![\"Allison](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Allison-Schultze-Lisa-Jakel-and-Emily-George-Photo-by-Jacob-Power.jpg\")
Allison Schultze, Lisa Jakel, Emily George Allison at Power of Literacy (Photo by Jacob Power)<\/p>\n
The celebrated entertainer was interviewed on stage by Houston Public Media host Ernie Manouse<\/a> who deftly guided Connick through the telling discussion.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother would have loved my perspective of my memories of her and my elaborations of those 13 years,\u201d Connick says. \u201cI was terrified that these snow globes of memories that I had would get shaken up. But now I have the book and the music for the rest of my life. Life is about these snapshots that we take in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n Key to Connick\u2019s telling was the revelation that his mother had hoped that her child prodigy would perform at Carnegie Hall. When he was around 10 years old and his mother had developed the cancer, the youngster called Carnegie Hall to ask how he might perform there. Only to reach the box office and\u00a0 learn that selling tickets and booking performers were quite different.<\/p>\n Connick\u00a0 waited decades to make his Carnegie Hall debut which occurred on May 22, 2026, what would have been mother\u2019s 100th birthday. On that emotional night, he performed the symphony that he had written in her honor. He told these Houston luncheon guests that he declined to rehearse in the hall beforehand, preferring to save that moment for her.<\/p>\n \t SHOP<\/p>\n Grove Hill <\/p>\n Eighteen Forty Two <\/p>\n MacKenzie-Childs <\/p>\n Verdadero Tequila<\/p>\n Pecos Jane <\/p>\n Zilker Belts<\/p>\n Zilker Brewing<\/p>\n Hutson Clothing Co.<\/p>\n Zadok Jewelers<\/p>\n The conversation segued back to the day\u2019s mission relating his talent to the Barbara and George H.W. Bush presidency. Harry Connick shared that he had performed at the White House during the President and\u00a0 First Lady Barbara Bush\u2019s time in Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one of the great honors of my life,\u201d Connick says.<\/p>\n The luncheon, which raised $750,000 for the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation,<\/a> was chaired by Jan Rhodes and Sandra Shenkir. They were joined in the program by Foundation president and CEO Julie Baker Finck. Ladies Literacy Guild president Deborah Dunkum\u00a0proved to be key to the luncheon\u2019s success.<\/p>\n \u201cHarry\u2019s heartfelt tribute to his mother reminded us of the profound influence a mother can have on a child\u2019s life,\u201d Finck says. \u201cMrs. Bush understood that influence and believed deeply in the power of parents to inspire a lifelong love of reading. Thanks to our generous supporters and the dedication of the Ladies for Literacy Guild,<\/a>\u00a0we are carrying her vision forward for children and families across Houston.\u201d<\/p>\n PC Seen: Maria Bush, Sarahbeth and Pierce Bush, Lilly Andress, Alvin Abraham, Laurie Lashier, Betty Hrncir; Maggie Austin, Amy Chronis, Sue Conway, Patricia Cornelius, Stick Delaup, Deborah Dunkum, Lesha Elsenbrook, Sidney Faust, Gail Garland, Rhonda Graff, Maureen Higdon, Mehrnaz Gill, Lisa Jakel, Jenny Joy, Patti Kroll, Laurie Lashier, Julie Little, and Anne McClellan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In some ways it was Mother\u2019s Day in the Post Oak Hotel ballroom as Emmy and Grammy Award…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[56,58,57],"class_list":["post-482101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Harry-Connick-Jr.-Photo-by-Jacob-Power.jpg\")
Harry Connick, Jr. at Power of Literacy (Photo by Jacob Power)<\/p>\n![\"Julie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Julie-Finck-and-Harry-Connick-Jr-1.jpg\")
Julie Finck and Harry Connick Jr. at Power of Literacy (Photo by Jacob Power)<\/p>\n