Dancing a Highland dance at the Christmas Carol ball

Holiday plaid was the decorative theme for the 36th annual

Christmas Carol Ball. The sold-out evening at The Four Seasons Hotel

in Newport Beach attracted more than 350 elegant guests in support of

Hoag Hospital.

Black tie and a variety of tartan plaids, including a large

sampling of a chic Burberry cream and black plaid, were the clothes

of choice for the group. A roaming bagpiper, Robert Hackney, helped

to set the tone of the Scottish Christmas party. Tables adorned with

plaid overlays took the theme to the extreme. By the end of the

evening, more than $200,000 was raised and earmarked for Hoag’s

Women’s Pavilion and the Hoag Heart and Vascular Institute.

Sponsored by the dedicated 552 Club and chaired by prominent local

couple Terry and Bob Callahan, the Christmas-inspired evening was a

smashing success, created and supported by a hard-working 552

Christmas Carol Ball Committee that included Nora Jorgenson Johnson,

Ann Howard, Sandy Haskell, Ann McLean, Lin Auer and Margaret Lord, to

name only a few.

Terry Callahan commented, “For more than three decades this event

has been a testament to this community’s commitment to Hoag Hospital

and the 552 Club.”

Major underwriting for the Hoag party came from Jerry and Maralou

Harrington, Roger and Gail Kirwan and corporate sponsors Bank of

America, IBM Corporation, Prudential Overall Supply and Greater

Newport Properties.

Newport-Mesa angels also contributing to the Hoag funding were

Arden Flamson, Nancy and Bill Thompson, Pam and Jim Young, Marie and

Bruce Schwartz, Jim and Mary Bahan and Dick and Mary Allen.

As the Wayne Foster Orchestra played, a wonderful holiday dinner

of fillet of beef paired with a whisky shallot sauce and Scottish

seared salmon was served to the crowd. The Orange County High School

of the Arts provided entertainment, as did Scottish Highland dancer

John Velesco, who encouraged the crowd to kick up its heels with

gusto.

The dance floor was packed from the moment the orchestra played

its first note. Jean and Dick Bechtel, Frances and John Applegate,

Robert and Jacqueline Dillman, Wesley Hacker, Joel and Colleen

Manchester, Aiden Raney, Robert and Peggy Sprague, Howard House,

Elizabeth Vincent, Janet Curci Walsh and Hoag CEO Michael Stephens,

with his lovely wife Diane, all showed their support during the

holiday extravaganza.

As dessert was served in the form of a plaid-encrusted pear

chocolate surprise, guests finished table hopping and bidding on

silent and live auction items such as trips to New York and Mexico

and a fabulous dinner and cooking demonstration at the popular Zov’s

Bistro and Cafe in Tustin. Guests were asked to bring a new unwrapped

toy for Toys for Tots, and the bounty was piled as high as the

Christmas tree, ensuring some happy faces Christmas morning.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.