| Hear her
roar: McClure's new venture promotes empowerment
08/30/2000 By Lori Price / The Dallas Morning News
Shortly after Paula McClure (wife of MG Hugh Robinson) decided to leave her broadcast career to start a spa and aromatherapy products line, she quipped about choosing a Mary Kay business life over an Oprah Winfrey one. She's rethinking her position. Encouraged by celebrities like Ms. Winfrey who push the power-to-change platform, Ms. McClure has created a company that will focus on women's empowerment. "Oprah was the person who told me I had to do this," says Ms. McClure, who calls the talk-show icon a mentor and friend. "This company is a combination of Martha Stewart, Mary Kay and Oprah." By bringing a national focus to the need for spirituality, balance, self-renewal and a nurturing environment, Ms. McClure says, "those three women have laid the groundwork for me to create a very unique company in this country." The Mood Spa Inc. founder and chief executive officer kicked off her new venture, Paula McClure Life Balance Seminar Series, on Tuesday night in the Greer Garson Theatre at Southern Methodist University. Ms. McClure's appearance at SMU, which was taped for national broadcast, began a 25-city tour to promote her new seminar series. The shift from spa queen to empowerment guru came as Ms. McClure paid more attention to the clients who visited The Paula McClure Mood Spa on McKinney Avenue, she says. "When I opened the spa, I knew I was going to help women feel good and give them a retreat from their life," Ms. McClure says. "What I found is that they brought their life with them." The lives came with women who complained about consuming schedules, hectic career arenas and demanding family structures, Ms. McClure says. And a number of the issues have gotten bigger as society progresses, she adds. "The Superwoman complex we were plagued with in the '70s and '80s has made us forget about the simplicity of life," Ms. McClure says. "Well, Superwoman is very tired right now and her cape is wrinkled, and she doesn't have time to take care of her cape, and now we've got to create a way for her to be a real woman." The seminars will include panel discussions with physicians, relationship experts and career planners who will talk about how women can organize their lives and make changes to eliminate stress and burnout. One area that needs a stress check is relationships, says Carol Cole, a life, marriage and family relationship therapist. Dr. Cole is one of a group of panelists who joined Ms. McClure for the Tuesday seminar. "We really have so many different relationships in our lives and yet all of those are just a reflection of the relationships we have with ourselves," Dr. Cole says. "When we can honor that relationship, then we can put ourselves in a place of choice with other relationships, and once we do that we can go out and face the world. "The stability comes from the internal connections with ourselves," Dr. Cole adds. Ms. McClure hopes the seminar series, a complementing television show and an Internet chat room can give women a road map to make those life-improving connections. The chat room, a part of www.moodspa.com, is up and running. "Tony Robbins can go into a room and talk to men about how to have power, but nobody is telling women how to empower themselves on how to have balance," Ms. McClure says. "My whole life is going to be about speaking and teaching women how to do this."
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We began in early September when we took a leisurely trip to my West
Point Class reunion. Along the way we visited Gretchen's cousin in
Tulsa and her sister in West-by-God Virginia. We then proceeded to
Canada for our first visit there and visited some Canadian friends we
had met when we were stationed in Germany back in the early '70's. They
were very gracious hosts and showed us many of the sights around their
neck of the woods. We were treated to a new experience by having some
"curds" which neither of us had ever tried before, and learned the
squeekier they sound, the fresher they are! They encouraged us to buy a
lot of things, because the rate of exchange was so favorable! And they
were right! You could get some tremendous buys there! The country was
beautiful and we had a delightful time.
We proceeded on to the class reunion, which lasted for 3 days and 4
nights. It included a football game (one that Army won last year) and a
moonlight cruise down the Hudson. All that and an opportunity to visit
old friends was most enjoyable.
On the return leg we stopped by to visit our youngest daughter, Liz, who
was in Bennington, VT. She was in the throes of packing up and getting
ready to move down to Oxford, MS where she had been accepted to attend
graduate school at "Ole" Miss. Her husband had proceeded her down there
about a month previous where he had obtained a job. She was preparing
to get her possessions down to one U-Haul and preparing for a drive
accompanied by her Golden Retriever and two cats.
In October I made a short visit out to visit my Dad in California, who
was living in a Retirement Community and had recently moved down to
their Skilled Nursing Facility. I knew that his time was short, but he
was keeping a positive mental attitude and still enjoyed a good joke.
At 92, he was very accepting that his time was near. We were saddened
to learn, while we were on the cruise, that he had died on November
10th. We arranged to have his funeral after our return which was on Dec
16th and he was buried at the Riverside VA Cemetery.
Our trip to Africa began on November 1st. I am intentionally forgetting
the air flights going and coming (selective memory is a wonderful
thing!)
It was a great trip, starting in Athens where we spent about 2 nights.
We visited the Acropolis and many other sites within a days journey of
Athens. After cruising the Mediterranean we went through the Suez Canal
and had a day trip that took us to Cairo where we visited the pyramids
and the Sphinx at Giza. Traveling over to Jordan we visited Wadi Rum
(Lawrence of Arabia's hideout) and the ruins at Petra (Location of
Harrison Ford's the Temple of Doom). Traveling back to Egypt we docked
at Safaga and spent an overnight where we visited Luxor, Karnack, the
Valleys of the Kings and Queens. Our Hotel was a fist class Hotel
overlooking the Nile and we were fortunate to have a balcony where we
could see the boats sailing up and down the river.
Our next stop was Mombasa, Kenya and included a full day Safari. The
Safari was very interesting where we saw a lot of animals (but no lions,
tigers or bears!) We were saddened in how poor the people were in Kenya
and their main roads were abominable. (They need to transfer the
Engineer School there, they could have a field day-although they could
probably hire out half the highway contractors in the US and still
hardly make a dent). We had to spend a couple of hours on the main
highways getting to the game preserve. The potholes were horrendous.
Drivers tended to spend part of their time on the unpaved shoulders, or
driving down the wrong side of the highway playing endless games of
"chicken".
Our stop in Zanzibar was enlightening; one of the tours included a visit
to a state owned nursery, which grew every conceivable spice you could
imagine. In all the pop quizzes the women did quite well in identifying
what they were, but occasionally they too were stumped, having no idea
how some of these things we use daily were grown.
One of our next stops was in Nosy Komba, off the coast of Madagascar.
One of the highlights there was to be able to interact with some of the
Lemurs there.
We made a stop in Durban South Africa and were also supposed to make a
"Combat Landing" at a place called Plettenburg Bay. Unfortunately, the
water had to be extremely calm to board the "Assault Craft" and it was
not to be, after spending the morning waiting to try, the Captain had to
abort the mission and we sailed on to our final destination In Cape
Town.
I think Cape Town was one of the highlights of the trip. We spent 3
nights there and it was delightful place to visit. We took several tours
which gave us a nice feel for the country. I was impressed with the
willingness of the people there to blot out the past and try and make
things work. Unfortunately, there were terrorists that choose to work
outside the efforts of re-conciliation. About 4 days before we arrived
there had been a bombing at a restaurant near a seaside recreation area
(one we passed by about three times while we were there) and about ten
days after we left there was another attack somewhere else in the nearby
vicinity. Despite these problems, South Africa appears to have the
infra structure and resources to really be the outstanding country in
Africa. In summing up, I would say, if you get a chance to go to any of
the places we visited, do it!
1999
13 May 1999::
John Porter EMailed that Lorrie Brickwell notified him of Brick's (Wilbur D. Brickwell) passing on 23 arpil 99. Brick died at home (4311 Beaumont Ln SE, Lacey, WA 98503. He was cremated and his ashes will ultimately be spread in the ocean.
Brick suffered for many years from congestive heart failure but died of multiple cancers. Lorrie mentioned that he "stood tall and proud when he sang the Alma Mater" at this year's Founders' Day dinner at Fort Lewis, but suffered the first of may seizures from brain tumors upon returning home that night. Under Hospice care and with his family present, Brick died less than two months later. He wil be missed.
1998
That is why Davis, Schrupp and Wintrode will miss the Houston game.
The best to all!!
Hi Yale, You must be sweating it out in Plano these days. Plz say
hello to everybody for Diane and I and drive carefully.
Regards, John
Paul and civic pillar Hugh Robinson, for many months one of the most high-profile couples in town, have set a date for their marriage. It's in June, but they don't want to say exactly when because they want to keep it private. Hugh's an old-fashioned guy. He actually asked Paula's father for her hand. We wish them the best, but considering what happens with two-income households, Paula may want to rename her show "Good Morning, Taxes!"