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Club members go mad over decorative hats

 
Published March 26, 1997|Updated Oct. 1, 2005

Over in Paris, the folks at Chanel and Christian Dior are fashioning spring hats from priceless laces and passementerie. They are so missing the point.

Just ask Beth Doran, who glued plastic Easter eggs onto white headbands for herself and friend Mary Holland.DL:

Ask Betty Metzler, who removed the decorative paper wrapping from a pot of flowers, inverted it like a top hat, then wrapped it in ribbon.

The pink marabou confection worn by Celeste Boucher actually was French, but it was part of a collection of vintage couture hats she inherited from an aunt.

The occasion for all of this topped-out creativity was Friday's Mad Hatter's luncheon at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club to benefit the Florida Suncoast Opera Guild.

The guild was formed more than 30 years ago by opera lovers and supporters. A handful, such as Barbara Counts and Louise Garrigues, are trained singers.

On the other hand, "I can't carry a tune," says president Jenelle Tucker, "but I love music. We sponsor student competitions in April, with cash scholarships for winners to further their musical education."

Not surprisingly, the luncheon program included a selection of opera classics, performed by lyric coloratura Leslie Loosli. A teacher, lecturer and founder of the opera group Bel Canto, she is based in Cape Cod. She is here visiting longtime friend Roberta Poellein, who was her piano accompanist for the event.

Enjoying it were silk-turbaned Sheryl Plonka; Ann Kearney; Eileen Albanese, wearing a black motorcycle cap spiked with pearls; Mary Overly; Lillian Zimmerman, in purple; Betty Scarborough; Sally Cohen; Zeta Bobbitt, who decorated her chic black straw with silk flowers; and Angela Worman, who swathed her blue straw in matching chiffon.

Winning the award for originality was Jean Burns. She wore a sailor's hat, smartly folded from a page of that day's St. Petersburg Times.

"Lives that once seemed over are just beginning, if they choose to be," said the Rev. Leddy Hammock, keynote speaker at ALPHA, A Beginning's "Springala" Thursday at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.

She was referring to the young, expectant mothers in ALPHA's program, and to her own experience as an unwed mother 25 years ago, when Circumstances motivated her to give her son, born on Mother's Day, to adoptive parents.

Roy and Marilyn Deeb founded the agency 17 years ago as a residential facility that emphasizes education and training for minor-aged expectant and new mothers.

This year executive director Cheryl Shaver estimates that about 3,000 diapers and 10,000 articles of clothing donated by the community will be distributed. The community outreach serves more than 1,500 families and 50 young women living full-time with their children in the facility.

Sue McClernon, board president and Bayfront Medical Center vice president, welcomed a crowd that included Dr. Mike Reilly; Jennifer Godwin; Jewel and Jerry Curley, president of the Pinellas Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society; Dwight and Mary Rachel Dudley; Paul and Cricket Nelson; Sharon Francis; Terry Thee; Steve and Linda Meddling; Lonnie Malatino, busy organizing the ALPHA Golf Tournament on June 6; Mary Jo and Frank Dibbons; and Deborah and Dr. Steve Klemawesch, a triathlete training for the upcoming Boston Marathon.

Attending with ALPHA Foundation president Sue Brett were her husband and son, Tim and Tom Brett, and mother-in-law Gail Cyrus. The agency honored Mrs. Brett for her many years of service by appending her name to its Community Leadership Award. First-time recipients were Norm and Nancy Dusseault.

ALPHA also unveiled its new logo, designed and donated by Boston-based graphic artist Karen DeNunzio, daughter of board member Cyndi and Peter DeNunzio.

Hammock, who never stopped searching for her first-born, was reunited with him several years ago through a series of fortuitous events. She agreed to speak about this part of her life because, she said, "I was hidden away, locked in a basement. I don't know if adoption was the right thing to do. I felt I had no choice. Today, young girls have a choice."

LOOKING AHEAD: Saturday _ "For Love & Money: We Do It For Ourselves": A multimedia fund-raiser conceived by artist Maria Castagliola, sponsored by the Florida Gulf Coast Art Center to benefit Brookwood, a residential facility for displaced young women. The idea is intriguing, like an Easter Egg Hunt for grown-ups. Students from three schools _ Perkins Elementary, St. Raphael Catholic, and Shorecrest Preparatory _ have created hearts, on sale for $25. With purchase, patrons are given clues directing them to 180 hearts created by artists and hidden throughout Williams Park in downtown St. Petersburg. Participating artists include Diane Arthur, Mary Klein, Betsy Lester, Len Neff, Duncan McClellan and Roxie Thomas. Starting point and display of children's hearts is Gallery at 145, 145 Third St. N; 6:30-9 p.m; free.

To contact Lennie Bennett, use a Touch-Tone phone to call TimesLine at 898-0019; punch in category code 8903. Or write her at c/o City Desk, Neighborhood Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731-1121.