NEW MEMBERS PROPOSED

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I propose two new members who have been my friends for 25 years — ever since I wrote something critical in TV Guide about the man pictured below. (No bad deed goes unrewarded.) His response was to invite me to lunch, at which he said he had benefited from the criticism — and then he paid for the lunch! That alone was enough to win me over, but meeting his wife, Petie, put it over the top. They are both sparkling, affectionate people who have a rare ability to make others feel comfortable.

Tim O’Brien is, I'm afraid, a lawyer, a calling The Oyster Foundation has avoided until now. He covered the Supreme Court for ABC News for more than twenty years and is currently the principal Washington correspondent for CNN’s Moneyline. He received his law degree from Loyola in New Orleans while at the same time anchoring the local NBC evening news. In his grabbag he has an Emmy, a Silver Gavel (from the ABA) and a Columbia-DuPont Award. He has a special interest in issues surrounding the death penalty and cameras in the courtroom, subjects on which he has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and Saturday Review. He is an impressive chef of Cajun cuisine (a talent he honed while studying and broadcasting in New Orleans). Like Joel Dreyfuss, he was a member of Stephen’s Brazilian Press Caravan.

María de Guadalupe (nickname Lupita → Petie) Margarita Moreno y Cruz O’Brien was born in San Diego, but fate took her across the country, meeting Tim in Detroit, living for a time in New Orleans, and then setting down roots in Washington DC. The O’Briens are the parents of Tim, Jr., an upcoming lawyer, and Teresa María, a New York fashion buyer, who has recently announced her engagement. Petie owns an antique shop, Mrs. McGillicuddy, in Hagerstown, Md., specializing in “shabby chic.”