August 16, 2007

Peggy Fleming Jenkins, Greg Jenkins named chairs for
second annual ‘Nutcracker’ opening celebration

Olympic-gold figure skater Peggy Fleming Jenkins and her husband, physician Greg Jenkins, recently accepted the honorary chair positions for the second annual “Nutcracker” opening night celebration to benefit Ballet San Jose.

This fund-raiser is sponsored by Gentry Magazine and will take place on Thursday, Dec. 13 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Hotel Sainte Claire in downtown San Jose. Following a glamorous cocktail party with supper-by-the bite presentations by some of the Bay Area’s top chefs, guests will be taken to the Center for Performing Arts for the opening night performance of Dennis Nahat’s “The Nutcracker.”

“We are thrilled to have Peggy and Greg as part of this extraordinary event. They have long been supporters of the arts and are outstanding members of our community. It is an honor to have them join in this festive tradition,” said Giselle Parry Farris, “Nutcracker” opening night celebration chair.

Last year’s “Nutcracker” opening night celebration was a landmark event in Silicon Valley, bringing together the technology community for a celebration of the arts.

The emcee for the event is Jessica Aguirre of KNTV NBC 11 and the Grande Patron is Bentley Silicon Valley. Additional sponsors include Tiffany & Co., Jo Malone, Fairmont Residence Club San Francisco, Lancome, Sereno Group, Dr. Walter Donald Head, University Electric Home Appliances and Il Fornaio Catering.

Culinary presentations at the opening celebration will include Il Fornaio, A. P. Stumps, Quattro Restaurant and Bar at the Four Seasons, Silicon Valley, Dio Deka, Emile’s, Yankee Pier, Park Place at the Cypress Hotel, The Duck Club at the Stanford Park Hotel, San Jose Fairmont, Executive Chef Charles Lewis of Fry’s Electronics, the Executive Chef of University Electric Home Appliance Center, the Dining Room at Cordevalle and Jen’s Cakes.

Greg Jenkins was raised in Dallas, Texas. A graduate of Colorado College, he earned his M.D. at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. His specialty is dermatology. In 1970 Greg married Peggy and the pair moved to Los Gatos.

Peggy Fleming Jenkins spent her early years on a small northern California farm near Morgan Hill. Her parents built their house themselves, and their daughters grew up churning butter and tending cows, horses and chickens. The sheer beauty of the surrounding landscapes of rolling golden hills and oak trees inspired Peggy to run and jump, and, eventually, to skate—inspiration that took her ultimately to an Olympic gold medal in Grenoble, France.

Peggy's Italian coach and mentor introduced her to wine. The late Carlo Fassi was a native of Milan, and intimately familiar with Europe's great vintages and menus. When Peggy and her family traveled to competitions, Carlo encouraged them to seek out museums and architectural masterpieces and familiarize themselves with the wines and cuisines of the regions they visited. Fascinated by Europe's varieties of wine, Peggy became intrigued by the way certain wines could turn a great meal into a memorable experience.

After Greg finished his residency, they settled in Los Gatos in the Santa Cruz Mountains, a coastal range with a long and distinguished history of winemaking. Greg set up his medical practice there, specializing in general and cosmetic dermatology. They raised two boys and a menagerie of animals, and involved themselves in numerous activities. Always in the back of their minds was a shared desire to be involved in making wine, whether growing grapes or turning them into that magical poetry in a bottle. Today the pair own Fleming Jenkins Vineyards and Winery. They have two sons, Andy and Todd and three grandchildren.

Gentry Magazine was established in 1993 and serves the San Francisco Peninsula and South Bay focusing on the extraordinary people, nonprofits and businesses that make the area such an incredible place. In 2006, Gentry partnered with Ballet San Jose to create a signature holiday event—the First Annual “Nutcracker” Black Tie Ball. Shellie Fry and Sherri Dohemann chaired the event. Anita Del Grande served as the honorary chair. All three women are back this year and volunteering on the opening night celebration’s committee.

Ballet San Jose has been providing Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area with world-class dance performances since 1986. Artistic/Executive Director Dennis Nahat’s award-winning company of dancers have proven themselves equally at home with the classics such as “Romeo and Juliet,” “Giselle” and this season’s “Swan Lake” and “Firebird” to family favorites such as “Coppelia” and “The Nutcracker” to the extraordinary this season’s “Carmina Burana” and last’s year’s revival of the Emmy award-winning “Blue Suede Shoes.”

In addition to the professional company of dancers, Ballet San Jose provides a year-round not-for-profit ballet school, a series of one-hour children’s ballets for audiences as young as 3 years old, and an outreach program that brings professional dance productions to some 10,000 children and underprivileged families every year. Ballet San Jose is truly the jewel in the crown of the San Jose-Silicon Valley arts scene.