Rotary Club Honor Brings Lynn Wyatt to Tears — After Laughing About How She Proposed to Her Husband

IT WAS AN emotional afternoon for Lynn Wyatt. The doyenne of Houston society, dubbed "the original influencer," was the honoree at the Downtown Rotary Club's luncheon at the Bayou Place ballroom, and she didn't hold back the tears as she accepted an array of accolades from the group, including that Rotary's national Paul Harris Fellow Award, whose past winners have included Mother Theresa, Bill Gates and Bob Hope.

"I don't know what to say," she said, "so I'm just gonna cry." Her sons Brad and Trey joined her at her table.

The awards were handed off after a video was presented in which a wonderfully candid Wyatt told little known tales of her life. In one anecdote, she explained how, during their courtship, her now husband Oscar bet her $1 million that she would propose to him, and not the other way around. Her beau, an oil tycoon who flew his own plane, extracted the the proposal from her by sending the jet into a nosedive until she got down on one knee!

Jana Phillips and Shelly deZevallos served as chairs and TV's Mia Gradney and David Paul were emcees. There was a live auction, a highlight of which was a custom gold and diamond bracelet valued at more than $7,000, donated by Cindy Lewis of Lewis Jewelers. The event, which also included a fashion show produced by Lenny Matuszewski and featured some Rotarians as models, raised over $100,000 to benefit the organization's community service projects.

Brice and Sarah Cambas

Leah Salinas

Lynn Wyatt and Dot and Walter Cunningham

Miranda Sevick on the runway

Jana L. Phillips and Karina Barbieri

Emcees David Paul and Mia Gradney