Looking Back at a Life Devoted to Giving

Glimpses of the real Pamela Mullin were revealed at the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles Board of Counsellors’ gala dinner honoring her as a community leader and a philanthropist. And they were poignant and funny.

She grew up in Scotland. Her father died when she was 7. Her mother taught school. Pam, the youngest of three, wore hand-me-downs. But, she dreamed, she said. “One day I’d have a beautiful bedroom of my own and a car.”

At the age of 18 with no college education, she came to California alone. She had looked at a map, and decided “Garden Grove sounded like an English village.” When she arrived in Los Angeles, she took a taxi to Garden Grove, decided that wasn’t her dream city and took the bus back to Los Angeles. She got two jobs--one by day, one by night. After she met and married Peter Mullin, “dreams came true.” She and her husband, owner of Management Compensation Inc., a downtown management consultant firm, had a family, accumulated wealth and were philanthropists together until they separated.

She’s now on the board of PUENTE Learning Center and Claremont University and Graduate School and is involved in Mayor Richard Riordan’s re-election campaign. She was his finance chairman in 1993.

“I accept this award with great humility,” she said. And she proudly introduced her four children--Brian and Darcey, who work in San Francisco, and Courtney, a Marlborough National Merit Scholar and Timothy, “the poet,” who live here.

James and Doreen McElvany chaired the gala; Rodri Rodriguez was mistress of ceremonies. Also paying tribute was Laura Wiltz, YWCA executive director and head of a $17-million budget helping 56,000.

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Seeking Good Will: Three hundred and fifty Music Center supporters came out in the rain to hear about “The Future of the Music Center.” At the Hotel Inter-Continental, the talk was all about the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the importance it will play in the life of Angelenos.

Said a Music Center representative: “We wanted to generate good will, so that Music Center supporters will have a positive view of the Disney Hall.”

After introductions by Founders president Curtis S. Tamkin, Music Center board chairwoman Andrea L. Van de Kamp introduced Esa-Pekka Salonen, the L.A. Philharmonic’s music director; Eli Broad, chairman and CEO of SunAmerica Inc., and member of the board of governors; and Harry L. Hufford, CEO, Walt Disney Concert Hall. They form the chief team for First Phase, the raising of $150 million by June 30 to satisfy a financial agreement with the county and restart work on the hall.

Then the crowd moved to the Grand Cafe for pasta and to a short stroll (the rain had stopped) through the Sculpture Plaza to the Museum of Contemporary Art to see architect Frank Gehry’s scale models of the concert hall.

Feb. 3-7, when the Blue Ribbon of the Music Center presents its annual Children’s Festival, more than 22,000 fifth-graders are invited to MOCA to view the models.

Chairing the festival are Betsy Applebaum and Nancy Vreeland. Alice Coulombe and Donna Wolff are co-chairwomen. The Children’s Festival is designed to introduce children to the performing arts, according to Blue Ribbon president Phyllis Hennigan. This year students also will see an adaptation of “Show Boat.”

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Starting Early: Last year more than 700 children and adults attended the Los Angeles Opera’s first-ever Junior Opera Project. This year Elizabeth and Graeme A. Gilfillan plan to repeat the event with a shortened version of Rossini’s whimsical “The Barber of Seville,” presented in English by the company.

First, though, the opera general director Peter Hemmings, the Gilfillans and Holly and David Davis and Laura and Carlton Seaver will stage their kickoff cocktail reception Tuesday at Giorgio Armani on Rodeo Drive. They’ll announce the benefit, to be held on March 16, and applaud joint efforts by L.A. Opera and the L.A. Opera League.

Elsewhere on the Social Circuit

Governors and trustees of the Idyllwild Arts Foundation and the Capital Campaign Cabinet of the Campaign for Idyllwild Arts celebrated the foundation’s 50th anniversary with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and a dinner at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. Earl W. Fisher is foundation president; James B. Lovelace chairs the campaign.

* Benefactors Richard and Jane Roe are chief sponsors of the Pasadena Symphony concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

* Macy’s West has awarded $231,000 in grants to 33 HIV / AIDS organizations in five states: California, Arizona, Texas, Nevada and Minnesota.