The Redstone Club’s 111th annual Christmas Ball was held Dec. 22 at the Country Club of Birmingham. More than 150 members of the Redstone Club and their guests attended the celebration and debutante presentation.
President of this year’s ball was George C. Thompson, who attended with his wife, Nancy. Ball chairman was C. Duncan Hulsey II, who attended with his wife, Kelly. The floor committee chairman was Edward Rosamond Christian, who attended the ball with his wife, Emily.
Sybil Brooke Sylvester and her team at Wildflower Designs installed the decorations for the seated dinner, which preceded the ball, and the East Room of the club, where the presentation was conducted.
Classic winter green and white elements colored both areas. Most strikingly, a pair of head-high, gown-shrouded trees, resembling deep woods debutantes, greeted guests on either side of the East Room entryway. The ballroom was hung with flowing white drapes and lit by the soft glow of tiny Christmas lights.
This year’s presentation class included 22 young women, all college seniors, from a wide range of schools around the country. The presentees wore traditional long white dresses and gloves and carried simple flower bouquets, a complement to the black tuxedo tails worn by their escorts.
Overseeing the class were Ladies Committee members Mrs. Courtenay R. Bloodworth (Kim), Mrs. Henry Claiborne Crommelin (Jane Houston) and Mrs. Arthur Key Foster III (Walton).
At the ball luncheon, held Dec. 21 at the Mountain Brook Club, the presentees were introduced to club members and briefed on the background of the event and the club itself.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the 1968 presentee class, several of the 16 women presented that year were present at the event.
The “golden girls” of the class of 1968 were Nancy Swann Estes Chilton, Isabel Anderson Comer, Edith Rushton Johnston Crook, Catherine Swann DeBardeleben, Diane Elizabeth Johnson Fitzgerald, Lula Turlington Blackwell Hafner, Elizabeth Terry Taylor Hamilton, Mary Tansill Heslip Hille, Martha Marbury McCullough Hiden, Robley Munger Hood, Anne Moore Kinney, Olivia Turlington Miller Ludington, Loyer Lawton Ager Osbun, Mary Denham England Proctor, Innes Comer Smith Richards and Charlotte Haxall Noland Weaver Rose.
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, the Perfect Ten Band out of Atlanta took the stage, turning the formal setting into a rocking dance hall.
The 2018 Redstone Club officers and board of governors members are: George C. Thompson, president; Gregory S. Curran, vice president; J. Bailey Knight III, secretary-treasurer; James H. Hancock Jr., traditions chairman; J. Reese Murray III, finance chairman; board of governors members Courtenay R. Bloodworth, Robert M. Couch, Evans J. Dunn, Joseph M. Farley Jr., Claude B. Nielsen, William B. Wahlheim Jr.; and Arthur Key Foster III, camp chairman.
