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By LENNIE BENNETT
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 4, 2001
Amour du Coeur served a dual purpose, reminding us with its red heart decorations and romantic name that Valentine's Day is approaching (make those dinner reservations and order flowers now) and raising funds for three good causes: Brookwood, a Young Women's Residence, Center Against Spouse Abuse and Help a Child Foundation (formerly the Child Protection Team).
The luncheon and fashion show, sponsored by Infinity, the League to Aid Abused Children and Adults, drew a crowd of about 170 to the St. Petersburg Yacht Club on Tuesday.
Dashes of red appeared throughout the ballroom, both on patrons -- Queen of Hearts Judy Cuniff, Paula Park and Maritza Smith come to mind -- and on tables, centered with big red satin pillows made by Carolyn Reese.
Chairman Terry Ray and co-chair Grace Hamilton circulated through the crowd, which included Dot McCarthy; Ann Foster; Margie Decker; Mary Shuh; Barbara Kyes; Joann Hayes; Sara Cramer, who tells me her husband, former U.S. Rep. Bill Cramer, is on the mend from that awful respiratory virus so many of us have had; Barbara Royston; Connie Whitehead, Sheila Tempelmann, L.A. Malin, Judy Stanton, Jeanice Harring; Pat Straubinger, and Helena Miller, who gave me details about the black-tie dinner and dance she throws every February for her husband George's birthday. This year he celebrates his 101st, which is a reason to party.
Linda Osmundson updated me on the progress of the CASA headquarters on First Avenue N, which she now hopes will be ready in August. She is in the home stretch of a $2-million campaign, shy about $450,000.
"But we'll make it," she said.
Diane Winning talked about her trip to India in May, still on despite the recent earthquakes, but she and husband Richard will be busy before that, planning the wedding of their daughter Andrea Nicole to Mark Washick in March and fending off a lot of New Best Friends who will want to get into Derby Lane (his family owns it and he is an executive at the track) when George Clooney films scenes there for a movie this month.
Infinity president Hugh Ann Cason Kelly got us settled down for lunch, and those who stayed (I did not) were rewarded with a fashion show of sportswear from Sharon Clayton's shop and evening gowns from CC's Boutique, which, incidentally, has relocated from Beach Drive to larger digs on Fourth Avenue N with the same glamorous inventory. I know, because I peeked backstage at the frocks before I left.
The program for the fundraiser is fatter than most because, in addition to the usual acknowledgements and ads, it contains pages of "valentines," personal notes of love and remembrance that are charming.
Fay Baynard and John Bowman are back from New York City, where she attended the Viennese Opera Ball Jan. 27 with a contingent from St. Petersburg organized by Alex and Cynthia Astrack, who divide their time between a Tierra Verde home and a Manhattan apartment, John Bowman, Bob and Sharlet Fillingham, John and Ginger Hanner, Bob and Gail Giebler and Fred Stansberry and Sheila Thurmond.
The ball, which the Astracks attend every year because their good friend Erika Borozan chairs it and Mrs. Astrack serves on the gala committee, benefits Columbia University's Herbert Irving Cancer Center. It was held in the ballroom of the Waldorf Hotel and featured Metropolitan Opera star Eugene Green riding around the dance floor in a horse-drawn carriage.
"Yep, a real horse," said Mrs. Baynard.
According to the gala program, the ball dripped with titled names from Europe and eminent names from New York. Sponsors were heavy hitters such as Coca-Cola and Austrian Airlines, which flew over a group of debutantes for the opening waltz. The list of door prizes included lunch at Le Cirque 2000 and dinner at Lutece. And the goody bags were not the plain paper ones we get here with a few perfume samples but ones from Hammacher Schlemmer stuffed with wine, cheese, bon-bons, a CD and lace handkerchiefs.
"Still," I asked, "are New York galas very different from ours?"
"Steak is steak," she said. "And cover up the faces, the clothes are the same."
The lights stayed on late at Johnston of Florida Jan. 25. The women's clothing store on Beach Drive was the after-hours site of a cocktail party organized by members of the Stuart Society to benefit the Museum of Fine Arts.
Hostesses Joann Barger, Lynn Cox, Kally Harvard, Donna Painter and Iris Salzer eschewed professional help, making, with contributions from pals, the refreshments themselves which included beef tenderloin, shrimp pate, lots of little sweet and savory bites and something intriguing called cheese hash, described by Mrs. Cox as "a cheese thing," adding that Carol Barbosa made it. Mrs. Barbosa said it contained "nothing that's good for you. It's Alice Eachus' recipe." So Mrs. Eachus gave me the rundown: shredded cheddar cheese, sliced scallions, toasted almonds and cooked, diced bacon, bound together with mayonnaise in any proportions you like.
Fortunately, the models, who were Cathy Collins, Cathy Hogan, Linda Hirsch, Donna Tyler and Jane Klemawesch, were too busy to eat these caloric things and looked great in some lovely spring things.
There to enjoy the show were Jane Andrews, Katharine Ann Lake, Mary Margaret Winning, Joyce Wilson, Susan Harvard, Mary Lou DeVoe, Clementine Sherman, Mary Christian, Lucille Wagner, Vicki Fox, Johanna Nekvasil, Candy Scherer, Mary Perry and Cary Bond Thomas.
Feb. 20
UP, UP AND AWAY: Bayfront Medical Center Auxiliary Luncheon and fashion show by New Charisma will be held at the Mirror Lake Lyceum, 737 Third Ave. N. The fundraiser benefits the Bearly Sick program that provides day and evening care for ill children of staff members, so they don't have to miss work. 11 a.m. $45. 867-3706.
FASHION EXPLOSION: International Association of Administrative Professionals invite you to a luncheon and fashion show by Burlington Coat Factory at the Clearwater Country Club, 525 Betty Lane N, Clearwater. 11:30 a.m. $25. 531-7913.
FRIENDS OF STRAYS LUNCHEON AND FASHION SHOW: The furry, four-legged models always upstage the humans at this event, which benefits the agency's emergency surgical and special treatment fund. Noon. St. Petersburg Yacht Club, 11 Central Ave. $30. 822-9421.