Sweet Auburn: The Magazine of the Friends of Mount Auburn Expanding our Educational Outreach | Page 16

People and Happenings
A Rare Day in June
More than 300 people attended Mount Auburn’s Tribute to a Treasure Gala on June
14, the culmination of our year-long 175th Anniversary celebration. On a cool spring
evening when the Cemetery seemed especially verdant, Asa Gray Garden became an
“outdoor room” where guests enjoyed drinks, hors d’oeuvres and chamber music by a
student quartet from the Longy School. Nearby, bidding was brisk at the Silent Auc-
tion table. Our guests then walked up the hill to Bigelow Chapel Lawn, which had
been transformed into an elegant dining terrace with tables set with a pink-and-silver
color scheme, sheltered by a dramatic clear tent. There—amid topiary and sparkling,
tiny white lights, between a magically floodlit Sphinx and the chapel’s rose window—
guests were served dinner while another group from Longy played jazz. After remarks
by President Bill Clendaniel, Mayor Ken Reeves of Cambridge, and the featured
speaker, documentary television producer Rick Sebak, Jim Storey toasted Mount
Auburn. The festivities concluded with rousing songs by the New England Spiritual
Ensemble, a Gospel quartet.
Joseph V. Roller II (Sudbury,
MA), President and CEO of
Cambridge Trust Company
14 | Sweet Auburn
Cocktail reception in Asa Gray Garden