Gone for Nine Years Today

 

credit:chicago.sun.times

Payson McDonnell “Bunky” Cushing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Megan McKinney

 

In announcing the October 13, 2015 death of Bunky Cushing, Maureen O’Donnell, esteemed obituary writer for the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Mr. Cushing “knew only one person in Chicago when he arrived in 1990 but soon became the city’s ‘social tugboat.’” Bunky’s job, selling shirts and ties at the Ralph Lauren  Polo shop, put him a mere wall away from  RL restaurant, favorite lunching spot for the Bunkettes, Bunky’s eight or so closest lady friends.

 

RL is next door to the Ralph Lauren Polo Shop at Michigan and Chicago Avenues.

 

The interior of the clubby RL.

 

A trio of Bunkettes, Nancy Kelley, Mamie Walton and Linda Heister at lunch in RL

 

Bunky’s first annual party for lady friends was a Valentine’s Day Tea, which he hosted every February 14 in Chicago’s elegant Ritz-Carlton Hotel.  This was not a benefit; it was simply Bunky hosting a party for a large group of the Chicago women he had come to know. 

 

A corner of the Ritz-Carlton twelfth floor on any Valentine’s Day of the era

 

Bunky celebrating Valentine’s Day wth three of his Bunkettes, Zarada Gwenlock, Linda Hester and Hazel Barr

 

Zarada  Gowenlock again with Bunkette Nancy Klimley at another of Bunky’s Valentine’s Day teas. And the following  is what we wrote in covering yet another year’s tea:  “The date was February 14, 2007, the afternoon of Bunky Cushing’s 13th Annual St. Valentine’s Day Tea. The weather was bitterly cold on Michigan Avenue, great gusts of snow were blowing against the windows of the Ritz-Carlton Greenhouse, yet everyone showed up . . .

 

 . . . including surprise guest Richard M. Daley, Mayor of Chicago.” 

 

 

Then there was the February 14 of the Red and White Ball. Bunky spent years planning this gala based on Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball. Nancy Kelley and the late Skip Grisham were among guests who descended the Peninsula Ballroom steps to the festivities below. Bunky had arranged pre-Ball dinner parties. This duo had attended the dinner given by Zarada Gowenlock in her Chicago apartment a few blocks away. 

 

Hatted Hazel Barr and Bunky during their La Fête du Chapeau era

 

Early on Bucky joined the late Hazel Barr in hosting a series of hat luncheons that were benefits titled La Fête du Chapeau. Which cause or institution received the funds raised by these events has been lost in time.  

 

Bunky and Hazel wth CZ Guest

 

The most visible hatted lady was always a glamorous New Yorker brought in for the day as guest speaker. Nan Kempner, Charlotte Ford and C.Z. Guest, above, who refused to wear a hat,  were among these. 

 

Nan Kempner posed for this photo surrounded by Bunkettes Mamie Walton, Hazel Barr and Nancy Kelley.

 

Classic Chicago Style Editor Michelle Crowe in Bunkette Red

 

After hosting a few hat luncheons with Hazel, Bunky moved on to creating other signature occasions of his own. One of his annual events benefited Howard Brown Health Center and featured another fashion accessory, the handbag.

Handbags & Halos received its jaunty name from Bunky’s close friend and advisor, Classic Chicago Style Editor Michelle Crowe, as a nod to the “gently used” handbags guests donated for resale at Howard Brown’s Brown Elephant shop.  Michelle was then authoring two separate fashion columns a week for the Chicago Tribune plus a monthly CS magazine feature.

 

 

Handbags & Halos was a lavish annual luncheon in the Empire Room of the Palmer House with a well-known guest of honor who, following lunch, traditionally spoke about her life. Among these ladies with interesting lives to relate were the enduring model Carmen Dell’Orefice, “Hitchcock blonde” Tippi Hedren, actress Dina Merrill, and Houston socialite Lynn Wyatt.

 

Model Carmen Dell’Orefice with Bunky

 

 

And, by the  way, today, October 13, 2024,  is also the Ninth Anniversary of the first issue of Classic Chicago magazine.

 

Author photo: Robert F Carl