Magical night for debutantes, their families

It is sometimes called a rite of passage. Others label it a coming of age.

The presentation of debutantes to society is a tradition dating back centuries in time, in history. It is a ceremony wrapped in myth and touched by a bit of magic.

Traditionally speaking, the presentation of eligible young ladies of proper age and breeding was more about matrimonial possibility. Like other traditions, this too has evolved.

The modern debutante is more about social conscience; she is a college and career-oriented woman rather than a lady solely marriage bound.

And then again, standards of a storied past remain. The young lady may be a college student on the front lines of political and social change, yet she comes to her debutante ball adorned in a formal white wedding gown on the arm of her father and awaiting her introduction to society made with a rehearsed curtsey in the tradition of St. James.

And so it was Saturday evening at the Hyatt Regency Hotel as the Newport Beach Chapter of the National Charity League held their Debutante Ball, formally presenting 25 young women who had come of age in a modern world.

The young ladies were; Mary Clementine Anderson, Cameron Lindsay Best, Whitney Pamela Browman, Hadley Ann Burnham, Kate Joanne Curry, Jennifer Brooke Danzi, Brittany Grace Edmonston, Amanda Hollis Fallon, Alana Chantal Guteau, Kathryn Lynne Kelly, Katherine Joan Lopez, Katie Marie McKay, Kara Pamela Moore, Kimberly Lorin Moss, Erin Gail Newman, Alyson Royal O’Desky, Emily Chalmers Painter, Anne Marie Porteous, Allyson Elizabeth Ramser, Mallory Christine Sanders, Tasha Angelica Sumner, Taryn Michelle Tarnutzer, Lindsay Jaqueline Tippett, Jordan Louise Weiner and Ann Katherine Winners.

Like generations preceding them, these 25 privileged young women, dressed as angels and surrounded by all the beauty and sophistication that the funds of their adoring parents could provide, paraded through a faux Palladian arch surrounded by Cypress trees and white roses coming out of massive Roman urns dripping with shimmering crystal drops.

As the debonair Paul McDonald, former USC football star, serving as presenter of the debutants, announced the mothers, the young male escorts, the fathers and finally the young ladies, a sense of accomplishment, of completion, of coming full circle was evident throughout the cavernous ballroom accommodating more than 500 guests.

It was at this moment that the importance of the ceremony became evident.

While certainly significant, it was not so much about the thousands of hours of cumulative charity work required of the girls. Nor was it about the glory of the tradition, the glamour of the night.

It was about family.

These young ladies and their families, their escorts and their friends have grown up together.

In this ballroom, on this one night, in this one town were 500 people whose lives are forever intertwined, sharing a heritage, a time never to come again, never to be exactly the same for any other. From pre-school to high school graduation; from first love, or first love lost; from the first day on the soccer field to the CIF championship game; from Christmas eve memories with close friends gathered all around to sweet tears at parting for college thousands of miles away.

It is the stuff of life that has bound these girls, these families together -- now and always.

Under the leadership of league Newport Chapter president Mrs. Robert Weiner and director of debutante activities Mrs. Keith Palmer, the evening was nothing less than magic. Assisting Weiner and Palmer were Mrs. William Gernius and her committee of gentlemen including John Gernius, Jeffrey Grant, Douglas Kanen, Keith Palmer and Marshall Wilkinson.

The spectacular floral design and decor of Andrew Gromeck of Couture Flowers added to the magic as the music of Jay Sterling kept the dance floor swinging.

In many instances, three generations of family members came together for the occasion: the Tippett and Williams families of Lido Isle, Brentwood and Palm Desert; the McKay and Livingston family of Bayshores, Emerald Bay and Encinitas; the O’Desky and Anderson families of Newport Heights; the Curry and Fallon families of Lido Isle; the Burnham and Tarnutzer families of Bayshores; the Best, Porteous and Ramser families of Newport Beach -- all front and center for a very special evening.

At midnight, like Cinderella fleeing the stroke of the clock, the magic of the moment was past and the entourage of beautiful young ladies in white wedding gowns, their handsome escorts in white tie and their proud parents disappeared into the night, forever to recall one evening that their little girls were to be little girls no more.

* THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.

20051201iqso7pkn(LA)Mallory Christine Sanders, Alyson Royal O’Desky and Katie Marie McKay 20051201gzf7uqkeNo Caption20051201iqso71kn(LA)Amanda Hollis Fallon, Matthew Maurice Stokke, Brittany Grace Edmonston and Blake Huntington Tippet attend the 2005 Debutante Ball at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. 20051201iqso7dkn(LA)Jordan Louise Weiner with escort brothers Nathan Andrew Weiner, left, and Robert James Weiner. They are the children of the president of National Charity League 2005, Mrs. Robert James Weiner. 20051201iqso8akn(LA)Standing, Brad and Susanne Livingston of Encinitas, aunt and uncle of debutante Katie McKay, join Sandy and Ron Livingston of Emerald Bay, grandparents of Katie. 20051201iqso6ekn(LA)Mr. and Mrs. Keith Stanton Palmer -- Mrs. Palmer is National Charity League Debutante Ball Director -- at the Debutante Ball. 20051201iqso8mkn(LA)Mr. Donald Tippett Sr., Mr. and Mrs. Donald Tippett Jr., parents of debutante Lindsay Tippett, and Mr. and Mrs. Michael Shute at the 2005 National Charity League Debutante Ball.