Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 47, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2004 Page: 35 of 72
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life*:** / ^travel_
Bound for the Bahamas
Kelli O’Donnell shores up Dallas passengers for first gay-family cruise
BON VOYAGE: On the night of her 20/20 interview, from left, Dawn Meifert, Kelli O'Donnell, Jim Knox and Gregg Kaminsky
helped get the word out about R Family Vacations at a private home in Oak Cliff.
March 5 was an auspicious occasion for Kelli
O’Donnell. That was the night her interview with
Barbara Walters aired on 20/20. And while the
rest of the country was finding out more about
Rosie’s petite new wife — a Southern Methodist
University graduate whose concerned parents
sent her off to be de-programmed — some
Dallasites had the opportunity to meet her in per-
son.
About 200 guests arrived at Marla Custard and
Karen McCrocklin’s sprawling Oak Cliff home
to meet Kelli and her business partner, Gregg
Kaminsky, who were on hand to promote R
Family Vacations, a travel company aimed at
gays, lesbians and their offspring. The compa-
ny’s first trip will be a seven-day cruise aboard
the Norwegian Dawn that sets sail from
Manhattan to the Bahamas.
Plenty of gay parents and their kids attended
the soiree, but the cruise is attracting folks who
aren’t especially interested in becoming parents
themselves. Partners of 17 years, Mary Jane
Hocher and Connie Rodriquez vacation together
every summer. Previous trips included touring
many of our nation’s fine baseball stadiums.
When they heard about the R Family cruise last
spring, they immediately booked their trip
because the family-friendly vibe seemed like a
more appealing option than lesbian-only cruises,
which primarily appeal to singles. Another decid-
ing factor was to show their support for Kelli and
Rosie’s causes. Before the cruise sets sail,
Hocher and Rodriguez say that may try visiting a
few cities that are granting gay and lesbian cou-
ples the right to-marry and that the cmise may
serve as their official honeymoon.
The cmise sets sail on July 11, and some new
entertainers were recently confinned to perform,
including Cyndi Lauper, The View’s sassy host
Joy Behar and former NFL lineman Esera
Tuaolo, who’s surprisingly lovely voice was fea-
tured in a recent commercial for Chili’s restau-
rant. About half of the ship’s total capacity
(approximately 1,000 reservations) have already
been booked. Individual passenger rates start at
$999.
Before the 20/20 episode aired that night, Kelli
laughed about making it through the interview
without crying. She was, however, worried about
how her parents would be perceived in the inter-
view.
“Barbara Walters concentrated a lot on my
‘deprogramming,’ but my parents are just really
nice, sweet people who live in a small town in
Louisiana,” she said.
But because Rosie and Kelli were married so
quickly on Feb. 26, Kelli’s parents were unable to
attend the nuptials.
“We flew to San Francisco by ourselves that
morning,” Kelli remembered. “We had to ask a
couple of strangers off the street to be our wit-
nesses.”
For more information visit www.rfamilyvaca-
tions.com or call 866-732-6822.
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03.26.04 I dallas voice I 35
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Vercher, Dennis. Dallas Voice (Dallas, Tex.), Vol. 20, No. 47, Ed. 1 Friday, March 26, 2004, newspaper, March 26, 2004; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth616513/m1/35/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.