THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 27, 1995 TAG: 9508250169
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
Chatterbox is a not-quite-newsy look behind the scenes from City Hall to City Park.
BIG TIME IN BIG APPLE - Ralph W. Cowan, the Portsmouth-born painter of the rich and famous, made headlines in the New York News recently.
Rush & Malloy, a New York chatter column, was headlined: ``Top Painter Cowan reveals his brushes with celebrity.''
Cowan was a guest at a dinner party given by oil heiress Lilly Lawrence at the Inagiku at the Waldorf recently. The NY News columnists were there and, naturally, Cowan entertained them with his tales of his mythic subjects.
The News ran a picture of his famous Elvis Presley portrait, the same one that has been made into a picture puzzle and now hangs at Graceland.
Portsmouth people will have an opportunity to hear some of Cowan's stories firsthand, when he comes home as the October speaker for the Second Tuesday Forum series.
AN UNUSUAL DAY - Aside from the anxiety over Hurricane Felix, Aug. 16, was a most unusual day for Portsmouth City Clerk Sheila Pittman.
Shortly before noon, she noticed some strange activity in the Elizabeth River from her office window.
Turned out, a passel of porpoises was frolicking down the river toward the Naval Shipyard.
``I think Mother Nature is telling us something,'' Pittman said. ``Maybe those porpoises know Portsmouth is a safe place to be.''
No sooner had she calmed down from the rare sight of the ocean creatures in the river than she got called to perform a wedding - one of the official duties of a city clerk.
``I came back from that one and there sat another couple waiting to get married,'' Pittman said.
``I've never done two in one day except at Christmastime,'' she said. ``What is it about hurricanes?'' by CNB