Beth Shalom Gala this Saturday
If you’ve missed being in Las Vegas for a fun-filled jaunt, don’t despair, you can enjoy a fabulous evening, close to home, when Cong. Beth Shalom hosts one of their famed highly successful Casino Night Galas at synagogue this Saturday evening. Beth Shalom, by the way, is located at 1211 Thannisch Drive in Arlington.
We can personally attest to the fact that it  was a great evening from our attendance at a past event.
Arlington’s popular Chef Philippe Lecoq will provide fabulous hors d’oeuvres and the evening will feature exciting Vegas games, silent and live auctions and  a raffle drawing for a 42-inch Toshiba HDTV. Child care will be provided by
ARFTY, the temple’s youth group for which donations will be accepted. Proceeds from the evening will benefit both Beth Shalom and the nationally recognized Camp Impact, a project of the congregation. Festivities begin at 7 p.m.

‘Daytimers’ to hear former city manager
Special guest at the Nov. 12 “Daytimers” will be former City Manager Doug Harman. Luncheon at the Wednesday noon event will be held at Beth-El Congregation as usual.
Doug Harman served as Fort Worth city manager during the late 1980s when Fort Worth’s downtown went from being a shuttered Main Street to the amazing upheaval of Sundance Square. He is chairman of the Lakes Trail Region for the Texas Historical Commission, which includes most of North Texas.
His program will highlight important and lesser-known Fort Worth history. While he was president and CEO of the Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau, he was a key developer of the Fort Worth Heritage Trail, which was designed to feature many of the key elements that make Fort Worth more interesting as a tourist destination. Harman plans to bring displays featuring scenes from Fort Worth’s colorful past, and Rosanne Margolis and Hollace Weiner have also done two displays featuring families and businesses such as the Luskeys, Rosens, Washer Brothers, Carshons, and Greenwald’s Opera House.
Harman is a much-sought-after speaker at numerous professional meetings and conferences on a wide range of topics, including Fort Worth and Texas history, tourism, heritage and preservation, cowboy history and gear, antiques and aviation. Among his many awards, he received the “Tall in Texas Award” from the Texas Travel Industry Association for contributions to Texas tourism.
Lunch will be catered by Freebirds. Guests have a choice of steak burrito, chicken burrito, or bean and cheese burrito. For reservations, call Barbara Rubin, 817-927-2736, or Sylvia Wexler, 817-294-1129, or checks can be mailed to Daytimers, Jewish Federation, 4049 Kingsridge Road, Fort Worth, TX 76109. There has been a change in their credit card processing. “Daytimers” can now accept Discover cards in addition to MasterCard, Visa or American Express. Each card must include the mailing ZIP code and the three- or four-number security code from the card. The Sylvia Wolens “Daytimers” is a program of Congregation Beth-El with financial support from the Jewish Federation.

Henry Luskey named to The Winner’s Circle™ listing of ‘Top Wealth Advisors in N.T.’
Morgan Stanley’s Global Wealth Management Group (GWMG) recently announced that Henry L. Luskey, a senior vice president, financial advisor in the Firm’s Fort Worth office, has been named to The Winner’s Circle™ listing of “Top Wealth Advisors in North Texas.”
This listing was published by the Dallas Business Journal and recognizes a select group of financial advisors who are screened on a number of criteria. Among factors the survey takes into consideration are the overall size and success of practices, the quality of service provided to clients, adherence to high standards of industry regulatory compliance, and leadership in “best practices” of wealth management.
“I am extremely proud that Henry is representing Morgan Stanley on this list,” said Victor Medina, Fort Worth complex manager. “This listing recognizes an elite group of top financial advisors who are passionate about their mission to provide exceptional wealth management services to clients.”
One of the largest businesses of its kind in the world with over $700 billion in client assets, GWMG provides a range of wealth management products and services to individuals, businesses and institutions. These include brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, credit and lending, cash management, annuities and insurance, retirement and trust.
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The firm’s employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 600 offices in 33 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com
Congratulations to Elise Granek
Elise Granek, daughter of Gail Aronoff Granek and Harold Granek, was just awarded a $25,000 grant from the Sea World and Busch Gardens Conservation Fund for research in the Comoros archipelago. The Comoros Islands are located midway between Madagascar and the coast of Mozambique.
Elise’s research aims to examine the relationship between the marine and land environment with the social and economic realities of the communities living on the islands. Specifically, she will be examining the relationship that communities have with the resources they need. According to an article in the Daily Vanguard, Elise said the Comoros “is a beautiful country” but, since the growing human population is placing a strain on local resources, she feels “there is a real need for developing new strategies to better manage the resources so they prevent a collapse of their fisheries and their coral reefs.”
Currently, the population of the Comoros is estimated at just over 798,000 in an area of just 863 square miles, making the island nation one of the most densely populated nations in Africa.
Granek said the island of Anjouan, the second largest out of the four Comoros islands, has already seen the impact of strained natural resources, with the collapse of some if the island’s reefs. She said she expects that by educating and engaging local island communities in conservation efforts, the communities will be more empowered — and thus more willing — to participate actively in conservation and management of island reefs.
“That is the key thing, because many projects the tendency is to look only from the natural-science ecological perspective, and figure out what should be the ideal circumstances.”
The newly won funds from Sea World and Busch Gardens are supplemental to a grant of $20,000 that Granek was awarded last January from the National Geographic Society for the same Comoros Islands project.
This is not the first time Granek has been involved with the Comoros Islands. In 1994 she went there as a member of the Peace Corps. She returned in 1999 and 2000 to help with the establishment of a marine park, the Comoros’ first national park.
Elise graduated from Trinity Valley High School in Fort Worth. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania, her master’s at Yale and her Ph.D. at Portland State, where she is currently an environmental sciences professor. She has ­traveled and done research around the world including a number of years serving in the Peace Corps in Africa. Elise and her husband, Mark, currently reside in Portland but come back to visit their family in Fort Worth as often as possible.

Susan and Guy LaMere play Texas music on Utah radio
Linda Hochster and Jane ­Cohen recently returned from a wonderful visit with former ourtowners Susan and Guy LaMere, who moved to Park City, Utah, last year. Guy is at the University of Utah and Susan is a volunteer DJ at community public radio station KPCW-FM. Her program airs every other Sunday, 8–11p.m. CST, and includes an hour of ­Texas music. You can tune in at www.kpcw.org. Just as they were in Fort Worth, the LaMeres are actively involved in their adopted community and are leaving with a group for a medical and dental mission to Guatemala on Nov. 16.
JFS seniors get the gift of sleep
The Jewish Family Service Senior Program received an incredibly wonderful gift from Mark Gerrick and Royal Sleep. Mark donated beds to the seniors who needed them and they are just so happy. What a wonderful gift he gave — something needed but so difficult to afford. The mattresses they replaced were worn and did not offer a good night’s rest. Royal Sleep has given sweet dreams to many seniors in Fort Worth and this generosity is greatly appreciated.