A Lunch with Barrett

Santa Barbara Woman’s Club had a record turnout of nearly 100 guests when it hosted its first post-pandemic lunch at the Rockwood Woman’s Club with celebrity gossipeuse Rona Barrett as principal guest. Rona, 85, formerly a regular on ABC’s Good Morning America covering the Hollywood scene, is now an advocate for seniors, having opened the Golden Inn & Village in the Santa Ynez Valley in 2016 as a haven for low-income seniors. And in February, Harry’s House, a second building nearby with 60 units named after her father, started construction and will start serving the elderly in summer next year.

Barrett, who I have known for many years, was interviewed on stage by Alabama-born Tony Morris, the new executive director of the Rona Barrett Foundation, who served on the board for nearly seven years. His earlier business career includes more than 27 years of senior management experience, where he led marketing communications departments for Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, MCI Telecommunications, and Brown-Forman.

The Montecito resident also serves on the board of the Montecito Trails Foundation and is president-elect of the rarefied enclave’s Rotary Club. “I hope the new campus will serve as model community that can be replicated in communities around the country,” says Barrett. Supporters, noshing on the St. Patrick’s Day fare of corned beef and cabbage, included Bonnie Dickinson, Prudy Handelman, Barbara Kennedy, Joann Redding, Dana Hansen, and Nancy Elliott.