips and Stories With Older Sis Lynn Wyatt in Lively Luncheon
Robert Sakowitz, The Heritage Society and Callbacks to Storied Fun
BY Shelby Hodge // 10.07.21Steve Wyatt, Joyce Echols, Lynn Wyatt and Robert Sakowitz at the Heritage Society's Houston Heritage Luncheon (Photo by Priscilla Dickson)
What: Houston Heritage Society’s Houston Heritage Luncheon
Where: The Forest Club
PC Moment: Could there have been a more entertaining luncheon than this one during which guest speaker the debonaire Robert Sakowitz was peppered with several quips from his older trés glamorous sister, Lynn Wyatt, as he recalled the early history of Sakowitz Bros.? These scions of the storied department store grew up in an international world of designer fashions, one that rivaled Neiman Marcus for prestige among Houston’s shopping divas.
Tapped to emcee the luncheon was PaperCity executive editor, visual arts/features Catherine D. Anspon. The talented writer was an apt choice to emcee as she wrote a definitive piece on the early Sakowitz Bros. store for PaperCity in 2018.
The luncheon celebrated the Heritage Society‘s 67th anniversary and honored curators of the women’s suffrage exhibit — Rae Bryant, Lisa Cari, Betty Trapp Chapman and Anne Hulme Sloan. Houston Women Cast Their Ballots: Celebrating 100 Years of the Right to Vote! earned the ladies a special award which was presented by Heritage Society executive director Alison Bell and Heritage Society board president Minnette Boesel.
In a nod to the downtown Sakowitz store and its famed Sky Terrace Restaurant the lunch menu featured vichyssoise, shrimp remoulade salad, and a pecan ball with chocolate sauce. The stage was surrounded with white wrought-iron planters and tables were dressed in a trio of floral centerpieces, the setting created by Kirksey Gregg Productions in another nod to the Sky Terrace. In addition, there was a table display of fashions bearing the Sakowitz label including a fur jacket and a gentleman’s seersucker jacket.
Elizabeth Anthony
A host of city council members joined the party, including Sallie Alcorn, Robert Gallegos, Amy Peck and Carolyn M. Johnson.
PC Seen: Cathy Brock, C.C. and Duke Ensell, Franelle Rogers, Angela Caughlin-Cannady, Will Cannady, Nick Hellyar, Evelyn Boatwright, Lisa Cline, Katherine Warren, Barry Moore, and Mary Lou Hollender.
