B.W. COOK -- The Crowd

Lido Isle’s Nancy Levy will welcome a host of community support

tonight at the Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club in Corona del Mar. The 2001

Volvo Leukemia Cup Regatta Committee will throw its annual charity dinner

at the yacht club, featuring a grand silent and live auction meant to

benefit children with leukemia and lymphoma.

“Our goal is to raise $300,000 to help fight children’s cancer,”

offered Levy. “We’ve got a ways to go, but we know that every dollar is

important and every person that gets involved is bringing scientists

closer to a cure. We couldn’t be more proud of our efforts to help raise

money and awareness for this wonderful event sponsored by Volvo and the

Bahia Corinthian Yacht Club and other generous donors.”

The dinner committee is putting final touches on tonight’s affair. For

last minute reservations, please call (949) 644-9530. The dinner tickets

are $50 per person, $35 of which is a charitable donation benefiting

leukemia research.

Levy reports that she will put dining room tables out on the

oceanfront deck to raise more money to help the children.

Helping children is also the mantra of the Fashionables, a charitable

group co-founded by the late Mary Lou Hopkins Hornsby and her dear friend

Mary Ann Wells. The conference of high-minded and high-styled women

joined forces recently for its annual late spring membership reception to

greet new friends and cherish the old.

The setting was the exquisite Harbor Island home of Judie and George

Argyros. Mrs. A, resplendent in lavender, with her hair cut short and

colored auburn, welcomed the crush at her colonial front door.

She had just jetted into town from the Argyros’ mountain retreat to

host the reception and was jetting back out of town to Washington, D.C.,

to attend an intense course given by the federal government for potential

ambassadors and their families to learn the ins and outs of international

protocol. George Argyros is awaiting confirmation as U.S. ambassador to

Spain.

Judie reports, “My plan is to spend two weeks a month in Spain and two

weeks a month in Newport Beach. I don’t want to lose touch with the

community, and of course my children and grandchildren are here as well.”

Her frequent-flier account is going to be overflowing with bonus

points.

Many of the women attending the Fashionables luncheon remarked on how

impressed they were that Judie managed to be so gracious in the middle of

a most demanding schedule. And gracious was certainly the most

appropriate word.

The Argyros home was warm and inviting. A scrumptious afternoon buffet

graced the dining room table, champagne flowed, and there was only one

thing more dazzling than all of the good-looking women who had come to

support the Fashionables. What could be more dazzling, you ask? Big

diamonds, enormous sapphires, boulder-sized pearls and rubies that would

make Catherine the Great jealous.

The jewels of David Webb, presented by Kevin Parker of Beverly Hills,

were on display and being enjoyed by the local crowd as if they were at

just another Tupperware party. Pelican Point’s Pam Paul played with the

pearls, while Leslie Cancellieri preferred the big diamonds. Donna Bunce

was smashing in her necklace of diamonds, sapphires and pearls, and Ollie

Hill of Lido Isle looked striking in 18-karat gold.

The color of the party was definitely lavender, as a number of the

women, besides hostess Judie, showed up in the color purple. Among them

were Newport Beach’s Darby Manclark and Fashionables President Donna

Bunce. Others spotted in the crowd included Barbara Penrose, Ann Stern,

Robin Turner, Ann Van Ausdeln, Martha Green, Irene Matthews, Phyllis

Shafer and Gloria Osbrink.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.