The Fortunate 500: The all stars

People who move in multiple circles all over town

By Jeff Salamon
May 12, 2005

Photo by Kelly West/AA-S MARY MARGARET FARABEE arts/literary/charity/politics
THE FORTUNATE 500
All stars	Art stars
Music stars	Education/Charity stars
Food stars	Literary/Media stars
Heritage stars	Film stars
Business/High Tech stars	Politics/Law stars
Sports stars	Fashion stars
Part-time Austinites

Doing philanthropic work has its rewards — the satisfaction of helping others, the chance to collaborate with like-minded citizens, the pleasure of hard labor.

And then there are the fringe benefits.

Twenty years ago, when Mary Margaret Farabee organized an Austin screening of the Willie Nelson film "Red Headed Stranger" as a fund-raiser for KLRU, she got a special treat in the singer's tour bus, which was parked outside the Arboretum: "The fumes," she remembers, "I got high just walking around."

Most of the time, of course, Farabee just gets high from doing good. Born and raised in Dallas, Farabee came to Austin in 1957 to attend the University of Texas as a Plan II (honors) student and never left. Through the years she has immeasurably improved the city's civic life. Her first big project, begun in 1976, was the restoration of the Paramount Theatre, followed by the establishment of Philosopher's Rock in Zilker Park. In addition to serving on the boards of numerous organizations, she is best known for her role in founding the Texas Book Festival, for which she served as chair for eight years.

Farabee no longer heads up the festival, but she more than keeps busy. As of last week she was working full-steam on three upcoming projects: a silent auction for the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, a fund-raiser for the People's Community Clinic and a Hometown Heroes event at the Paramount. A bit further in the future: organizing a citywide celebration of the Ransom Center's 50th anniversary in 2007 — which is, coincidentally, Farabee's 50th anniversary as an Austinite, as well.

And what sort of changes has Farabee seen over the course of her half century as a fixture in the Austin social scene? "Years ago there was what they call 'Old Austin,' but now when you look at the social scene it's so much more diverse than it was," she says. "There's times you go out and you think, 'Well, I don't know anybody here'; well, that's great! That's what's really exciting about Austin — there's so many new people giving us different perspectives."

More all-stars

Melanie and Ben Barnes politics/business/arts/charity
Ray Benson music/arts/charity
Louis Black media/film/music
Ann and Roy Butler politics/business/charity/heritage
Liz Carpenter politics/charity/literary
Sara and Nick Fox law/business/high tech/arts
Kinky Friedman literary/music/ politics/charity
Deborah Green law/arts/charity
Ellen and Alfred King arts/charity/education
Lowell Lebermann Jr. business/education/charity
Andrea and Dean McWilliams politics/business/charity
Sherry Matthews and Dick Clark business/media/politics/charity/arts/food
Mike Levy media/charity/arts/politics
Teresa and Joe Long arts/business/education/charity
Lynn and Tom Meredith business/charity/politics
Willie Nelson music/charity/movies
Turk Pipkin movies/music/media/arts/politics
Sara and Dick Rathgeber business/charity/politics
Ann Richards and Bud Shrake politics/media/charity/business
Eddie Safady business/arts/charity/politics
Eugene Sepulveda and Steven Tomlinson education/arts/business/politics
Julia and Evan Smith media/literary/arts/charity/politics
Carol Thompson business/charity/politics
Julie and John Thornton business/arts/charity
Bobbi and Mort Topfer business/charity/arts
Eddie Wilson food/music/business/arts/charity
Anne Elizabeth Wynn arts/politics/charity
Will Wynn politics/business/charity/arts