Mardi Gras season was in full swing the weekend of Feb. 28 as the Beaux Arts Krewe hosted the 47th annual Beaux Arts Krewe Ball at Boutwell Municipal Auditorium in Birmingham.
The annual event supports the Birmingham Museum of Art. This year’s ball had a Mardi Gras theme.
Reigning over the ball were king David McCoy Millhouse and queen Alison Bradford Gorrie.
A lifelong resident of Birmingham, Millhouse is a graduate of Auburn University and is a senior estimator with Robins & Morton.
He is a life member of the Auburn University Alumni Association and a member of the Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce and the Country Club of Birmingham. He became an Eagle Scout in 1967 and has been scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 86 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church since 1995.
Millhouse is married to the former Katherine Meadow McTyeire, who was a princess of the Krewe in 1977. They have three children.
Gorrie first joined the Krewe Ball in 2001 as a page and also served in that capacity in 2002. She served as a train bearer for her grandfather, Miller Gorrie, who was king in 2003.
She is a 2011 graduate of Mountain Brook High School, where she served as an ambassador, Student Government Association representative and Key Club member. She was named Miss Olympian in 2009. Gorrie was also a member of the Chamber Choir and Thespian Troupe at Mountain Brook High School.
She trained with Red Mountain Theatre Company and was a member of the company’s performing ensemble.
Serving the community has always been a big part of Gorrie’s life. In 2008, she founded Songs for Sight, a nonprofit organization that supports the UAB Center for Low Vision and Rehabilitation. Two concerts in 2009 and 2011 raised money for low vision aids, support groups and training for children and teens with vision impairment.
In 2010, Gorrie was recognized as a state and national winner of the Prudential Spirit of the Community Award.
She is a junior at Belmont University, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in musical theater. She is a member of Phi Mu sorority and served as the Towering Traditions orientation leader. Gorrie has performed in numerous theatrical productions each semester, including “Les Miserables,” “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Christmas at Belmont,” which aired on PBS.
Gorrie said she plans to move to New York City after college to pursue her artistic endeavors.
She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Magnus James Gorrie. Her grandparents are the Rev. and Mrs. Forrest Causey Mobley and Mr. and Mrs. Magnus Miller Gorrie. She has an older brother, Magnus Miller Gorrie II, and two dogs, Holly and Penny.
The queen’s royal escort was Michael Alston Callahan Jr. of Birmingham.
Ladies-in-waiting and their escorts were Elizabeth Douglass Corey and Christopher Francis Holcomb, Carolyne Foster Nix and Alexander Ferguson Kontomitras, Mary Addison Powell and Deakins Ford Rushton Jr. and Winston Ryding Powell and Luke Jay Maples.
The princesses presented at the ball and their escorts were Ann Popwell Anthony and Benjamin Wesley Hazel, Elizabeth Leacy Bromberg and Hampe Hudson Farmer, Morgan Prescott Crumbaugh and Michael Salem Resha, Mary Patricia Damrich and Peter Renner Corry Jr., Caroline Carney Donald and Miller Grieve Williams III, Caroline Addison Drew and Richard Lance Walker III, Sara Elizabeth Frese and John Houston Blount, Caroline Carter Given and Brennan Kennedy Peck, Lois Cecelia Hammet and Joseph Warren Riegle, Elizabeth Pride Hargrove and John Adam Trant, Mary Reagan Harvey and Peyton Davis Falkenburg, Catherine Bowen Winifred Hughes and Harris Hodges Anthony, Lucile Cabaniss Hutchinson and Cody Mitchel Jinnette, Evelyn Jennings Lewis and John Alexander Klinner, Virginia Evans Luckie and Thomas Hatch Benners Marbury Jr. , Kathryn Cook McCollum and James Vincent Hastings, Jane Elizabeth Leatherbury Nechtman and Mark Nicholas Luyster, Margaret Ruffner White Page and Walter Simmons Hall, Kathleen Mims Patrick and Jack Dixon Durkee, Katharine Forrester Patton and James Curtiss Telfer, Lillian Sloss Ratliff and Thomas Luther Hays II, Shelby Marie Scott and Richard Cole Thornton, Virginia Addison Sewell and Corey Raymond Cavanaugh, Elizabeth Sellers Shook and Gardner DeCoursey Beach II, Anne Franklin Smith and Cody Lee Farrill, Lelia Elizabeth Leftwich Smith and William Schley Hereford Jr., Lucy Josephine Sprain and Michael Ivan Flynn, Patricia Lawrence Stutts and Samuel Michael Tortorici Jr., Dorothy Ann Suggs and Lewis Jasper Callaway and Helen Lea Walker and Nicholas Smith Saab.
The king’s dukes were Francis Minor Shepard Ager, William Alfred Bowron Jr., Guerry Moore Denson, Richard Hagood Drennen, Richard Lee Jackson Jr., Jeffrey Ira Stone, Edward Franklin Thomas Jr. and Meade Whitaker Jr.
The queen’s guards were Walter William Bates, William Anthony Davis III, Charles Louie Grizzle Jr., John Keith Hazelrig, Robert Donald Plosser, William Stancil Starnes, Michael DeWitt Thompson and Marc Bryant Tyson.
The king’s trainbearers were Jack Stewart Allison II, Anna Catherine Carr, Samuel Bryan Carr, Sarah Welles Edwards and Kara Leigh Whitaker.
The queen’s trainbearers were Anna Caroline Bates, Ginger Callan Cheka, Carole Elizabeth Clegg, Mary Jackson Darnall, Thomas Steele Darnall III, Stephen Stratford Phelan III, Mildred Carlisle Phelan and Joseph Edward Welden IV.
The ball’s pages were Julia Fletcher Abele, Eugenie Joyce Allen, Emily Browning Amason, Eloise Katherine Berte, Sara Frances Berte, Katherine Elizabeth Brennan, Alice Caldwell Byars, Lula Clayton Byars, Rosemary Casey Cabaniss, Ann Oliver Coleman, Mary Evelyn Coleman, Payton Elizabeth Flynn, Caroline Jeffers Fowlkes, Mary Katherine Fowlkes, Caroline Bishop Hornsby, Sarah Coleman Hornsby, Sarah McCarty Huddle, Gray Margaret Katherine Powell, Elizabeth Everett Sandner, Jane Morgan Knight Sauls, Marguerite Alice Sprain, Madeline Fay Stephens and Ann Derby Welden.
In 1966, Mrs. James Mallory Kidd Jr. was in charge of the 11th Beaux Arts Jewel Ball for the Birmingham Museum of Art. Kidd noticed the decorations were discarded after the ball and saw a need for a support group with permanent costumes and decorations.
From there, the idea grew. More than 125 men joined the group as charter members, and the Beaux Arts Krewe was founded.
Westminster Abbey was the inspiration for the idea that each member would dress as a king, have a banner with a coat of arms and be attended by a page.
Many volunteers helped with preparations for the first ball. They cut, sewed, painted and glued. They created shields, banners and velvet capes. Those capes and banners are still being used today.
The Krewe makes a substantial contribution to the Birmingham Museum of Art each year.
