Greater Links

Greater New York Chapter, The Links, Inc.

900 Guests celebrated friendship and service with Greater New York Links and honored Joyce M. Roche, president, Girls Inc. and Susan Taylor, Editor Emerita of Essence Magazine at their 59th annual Easter Luncheon and fashion Show at Chelsea Piers Pier Sixty.

Sister Links, family, friends and guests came from all over the United States to join Greater New York Chapter in saluting Roche and Taylor. Reginald Canal, First Vice President, African Heritage Banking , HSBC Bank, USA was given the Outstanding Corporate Citizen Award.

The event’s theme “Celebration of Friendship and Service” included awards for two of the Greater New York Chapter’s outstanding members Ketly Michel and Marcella Maxwell.

Connecting Links

Gerri Warren-Merritt was luncheon chair. Co-chairs were Sydney Avent and Evette Beckett-Tuggle. Fashion impresario Walter Greene presented a 30-minute “Back to the Basics – The Easter Parade” featuring designs of African Americans: New York fashion designer Courtney Washington, Stephen Burrows, Duane Fish, Susan Moses, and Douglas Says.

Established in 1946, The Links is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organization of women who linked in friendship and are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African-Americans and persons of African descent. It is a non-profit with nearly 12,000 professional women of color in 273 chapters located in 42 states, The District of Columbia and Germany, South Africa and the Bahamas. The Greater New York chapter, founded in 1949 is committed to fostering community outreach in the New York metropolitan area through quality programs with a long-term impact on the well-being and enrichment of African-Americans. For more information visit: www.greaternylinks.org [1]

Evette Beckett-Tuggle, Joyce Roche, Susan Taylor, Gerri Warren-Merrick, Minta Spain

Kennedy Williams-Benjamin and Susan Taylor

Grace Ingleton, Gerri Warren-Merrick, Ketly Michel, and Minta Spain

Betty King Obiajulu

Walter Green surrounded by models

Kephra Burns and Susan Taylor

Rosemonde Pierre Louis and Alma Nugent

Bill, Elinor, and Susan Tatum

Rev. Dr. Reginald Tuggle

Minta Spain, Evette Beckett-Tuggle, Susan Taylor, and Sydney Avent

Bishetta Merritt and C. Virginia Fields and Gerri Warren-Merrick

Marcella Maxwell and Jewel Moolenaar

Assemblyman William Boyland, Jr. and David Brand

Hasoni Pratts, Robin Verges, and Michelle Miller Morial

Elinor Tatum, Lorraine Cortes-Vasquez, and Hasoni Pratts

Sharne Jackson and Donna Williams

Susan Taylor’s friends and family

Elinor Tatum, Gerri, Barbara, Hasoni Pratts, Marcella Maxwell, Sydney Avent, and C. Virginia Fields

Hazel Dukes

Dawn Hankin, Anna Maria Bishop Harris, and Gayle Hawkins

Gil McGriff and Ruth Clark

Fashions by Courtney Washington, Stephen Burrows, and S&S

Hasoni Pratts, Rhonda Joy McLean, and Sharne Jackson with Scholarship Award winners

Robin Verges and Stanley Gleaton

Hasoni Pratts with Senator Kevin Parker

Margarett Elaine Flake, Katherine Fields, C. Virginia Fields, Michelle Cheney Donaldson, Yvonne Burgess-Wright, Kamyra Harding Brand, Susan Davenport Austin, Mary Ellen Arrington, and Virginia L. Arrington

Jordan Oliver and Allyson Leigh Bolden

Marcella Maxwell with her True Service Award surrounded by Grace Ingleton, Gerri Warren-Merrick, Deborah Young, and Minta Spain

Rev. Dr. Suzan Johnson-Cook, Gerri Warren-Merrick, and Minta Spain

Leon Merrick and Cyril Poindexter

Linda Zango-Haley with her mother Marjorie Elliott and Annie Taylor Greenup and Dawne Mann Hurley

Judith West and Natatia Griffith

Dr. Marcia Bayne-Smith with her family

Margot Jordan and her daughter Markita

Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, Linda Burrell, and Jocelyn Cooper

Judith West with her granddaughter Allyson Leigh Bolden

On March 6th at Carnegie Hall, the Opera Orchestra of New York held its benefit Gala Evening in celebration of Music Director Eve Queler’s 100th Carnegie Hall Performance with an all-star roster of singers including Renee Fleming, Aprile Millo, Latonia Moore, Krassimira Stoyanova, Eglise Gutierrez, Dolora Zajick, Marcello Giordani and Stephen Costello.


Daniel Mobbs and Eve Queler

Renata Scotto was host of a program which included works of Rossini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, Ponchielli, Cilea and others.

The Opera Orchestra’s mission is to bring to New York area audiences high-quality performances of seldom-heard operatic masterworks featuring internationally acclaimed artists as well as talented young singers and promote the career development of gifted young artists.

To achieve these goals, The Opera Orchestra of New York presents a three-concert series at Carnegie Hall annually; maintains a Young Artists Program (which focuses on providing the specialized training and professional skills essential for an operatic career); presents Young Artists Showcases (with full orchestra); broadcasts its Carnegie Hall concerts on NPR, and presents an annual recital to introduce new artists.

Andrew Malik with Gideon and Sarah Gartner

Renee Fleming

David Kest and Deborah Surdi

David Kest with Mrs. and Mr. Andrew Serwer

Eglise Gutierrez, Earle Kazis, and Norman Raben

Eve Queler and Krassimira Stoyanova

Eve Queler and Renata Scotto

Eve Queler and Renee Fleming

Marcello Giordani and Norman Raben

Renata Scotto and Lorenzo Anselmi

Norman Raben and Sandra Wagenfeld

Renee Fleming and Marcello Giordani

Dolora Zajick, Renata Scotto, Renee Fleming, and Eve Queler

At the beginning of last month, The Writing Center at Marymount Manhattan College held a dinner dance at Doubles and honored Tina Flaherty who had given $100,000 to the Center to establish Irish Voices: The Clementina Santi Flaherty Lecture Series.

The Writing Center, which opened in February 1995, encourages the craft of writing through instruction, programs, and user-friendly facilities. Writers of every level receive expert assistance from Writing Center Director Lewis Burke Frumkes and additional members of the MMC faculty.

The Center's resources include a literary library, publications, audio and video archives and writing carrels equipped with personal computers.

In addition to the Writers' Conference and Writing Intensive, the Writing Center also features many unique events, courses and workshops throughout the year, including the Best Selling Authors Series; monthly workshops celebrating various aspects of the writing business and craft; and clinics designed to assist writers with works-in-progress.

To learn more, click here. [7]