San Diego Tradition Still Strutting Its Stuff at Charity Ball

CORONADO —  Through the best of times and not-so-best of times--such as the early years of the Great Depression--the Charity Ball has persisted as the uppermost of San Diego’s top-drawer affairs.

Only in the worst of times--the latter years of the Depression and all of World War II--has the ball, established in 1909, allowed its tiara to gather dust. But ever since that decade-long hiatus concluded, the benefit for Children’s Hospital and Health Center has proven a steady magnet for the city’s Old Guard as well as influential newcomers.

Thus the theme for Saturday’s 82nd anniversary edition of the Charity Ball, “A Grand Tradition,” seemed a natural to chairman Barbara Malone when she began planning the event in the early months of 1990. And true to that enviable tradition, “A Grand Tradition” persisted despite events that Malone did not envision a year ago, including a recession that kept some ball supporters home, the Gulf War and a near-fatal car collision in June that landed Malone in the hospital for a month.

Each of these unexpected conditions was noted in its own way at “A Grand Tradition,” given, as always, in the Grand Ballroom of Hotel del Coronado, this year for an attendance of 800. The recession resulted in a scaling back of arrangements, primarily the decision to skip the entertainment usually given in the opening hour of the ball. According to committee members, the intention was to maximize the proceeds for Children’s Hospital. Malone’s recovery was noted informally around the ballroom as well as in prepared remarks given from the stage by Rep. Bill Lowery (R-San Diego), who called her “a walking miracle and a tribute to life.”

Lowery also led the formal recognition of the Gulf War by requesting a moment of silence in honor of the men and women serving in the Persian Gulf. These solemnities aside, the ball marched along in its grand tradition and according to a set format that has varied so little over the decades that long-time attendees--and there are hundreds of them--know the program by heart. Upon entering the ballroom, select guests searched out their “box,” as the triangular tables in the front perimeter of the ballroom are known. In many cases, these prestige seats have been in the family for two or three generations. They are not given up lightly, which explains why the Charity Ball remains the premiere Old San Diego event. A spell of visiting from box to box then took place, as it always does, although the dancing began earlier and without the benefit of the playing of the “Blue Danube,” the waltz that until last year officially opened the ball.

The dancing alternated between the big-band sounds of the Tony Marillo Orchestra and the contemporary efforts--often verging on rock ‘n’ roll, formerly not well received at the Charity Ball--of Special Delivery. The brief formal program was devoted to Lowery’s address and to the presentation of a bouquet of roses to Malone.

Co-chair Sandy Henry noted that the main draw of the Charity Ball still is the chance to help the youthful patients of Children’s Hospital. “We’re here for children. Everybody relates to that,” Henry said.

Children’s Hospital President and CEO, Blair Sadler, said that ball revenues were earmarked for general support of the new Children’s Pavilion, set to open in late 1992, that will add 114 beds to the Kearny Mesa health-care complex.

Among the enduring traditions on display Saturday was the program book, the fattest of its type in the year and, as always, a showcase for full-page photographs of the families (old, less old and even relatively new) that give priority to support of the Charity Ball.

On this year’s committee, the typically dominant Point Loma membership was supplemented by a heavy La Jolla representation, which was quite unusual but reflected Malone’s onetime residence and continuing ties in that neighborhood.

Among key committee members were Joanne Stevenson, Sara Jane Sayer, Berneice Copeland, Kay North, Mac Canty, Cameron Peter, Rosemary Logan, Judy Higgins, Alice Cavanaugh, Syd Youngson, Carol Baumer, Sue Raffee, Nancy Hester, Kirk Butler, Linda Copson, Janet McKeown, Mary Lou Shoemaker, Donis Lovett, Barbara Pressley, Fran Golden, Virginia Monday, Nora Newburn, Margaret Maio, Sue Busby, Doris Broekema, Ann Gilchrist, Tommi Adelizzi and Pat Fink.

Box holders included the James Brayshays, the Michael Alessios, the Craig Andrews, Justine Fenton, the Robert Calicotts, the Robert Sedlocks, the Thomas Seftons, Hugh Sessions, the Craig Starkeys, the Harold Starkeys, the John Whitneys, the Dean Blacks, the Daniel Larsens, the Brian Malones, Betty Hubbard, the James Jessops, the Douglas McColls, the George Gildreds, the Philip Gildreds, the Robert Goldens, the Edgar Herveys, the Gordon T. Frosts, the Alex DeBakcsys, the Thomas Carters and the Dallas Clarks.

SAN DIEGO--Amid a profusion of egg salad finger sandwiches and dainty cookies, another local tradition of long standing unfolded last Thursday at the University City residence of Paul and Kathleen Bremner.

At a mid-afternoon tea given for about 60 guests, the Door of Hope Women’s Auxiliary to the Salvation Army of San Diego County introduced a group of 15 civic volunteers who will be named Women of Dedication at the group’s 26th annual luncheon, to be given March 5 at the San Diego Marriott.

Membership in the Women of Dedication remains a highly regarded and highly coveted distinction that is conferred on women from throughout the county who have given years of volunteer service.

Most of those introduced Thursday are well-known figures on the charity circuit, and, according to auxiliary President Mary DeBrunner, the group together represents more than two centuries of labors on behalf of organizations and activities as diverse as Mercy Hospital, the 4-H Guide Dog Program and the Ebony Fashion Fair. As is true of many local organizations, the majority of members are not San Diego natives, and murmurs of palpable envy circulated the room at the introduction of Joyce Oliver, a San Diego native, and of third-generation native Carol Tuggey, whose great-grandfather was drawn West by the Julian Gold Rush.

The other 13 women tapped to be honored at the March luncheon are Mary Jane Eckert, a participant in Vista youth organizations; Barbara Hunsaker, chairman of the Salvation Army’s San Diego Central Advisory Board; Barbara Iredale, a former President of the Globe Guilders; Ann Kantor, a former chairman of the League of Women Voters; Dorothy Leonard, President of the California State PTA; Elizabeth March, Vice President of the San Diego Symphony Auxiliary; Rita Neeper, a past President of the San Diego Bar Assn. Auxiliary; Catherine Phillips, past President of Southeast San Diego Women Incorporated; Ann Pund, a former Globe Guilders President; Mary Sandermann, a 20-year member of the board of Coronado Hospital; Darlene Shiley, a member of the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture; Carol Stark, a longtime volunteer with the American Cancer Society, and Pat Tapp, whose activities include two decades of service to the American Red Cross.