Grupo Pakal dancers. Photo by Jeff Hall.
A husband-wife duo who spent their high school years in our neighborhood are inviting families to celebrate mothers at their open house and butterfly release.
Stephanie Hughes graduated from W.T. White High School in 1981, and her husband, DeWayne, graduated from Thomas Jefferson. Stephanie started out her career as a lawyer, having attended the SMU Dedman School of Law, but after helping her husband, a third-generation funeral director and embalmer, at the Hughes Family Tribute Center, she decided to transition to a new industry.
Now co-owners, the Hughes’ work together to help the community celebrate the lives of their loved ones.
This is the fourth time the Hughes’ have hosted a Mother’s Day event, but it’s the first time the Hughes will hold it at their recently expanded and renovated facility at 9700 Webb Chapel Road.
“The families have been so appreciative, so sweet,” Stephanie says. “It just gives them something really meaningful to do, especially for people who have lost their mom this year, and this year’s been a hard year.”
At the celebration, families will be able to release a pink lady butterfly, which will be stored in a paper container with a Mother’s Day saying on it until the release. Each family can reserve one butterfly in advance to honor a mother, grandmother or child who has died. To do so, call 214-350-9951 or use this link.
Live music played by Fusión Latina will begin at 4 p.m. and last one hour. Then, Mayan dance group Grupo Pakal will have a short performance, and butterflies will be released at 5:15 p.m. Some families choose to release the butterflies at the event, while others opt to release them at the grave of the person they are honoring.
There will be bellinis and light refreshments for those who attend May 9.
“We love our community,” Stephanie says. “We both grew up there. We went to high school there. That’s the community that we love.”
