On the Town: Arts center renamed after longtime arts supporter Betsy Lueke
“A motivating force.” “A guiding light.” “A passionate and dedicated leader in the cultivation and expansion of the cultural arts in Burbank.”
More than 200 Burbank artists, supporters of the arts, active and retired employees of the Parks and Recreation Department, and former and current elected officials gathered to pay homage to the late Betsy Lueke, to whom those lauding sentiments applied perfectly this past Friday evening.
While the assemblage convened at the Burbank Creative Arts Center and Gallery for the event last week, they would not leave from the venue under the same name.
During the evening’s proceedings, Mayor Will Rogers proclaimed that from that moment on the facility would be henceforth known as the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center and Gallery.
Lueke, who died in 2011, had been a Burbank Parks and Recreation Department employee for 36 years.
During her tenure with the city, she founded the Burbank Fine Arts Federation, serving as its executive director from 1976 until 1993.
She was also an instrumental force in the creation of the city’s art master plan, establishment of the Art in Public Places program and the building of the arts center and gallery that now bears her name and is a part of the George Izay Park complex.
“It’s impossible to talk about the cultural arts in Burbank without talking about Betsy Lueke,” Rogers told the gathering, which included his council colleagues, Emily Gabel-Luddy, Bob Frutos and Sharon Springer, along with numerous members of Lueke’s family.
The mayor’s comments were echoed by the event’s hostess, Judie Wilke, who serves as the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, and Mickey DePalo, a longtime employee of the department who worked with Lueke and who is now a member of the parks and recreation board.
“Betsy left her mark on this center long before it was named for her,” said DePalo, who called her a Renaissance woman. “The naming is just the cherry on top.”
Last week’s naming ceremony, which started with Lueke’s great-grandchildren, Lauren, Colin and Owen Griffin, leading the assemblage in the Pledge of Allegiance, concluded with Lueke’s daughter, Linda Oseransky emotionally expressing heartfelt gratitude to the City Council for agreeing to the naming, and to those who knew and loved her mother who were in attendance.
“She was a guiding light to our family, to those who knew her and worked with her, and to our community’s cultural arts,” Oseransky said.
Among the other Lueke family members on hand were her son Kelley Lueke, daughter-in-law Kendra Lueke, son-in-law Gary Oseransky, grandchildren Brady Griffin, Seth Oseransky and Jamie Lueke, granddaughter-in-law Jenny Griffin, and her nephew Vic Kelley, who was accompanied by his wife, Cheryl.
Other notables in attendance were former Burbank Mayor Tom Flavin, Claude Hulce and Carol Finkle, who have both served as directors of the art center and gallery, former City Manager Mary Alvord, former Parks and Recreation Department director Eric Hanson and deputy director Teri Stein, and longtime former Parks and Recreation board member Terre Hirsch.
DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.
