You can read all about the goings-on at the 2014 UNLV Foundation Annual Dinner in any number of media outlets.  Instead, I’m going to tell you about the hilarity (HILL-arity?) that ensued between Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and me.

In order to give you a bit of context, I’m going to start at the end, and preface this story with another.  Simply put, whenever Todd Oldham would be walking on the street, and come across someone down on his luck, he’d give him a dollar and say “Good luck to you!”  I always found this to be rather charming, and as a result, have come to associate the expression with the indigent and downtrodden.  After all – there but for the grace of God, go we...

Anyhoo – Hillary Clinton was delivering the keynote at the Annual Dinner benefiting the UNLV Foundation.  Being honored that evening were the late Kitty Rodman, who left nearly $13 million to UNLV, upon her passing (I’ve often said, as I did that night, to Dawn and Christopher Hume – that if it weren’t for Kitty and her late best friend, Claudine Williams, we’d all be sitting in a dusty pile of rubble), and Las Vegas Sands Chairman, Sheldon Adelson, who had donated $7 million to UNLV.  Now, either the committee in charge of selecting the keynote speaker had little interaction with the committee responsible for selecting the year’s Palladium Society Award recipients, or somebody at UNLV has a very wicked sense of humor.  Or, as one local nabob so eloquently put it, perhaps Hell actually had frozen over?   But, since I stay as impolitic as possible, that’s all I’m gonna say about that.

Besides, everyone was on their best behavior, which was very nice to witness.

So, in between courses, I had meandered over to the table where Myra Greenspun was sitting, to say hello, and – as she was seated next to Hillary, Myra promptly introduced me to the individual whom I hope will be our next President.  Mrs. Clinton immediately complimented me on my brooch (to which I replied that she had exquisite taste).  Mrs. Greenspun commented on my adoration of jewelry, after which Mrs. Clinton compared my love of lapel-pins to that of Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, (a compliment which I took as a great honor, as her famous collection of brooches has been exhibited at the Museum of Arts & Design and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum, and is currently housed at the Smithsonian, while mine can only be found, in my safe).  Myra then mentioned that yes, I’d get along great with Mrs. Albright, and that I’d gone to school with the Greenspuns' daughter, Amy (Hillary: “We love Amy!”  Me: “Oh, yes, we do.”); and then, after some hand-shaking and jovial banter, and perhaps noticing the line of thirty-some people waiting to introduce themselves, our 67th Secretary of State and 43rd First Lady* (not to mention one heckuva US Senator from the great state of New York, as well as two-time First Lady of Arkansas) brought the conversation to a close by saying “Well, good luck to you!”

I tried very hard to stifle the fit of giggles that I could feel about to burst out of me, so I mustered all the strength of will I possessed, looked her right in the eye, and said, “Well, good luck to you, too, Hillary Clinton!” Then I turned and walked right over to where Patrick Duffy was standing with Wendy and Richard Plaster, and in between bouts of laughter, told them what had transpired.

When I ended up placing a call, back East, to retell the tale, the response I received could not have been better: “Well, did she give you a dollar?”

UNLV Foundation Annual Dinner
Bellagio
Click HERE for info

Get into it!

[Editor’s Note: While Bill Clinton was our 42nd President; Hillary Clinton was, in fact, our 43rd First Lady; as James Tyler (POTUS 10) was remarried, during his term as President, following the death of his first wife]