BEAUX ARTS BALL

Beaux Arts Ball debutantes, escorts and committee members met June 25th at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art for a party.

Since it was so hot on the roof terrace at 6 p.m., the chairmen moved the first part of the event indoors. Committee chairmen presented a check to the Museum for the Acquisition Fund.

The group then toured the new exhibit “Turner to Cezanne:Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales.”  Then they headed for the rooftop where live music was playing and the temperatures were cooling down.

Connell Branan is chairman of the Beaux Arts Ball which is November 28 at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. Bebe MacKellar is co-chairman.

Connell Branan and Libby Denner were at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. (Photos by Helen Ford Wallace).

Bebe and Bruce MacKellar arrive at the party.

Whitney Cross and Harper and Margo Ward cool off before going up to the penthouse level.

Lee Murphy and Connell Branan talk at the party.

Alex Stapleton, Leigh McCoy and Francie Love talk before they are presented at the Beaux Arts Ball. (Photo by Helen Ford Wallace).

OU-OSU fans headed for the television set up in the Terrace Bar at the Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club. They watched the football game until time for dinner the debutante presentation.(Photo by Helen Ford Wallace).

The Oklahoma City Golf and Country Club was filled with people Saturday for the 2008 Beaux Arts Ball presentation of the King, Debutantes and Escorts.

Community leader Morton Payne was selected as the 63rd Beaux Arts Ball King. The traditional Ball formally presents young women and men to society.

Red rose balls decorated the club. They were centerpieces and on the walls near the fireplace. The rose balls were set on urns and pedestals near the columns where the debs and escorts were introduced by announcer Bill Wallace.

Nosegays of red roses decorated the family tables and red rose sprays were anchored at the end of each table providing a rosy aisle for the court procession. Debutantes carried nosegays of red roses. Floral designer for the ball was Jim Vallion.

A 50- inch big screen television was set in the Terrace Bar and guests gathered there for the OU-OSU football game.  They sat quietly for dinner and the presentation with their cell phones turned on mute, but after the debs and escorts left the stage for dancing, the football fans made their way back to the tv for the final plays.

The debutantes, all wearing long white ballgowns and long white gloves, were Sarah Rainbolt, Claire Philbin, Ruby Coyle, Francie Love, Alex Stapleton, Leigh McCoy, Eleanor Isaacs, Karoline Knapp, Maguire Hall, Janell Fryer, Elizabeth Geren, Alix Benear, Lindsay Howard, Greer Colton, Rachel Flesher, Kylie Esco, Audrey Johnston, Margaret Salyer, Alice Frederickson and Kendall Claus.

They were escorted by their fathers.

Escorts, all dressed in formal attire, were  Stephen Sanger, Robert Samis, Patrick Nesbitt, Johnson King, Robert Blair, Richard Hill, Colin Bright, Philip Gresham, Jay Wallace, Daniel Price, Taylor Eisner, Thomas Holden, Kirk Miller, Alex Swisher, Robert Bradford, Miles Dunning and Jon Robinson.

This year’s committee members were:  Libby Denner, chairman, Connell Branan, co-chairman; Teri Benear, Mindy Cunningham, Kathryn Crabb, Shirley Everest, Tricia Everest, Elain Frogge, Karen Hanstein, Caroline Hendee, Anne Henderson, Ciane Hogan, Linda James, Laura Kirkpatrick, Tricia Law, Bebe MacKellar, Susan McPherson, Lisa Pierce, Dana Price, Leslie Russell, Karen Samis, Mary FitzSimons, Lauren Sullivan.

Pages/attendants for the King were Matthew Cowan Price and Blake Davison Brigham.

Former Kings attending the Ball and announced during the procession of kings were Bill Cleary, Dick Clements, Bill Swisher, Dan Hogan, Ed Cook, G.T. Blankenship, Ralph Thompson, John Mee, Ron Elkins, Jim Everest, Bob Johnson, Dick Sias, Lee Allan Smith, Gene Rainbolt, Ted Elam and John Bozalis.

The 2009 Ball chairman is Connell Branan.

Connell Branan and  Kathryn Crabb (Photo by Helen Ford Wallace)

Linda James and Elain Frogge (Photo by Helen Ford Wallace).

Ruby and J.W. Coyle wait their turn for the presentation. (Photo by Helen Ford Wallace)

Guests enjoyed dinner prior to the presentation. The red rose balls decorated the tables. Jim Vallion and Trochta’s created flower arrangements and decorated the Club for the Ball. (Photo by Helen Ford Wallace).

The king’s chair where Morton Payne sat during the procession. (Somehow I missed getting a picture of him with his wife Libby and a photo of chairman Libby Denner. Look for them in Peggy Gandy’s column in Sunday’s Oklahoman next week. HFW)