Georgetowners of the Year 2015

A Georgetowner newspaper tradition for decades, the naming of Georgetowners of the Year includes a woman who has devoted the better part of her life and talents to revealing and promoting an old Georgetown estate’s history and renewing its splendor to all of Washington and then taking this wonderment to the next level; a women and a priest with similar interests but different backgrounds and abilities who forged a bakery with delicious results that helps veterans—from our city or Iraq—gain real-world business skills; an educator with roots deep in Georgetown’s African-American past who is a force for good—whether bringing neighbors closer or getting the streets repaved—in our community to be reckoned with, now and in the future.

LESLIE BUHLER

Leslie Buhler stepped down as executive director of Tudor Place after 15 years of what the historic house and garden non-profit called, “transformational leadership.” Buhler arrived in 2000 and made sure one of Georgetown’s crown jewels was maintained to the highest standards and included a master preservation plan of restoration and upkeep. She also made the historic home at 31st and Q Street more accessible to all — from children to preservationists to neighbors. She leaves Tudor Place in a perfect place for its bicentennial next year. For all this and more, Leslie Buhler is a Georgetowner of the Year for 2015.

FATHER RICK CURRY and CONNIE MILSTEIN

If ever there was a bakery that’s more than a bakery, it’s Dog Tag Bakery on Grace Street, where a lot of grace goes on at a daily basis. The bakery, part of Dog Tag Inc., has as one of its slogans “baking a difference.” The enterprise operates a six-month training program aimed squarely at “driven, entrepreneurial-minded wounded veterans and their spouses.” The bakery is run and worked by wounded veterans. Its founding heart and soul are its co-founders, philanthropist Constance Milstein and Rev. Rick Curry, S.J., of Georgetown University.

A developer and lawyer, Milstein is committed to helping veterans. Blue Star Families is one of her projects, and she has opened several non-profit bakeries in New York, all of which show her commitment to helping veterans. She is in the top ranks of philanthropist-business leaders in Washington, D.C., providing leadership on the boards of cultural D.C. mainstays like Ford’s Theater, the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera.

Milstein and Father Curry, a Jesuit priest who brings compassion and experience, form the perfect partnership for the bakery. Curry founded and headed the National Theater for the Handicapped, a non-profit theater and training institution for persons with physical disabilities for three decades. He is also the author of two books, “The Secrets of Jesuit Soupmaking” and “The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking.”

Their partnership has resulted in a do-good, feel-good Georgetown institution that’s already become a go-to place for locals and does Georgetown proud. For all this and more, Father Rick Curry and Connie Milstein are each a Georgetowner of the Year for 2015.

MONICA ROACHÉ

Monica Roaché is one of the newest members of the Georgetown-Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E, but her family has been here for many years. As part of this town’s original African-American families, Roache is a fifth-generation Georgetowner who has always promoted this part of our history — from the book, “Black Georgetown Remembered,” to the October dedication of the Rose Park tennis court to black tennis star sisters, Margaret Peters and Roumania Peters Walker. The Peters sisters taught tennis and life lessons to Roache and many other children. For all this and more, Monica Roaché is a Georgetowner of the Year for 2015