23 Young Women Presented at the Redstone Club’s Annual Christmas Ball

The Redstone Club’s 108th Year Christmas Ball was held Dec. 19th at the Country Club of Birmingham. More than 800 members of the Redstone Club and their guests attended the group’s annual Christmas celebration.

President of this year’s ball was Francis Minor S. Ager, who attended with his wife, Amy. Ball chairman was Nelson S. Bean, who attended with his wife, Kimberly. The floor committee chairman was J. Murphy McMillan, III, at the ball with his wife, Beth.

The East Room of the Country Club was decorated by Sybil Brooke Sylvester of Wildflower Designs to be beautifully reminiscent of a Dicken's Era or Downton Abbey Christmas. Strings and loops of Christmas garlands and little lights were strung above the ballroom creating the effect of a sparkling, tiered lady's necklace. Twinkling lights and white flowers combined with traditional Christmas greenery created an atmosphere of simple holiday elegance.

This year’s presentation class included 23 young women, all college seniors, from a wide range of schools around the South, East Coast and Northeast. The presentees wore traditional long white dresses and gloves, a complement to their chosen escorts in black tuxedo tails.

Overseeing the class were Ladies Committee members Mrs. William B. Wahlheim, Jr. (Cary), Mrs. Henry Claiborne Crommelin (Jane Huston) and Mrs. John Parker Evans, II (Jennifer).

Those presented at the 2015 ball were: Miss Anne Fairly Alison, Daughter of Mr. James Fairly Alison, III and Mrs. Susan Emack Alison; Miss Helen Cumbee Corey, Daughter of Mr. Allen Rushton Corey and Mrs. Kathryn Wilson Corey; Miss Virginia Hagood Drennen, Daughter of Richard Hagood Drennen and Mrs. Helen McTyeire Drennen; Miss Eulalie Crommelin Draper Given, Daughter of Mr. Robert Sommerville Wilkerson Given and Mrs. Eulalie Crommelin Draper Given; Miss Mary Virginia Grisham, Daughter of Mr. James Ernest Grisham, III and Mrs. Kay Parnell Grisham; Miss Mary Nobles Hancock, Daughter of Mr. James Hughes Hancock, Jr. and Mrs. Leigh Hardin Hancock; Miss Adelaide Harling King, Daughter of Mr. Mark Steven King and Mrs. Margaret McWhorter King; Miss Grace Dunlap Murray, Daughter of Mr. Richard Murray, IV and Mrs. Nora Riegle Murray; Miss Mary Clayton Whitlock Shearer, Daughter of Dr. John Carl Shearer and Mrs. Cynthia Rogers Shearer; Miss Catherine Shepard Smith, Daughter of Mr. Clinton Hill Smith and Mrs. Helen Catherine Smith; Miss Virginia Gilder Smith, Daughter of Mr. David Michael Smith and Mrs. Virginia Carruthers Smith; Miss Emily Fallon Wilson, Daughter of Dr. Thomas Alexander Symington Wilson, Jr. and Mrs. Lynn Fallon Wilson; Miss Emilia Noailles DeLara Cobbs, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Westcott Cobbs, Jr., sponsored by Mr. James S. M. French; Miss Caroline Nabers Gray, Daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Eugene Gray, sponsored by Mr. Lee McGriff, III; Miss Grace Evelyn Ainsworth Hawkins, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Dale Hawkins, III, sponsored by Mr. John N. Corey, III; Miss Mary Elizabeth Hobbs, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Whitehead Hobbs, sponsored by Mr. Ehney Addison Camp, III; Miss Ann Douglas Logan, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Christopher Logan, sponsored by Mr. William Oliver Vann; Miss Elizabeth Lee Miller, Daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Mark Lyle Miller, sponsored by Mr. Joseph McConnell Farley, Jr.; Miss Margaret Munger McCall Pope, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lee McWhorter Pope, sponsored by Mr. Hobart Amory McWhorter, Jr.; Miss Florence Evans Poynor, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer Smith Poynor, IV, sponsored by Mr. John Rembert Simpson; Miss Kathryn Ann Simpson, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Clark Simpson, sponsored by Mr. Paul Porter Crockard; Miss Mary Ann Stevenson, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Avery Stevenson, III, sponsored by Mr. Robert Holman Head; Miss Sarah Cameron Styslinger, Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jon Cecil Styslinger, sponsored by Mr. Lee Joseph Styslinger, III.

At the Ball luncheon, held at the Mountain Brook Club on Dec. 18th, the presentees were introduced to the club membership and received some historical background on the event and the club.

One of the highlights of the luncheon was the reintroduction of the presentee class from 1965, of which 10 of 19 women were in attendance to celebrate their 50th anniversary. The returning “golden girls” regaled the group with recollections of their own big night five decades ago. Mrs. Wyatt R. Haskell (Susan), a member of that class, was the 1965 presentee chairman.

The presentees of 1965 were Sarah Douglass Beaumont (Mrs. Sarah Beaumont Turley), Elizabeth Fitz Randolph Casey (Mrs. Samuel W. Pipes IV), Grace Louise Comer, Mildred Vaughan Cotten (Mrs. James B. Knight), Anne Laura Frothingham (Mrs. Dennis W. Cross), Eugenia Jackson Heslip (Mrs. George E. Taylor, Jr.), Geneva O’Brien Houck (Mrs. Geneva Houck Clymor), Mary Allen McGill Jones (Mrs. Jeffrey S. Sawtelle), Julia Valentine Joslyn, Pamela Noyes Kaul, Roberta Adams Laban (Mrs. Roberta Laban Culver), Caroline Yates Middleton (Mrs. Thomas G. Amason, Jr.), Susan Porter Nabers (Mrs. Wyatt R. Haskell), Marian Chenoweth Oehmig, Catherine Joan Pigford, Diana Bowron Rediker (Mrs. William M. Slaughter), Ellen Davies Rogers, Charlotte Enslen Rushton (Mrs. Charlotte Rushton McDavid), Mary Munger Watts (Mrs. Munger Watts Putnam).

The ball followed a members-only cocktail party and dinner, spread between The Country Club of Birmingham’s East Room and dining rooms.

Music chairman John R. Simpson arranged the evening's accompaniment. For the cocktail party and the presentation, the Sonny Harris Trio Band set the musical atmosphere. Following the presentation, Evolution Party Band entertained the crowd and attracted more than just the debutantes and their young contemporaries to the dance floor. A testament to the band’s sway was the sighting of several club members and their wives still in the thick of the throng in the late hours.

The 2015 Redstone Club officers and board of governors members are Frances Minor S. Ager (wife, Amy), president; Charles William Jones (wife, Walker), vice-president; Francis H. Crockard, III (wife, Winn), secretary-treasurer; Merrill E. Johnston, Jr. (wife Barbara) traditions chairman; Gregory Stockton Curran (wife, Emily), Evans Johnson Dunn(wife, Katie), C. Duncan Hulsey, II (wife, Kelly), J. Bailey Knight, III (wife, Margaret), William E. Matthews, V (wife Lizy), William Spencer South (wife, Cari), J. Reese Murray III (wife Marilyn), finance chairman, and James Malloy Dixon (wife, Marilyn), camp chairman.

–Submitted by the Redstone Club