Philanthropy and tennis for 5-plus decades

B.W. COOK

They come in hats and gloves.

It was as it was more than 50 years ago, when a group of Newport

women, all tennis players, came off the court and into the ballroom

to launch the southern Orange County chapter of the Adoption Guild of

Southern California.

The year was 1961. The location of the inaugural fundraiser was

the Balboa Bay Club. This week the ladies returned, albeit in

different hats and gloves, to the fashionable new ballroom at the

Balboa Bay Club and Resort.

Times have indeed changed, yet the familiar tea sandwiches

arranged on the plate at the club harkened to a simpler, perhaps more

genteel time when charity work was a matter of purpose in Newport and

elsewhere.

Today, many of the ladies in support of the guild balance busy

careers and families. Many of them remain tennis enthusiasts. After

all, the adoption guild still sponsors the prestigious Roy Emerson

Tennis Classic, an annual Newport event that ranks as one of the most

important tennis doubles tournaments in California.

What has not changed in half a century is the acute need for

adoption services and foster care. The adoption guild, an auxiliary

of Holy Family Services Adoption and Foster Care Agency, was founded

in 1949 by Dolores Hope (the wife of the late Bob Hope) and George

Piness, a prominent L.A. physician credited as the founding father of

modern allergy medicine. Fifty-five years later, Debra Richardson, an

executive with the agency headquartered in the Los Angeles area,

addressed the Newport-Mesa crowd to share experiences relating to the

placement of children today.

“Permit me to tell you about a call I received recently from a man

in Utah,” said Richardson, continuing, “It was a father calling to

inquire about adoption placement for a child soon to be delivered by

his unwed teenage daughter. It turns out that the man himself had

been an adopted child, placed by Holy Family Services. He shared that

he had been raised in a loving home and he wanted the same for his

grandchild.”

Richardson went on to report that the agency has placed 6,000

children over its 55-year existence.

Chaired by Sue Kreuter, and co-chaired by Lin Auer, the

luncheon/high tea was also a fashion show, and an inspirational

speaker’s event. All bases were covered. Adoption Guild president

Lorie Moran welcomed the crowd, including support from Jackie Glass,

Pam Young, Carol Hartman, Nancy Lusk, Anna Noel Williams, Claudia

Auer, and Joan Sammis. Also enjoying the afternoon and sampling the

freshly baked scones with Devonshire cream and raspberry preserves,

were Alison Auer, Diane Kleppinger, Terry Callahan, Peggy Guziak, Kim

Wilson, Janey Merkle, and Arlene Stevens.

The fashion show, presented by “Shades of Red”, a Newport boutique

run by Colleen Hopkins, offered a parade of models showing off spring

and summer fashions as Ron Levy played piano and Carl Freedman played

violin. As the show ended, a serious presentation was offered to

guests by two luncheon speakers offering inspirational messages. Pat

Allen, a local psychiatrist, is a sought-after expert in the area of

“teaching people to get what they want in life, and saying no to what

they don’t want.” Allen was joined by local Toni Bruner, originally

from England, who shared her life experience during World War II.

Bruner was separated from her family at the age of 4 and was not

reunited until she was 14.

The sentimental gathering was also supported by Sally Peck, Mary

Ramella, Ann Clark, Gaye Roche, Michelle Miller, Marily Wilson, and

Jeanette Chase. All of the net proceeds benefit the work of Holy

Family Services.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.