Rob Lowe Dazzles as the First Male Keynote Speaker at Junior League of Dallas' Milestones Luncheon

Jul 06, 2023

Actor Rob Lowe served as the keynote speaker for this year's JLD Milestone Luncheon. (Photo by Gittings)

Bobbie Sue Williams and Margo Goodwin (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Debbie Oates, Jan Baldwin, and Karen Shuford (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Rob Lowe and Milestones Luncheon Emcee Shelly Slater (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Melinda Knowles, Elizabeth Saab, Maggie Kipp, Nancy Gopez, and Katy Bock (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Christie Carter and Claire Emanuelson (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Meredith Camp, Caroline Kohl, and Nicole Kohl (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Jan Baldwin, Brent Christopher, Sustainer President Monica Christopher, and Linda McFarland (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Houston Striggow and Susie Sarich (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Christopher Dealey, Leigh DeMarco, Sustainer of the Year Pam Busbee, Melissa Rawlins, and Celia Demarco (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Milestone Luncheon Co-chairs Elizabeth Gambrell and Heather McNamara (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Former Sustainers of the Year Diane Scovell, Margo Goodwin, and Linda McFarland (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Milestones Luncheon Co-chair Elizabeth Gambrell, Milestones Luncheon Emcee Shelly Slater and Milestones Luncheon Co-chair Heather McNamara (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Rob Lowe (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Sustainer President Monica Christopher, Sustainer of the Year Pam Busbee, and JLD President Emily Somerville-Cabrera (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

Rob Lowe (Photo by Tamytha Cameron)

When prompted to scan the tabletop QR code and "vote for your favorite Rob," my mind flicked through the possibilities. De Niro? Redford? I’m an elderly millennial, so maybe Pattinson? My train of thought literally made no sense, though. I needed to (s)Lowe my roll and consider the Rob of the Hour.

For the 2023 Junior League of Dallas’ Milestones Luncheon, co-chairs Elizabeth Gambrell and Heather McNamara booked award-winning actor Rob Lowe as the keynote speaker to detail his journey from Brat Pack wild child to a The New York Times Bestselling Author.

I chose The West Wing Rob Lowe as Sam Seaborn. The crowd favorite? Parks and Recreation Rob Lowe, Chris Traeger. All compelling choices.

Before Lowe appeared onstage, though, the League conducted some important business: honoring their 2023 Sustainer of the Year, Pamela Busbee. The delighted Busbee, whose involvement includes everything from Senior Source to Crystal Charity Ball to her church's altar guild, happily accepted the award and described how her involvement in the League changed her life. Then, it was time for dessert.

To the pomp and circumstance of The West Wing theme song, Lowe joined flirty moderator Shelly Slater onstage in the Omni Dallas ballroom.

Lowe relished being the first man to serve as the keynote speaker for Milestones, the Junior League of Dallas signature luncheon that allows the League to grant $1M to the Dallas community annually. "Happy to break the glass ceiling!" he quipped.

Dallas, it seems, loves Rob Lowe. "By far," Lowe told his admirers, "Dallas has been the single most supportive city of me my whole career."

A skilled interviewer, – he has interviewed everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Gwyneth Paltrow for his podcast, Literally! With Rob Lowe — Lowe even seamlessly integrated mentions of Junior League into his responses. He praised his supportive mother, a former Junior League member, for her wholehearted and steadfast support of his young aspirations to be an actor.

Lowe candidly (and charismatically!) discussed everything from his sobriety to his marriage to Sheryl Berkoff to working with his new Netflix show, Unstable, with his son John Owen Lowe. He described cutting his teeth in comedy by working with Saturday Night Live's Lorne Michaels and other greats he was on a first-name basis with like "Farley."

Really, what's not to like about a ballroom of women eating up a crisp salad and your every word?

I suppose it's just as Michelle Obama famously said, "When they go Low(e), we go, ‘Hi!’"