Rose-Mary Rumbley
“I love Dallas and its history and its people, and Turtle Creek Park and Arlington Hall are historic city treasures.”

– Tiffany Divis

“I love Dallas and its history and its people, and Turtle Creek Park and Arlington Hall are historic city treasures.”

– Tiffany Divis

Tiffany Divis greets people in the formal parlor of Turtle Creek Park’s Arlington Hall as if she were a gracious First Lady—managing to be both statuesque and high-energy at the same time—with a mega-voltage smile.

Her current position as President and CEO of the Turtle Creek Conservancy tops an extraordinary list of various roles in Dallas (many philanthropic), Washington, and overseas.   Crystal Charity Ball member since 2014, The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, Callier Cares, Equest Therapeutic Horsemanship, and Council for Life are just a few of the recipients of her civic volunteer work.  A three-year period working for a real First Lady, Laura Bush, and the State Department as the Senior Gifts Officer took her to the White House and 35 countries, after which she started her own company producing international events and buying corporate gifts. Whew!

Notwithstanding all of her White House and international work, Tiffany looks extremely comfortable in her relatively new role, clearly happy to be working again at home in Dallas.

“I had been wanting to work for a non-profit,” she said.  “I love Dallas and its history and its people, and Turtle Creek Park and Arlington Hall are historic city treasures.”

There is always a need for financial donors for the Conservancy, she says, because they receive no tax dollars and start from zero every year.  For the 20 acres of land, they have a partnership with the city, which helps project by project.

“People rent our beautiful Arlington Hall for various events, but we still do need to fundraise.”  She names the DSO Concert Truck in the Park and Light up the Park, including photos with Santa.  Their biggest Fundraiser is the upcoming Day at the Races, May 6th, where people come dressed for the Kentucky Derby and can watch it in a VIP tent with a screen inside.  There is dinner, a DJ, and a live auction.

Tiffany gets more and more animated as she talks about Turtle Creek Park – its trees and foliage. “It’s tucked inside Dallas and provides a place that is safe and well-lit where one can be immersed in nature,” said Tiffany. Families can access the creek for fishing, seeing turtles, and bird-watching.

I ask, how did her philanthropic work begin?  “I actually was a single mom working for Lilly Dodson/Escada in Highland Park Village when I began to be active in volunteering for Dallas non-profits,” says Tiffany.  “My clients at Lilly Dodson became friends, and their causes became my causes.  We were like a family.”

I probe further—what inspired her to work as a volunteer for so many Dallas non-profits through the years?

“My siblings and I were raised that way,” says Tiffany.  “We would stay with our grandmothers in the summer and go with them to visit their friends in senior communities.”  She was a “Y-Teen Girl” and would regularly visit the YWCA at Fitzhugh, participating in service projects and meeting young girls from all over Dallas and all walks of life.

“My Dad was president of the school board, and my Mom was president of the library board in Duncanville, where I grew up,” said Tiffany. “And we went to church three times a week.”  Thus, being part of the community and giving was normal to her and what was expected.

But back to Lilly Dodson, which led her to one of her most exciting chapters.  “One day, a friend of the George W. Bushes’ suggested that Laura Bush go to Lilly Dodson’s for help with her wardrobe when her husband was running for Governor. I was assigned to work with her.”  She eventually helped Laura Bush settle into the White House when her husband became President, staying in the White House several times in the process.

“Then, when our kids were in college, I reached out to Laura Bush, who then asked me to serve as the Senior Gifts Officer and Special Assistant in the Department of State.  My husband, Paul, and I moved to D.C., and he continued his work in finance.”

The Bushes, she says, were a blessing of a lifetime to her. She was responsible for the purchase and presentation of dozens of gifts on behalf of the President.  “It was all for goodwill, to show a generosity of spirit,” said Tiffany.

“Generosity of spirit”—that may well describe, as she says, what fueled the Bushes’ international gift-giving policy. But the phrase seems to define perfectly the life of Tiffany Divis.

For more information about the Turtle Creek Conservancy and upcoming events, see https://turtlecreekconservancy.org/.

Linda Faulkner Johnston – The Tradition

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