Ebby Halliday Knows How to Turn 100

Photos by Andrea Grimes

Ebby Halliday still has it, two months from her 100th birthday, which will be celebrated at the Meyerson Symphony Center on March 9.

​Everybody who lives to be 100 years old should get a party in their honor at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. That should simply be a fact of life. It isn't, though, and for now we'll have to settle with celebrating the centennials of only the most influential of Texans in Dallas's stunning Arts District.

First up: Ebby Halliday, arguably Texas's most successful Realtor, who will turn 100 on March 9. At a press conference last night featuring H. Ross Perot and a whole bunch of very stylish people, Halliday was celebrated as an inspirational woman and endless giver.

"I feel like the luckiest 100-year-old gal in the world," Halliday told the gathered press and glitterati, after a 17-minute thank-you speech that covered her time selling face cream on horseback for a two-cent profit and that time she met Dirk "Nowitzlewski" of the Dallas Mavericks. Myrna and Bob Schlegel generously donated their third-floor basketball gym for the conference and the rest of their estate for a giant fancy party that followed.

​There were cupcakes and Champagne and many wisecracks from that well-known joker, H. Ross Perot, who said Halliday "leads the way" in the category of caring for other people. Speaking of her unprecedented success in the real estate business, Perot noted: "That's a long way from selling skin cream!"

The March 9 concert -- Halliday's birthday happened to be the only night the Meyerson had open, howboutthat? -- will feature a performance by Mario Frangoulis and his stunning jaw line and fund scholarships for Texas students via the Horatio Alger Association.