Meeting Martha
13 03 2008
Elyse Apar with Queen of Katonah Martha Stewart
Photo by Mr. Elyse “Bruce” Apar
The good people at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco sure know how to put on a high-octane fundraiser. As guests of the hospital for its March 8 Grand Prix Ball, named for its host venue, Grand Prix New York, a very cool kart-racing complex off Route 117, my wife Elyse and I chatted with former George Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, honorary chair of the event, and had a (very) brief encounter with the cool Queen of Katonah, Martha Stewart. Also among the crowd of 800 were Congressman John Hall and District Director Susan Spear, State Senator Vincent Leibell and wife Helen, and Yorktown Supervisor Don Peters and wife Karen.
After I told Mr. Fleischer how I enjoyed hearing his views as an articulate political commentator on channels like CNN and Fox News, his friendly advice to this an unabashed cable news junkie was, “You’re better off watching ESPN.” He and wife Becki also were quite the ballroom dancers.
The redoubtable Ms. Stewart made a million-dollar matching donation to the hospital for its state-of-the-art daVinci Robotic Surgical system, the beneficiary of the evening’s million-dollar fundraiser. The remarkable technology, used primarily for certain urology and gynecologic surgeries, is more accurate, less invasive, and reduces hospital stays and recovery time for patients.
We also had what amounted to an impromptu demonstration of her vaunted reputation as a natural organizer. When I asked about the possibility of a photo, she graciously assented to pose alongside my better half.
Foolishly thinking I could hand off my camera to work my way into the frame with the two ladies, I quickly realized Ms. Stewart had a different composition in mind as she pointed and told me to “stand over there” (a few feet from the table) to get the right angle. A bit deflated by being cropped out of the picture before it even got to the PhotoShop stage, I nevertheless played the dutiful husband, disguised as a fawning photographer, or vice versa.
