Overflow Crowd Pays Tribute to Joan Kroc

The organizers of Thursday’s “An Evening With Joan,” the San Diego Hospice dinner dance at which philanthropist Joan Kroc was awarded the organization’s 1987 Humanitarian Award, had to come up with a last-minute answer to this most unusual of questions: “What if you gave a party and everybody came?”

The committee had anticipated 700 guests, an incredible turnout for a testimonial dinner and one quite sufficient to fill the La Jolla Marriott Grand Ballroom. They then discovered that the figure had been revised to something closer to 800. In the end, several tables were placed in the hallway, but near the doorways so that guests could still feel part of the proceedings. The event raised more than $195,000.

The sheer volume of the crowd promoted a nightlong feeling of togetherness that began at the private reception given in the Presidential Suite for Kroc, other major Hospice benefactors and committee members. Jammed into the ordinarily spacious suite like pickled herring in a jar, the guests--a cross section of local business, government, cultural and charitable leaders--all gravitated toward Kroc, whose pledge of $10 million is paying for the construction and outfitting of the Joan Kroc Hospice Center on Vauclain Point. This 24-bed facility for the terminally ill also will provide support services to patients’ families, and will accept the dying without regard to their ability to pay.

Kroc, whose preference for privacy is well-known, responded thoughtfully when asked if she had felt any apprehension about attending a party given in her honor.

‘I Wanted to Give’

“Probably,” she said. “Being honored is nice, but it isn’t my style. But I’m here because, while anybody can give money, I wanted to give of myself, too.”

Kroc also mentioned that the hospice was a five-year dream of hers, ever since her father was a resident in one.

“Tonight shows that dreams can come true, just like when the Padres took the pennant,” she said. Flashing a big grin, she added, “Now if we could just get those Padres going again!”

The Presidential Suite crowd included dinner chairman Tom Stickel; treasurer Murray Galinson; hotelier Larry Lawrence (sporting the outlines of a Lincolnesque beard begun on a recent camping trip in the Sierras); Padres President Chub Feeney and KFMB radio chief Paul Palmer, who was beaming from ear to ear.

“I’m keeping good company these days,” said Palmer. “In the space of three days, I’ve shaken hands with Joan Kroc and Pope John Paul II!”

The proceedings in the ballroom moved rather nicely, the committee having dispensed with the heavy burden of a head table in favor of extra room for the dance floor, kept crowded by the efforts of the Steven Spencer orchestra. (Kroc’s table was situated inconspicuously away from the dance floor and included St. Vincent de Paul Center President Father Joe Carroll and, making a rare party circuit appearance, Mayor Maureen O’Connor.)

The guests sailed through a dinner of Cornish hen in blueberry sauce and a Bavarian cream dessert, then settled in comfortably for the formal presentation. This portion of the program included a videotape of actress Mercedes McCambridge, actor Dom DeLuise and other Kroc cronies saying very nice things about their pal.

‘Keep the Candle Burning’

Author Norman Cousins, for 35 years the editor of Saturday Review and now an adjunct professor of humanities at the UCLA School of Medicine, presented the San Diego Hospice Humanitarian Award to Kroc. A longtime friend, he kept his remarks light-hearted.

“My connections with San Diego have gotten me in trouble, and I’ve been skating on thin ice ever since they caught me rooting for the Padres at a Dodgers game,” he announced, to much laughter.

After accepting the dove-shaped award, Kroc told the audience that the evening inspired her with hope. “If we all keep the candle burning in the window, we’ll be keeping alive the flame of hope,” she said. “Peace is a nonpartisan issue, and love, hope and heartache are nonpartisan, so we all have much more to bring us together than to divide us.”

Among the guests were Police Chief Bill Kolender and his wife, Lois; Helen Edison; Evelyn Truitt; Betsy Manchester; Arthur and Jeannie Rivkin; Bent and Lynn Petersen; Peter Stark; Ballard Smith; Joseph and Elizabeth Yamada; Councilman Bill Cleator, with Marilyn; John and Jane Murphy; Roger and Ellen Revelle; Art and Nancy Johnson; Holly Lorentson; Hospice President Richard Edwards; Blair and Georgia Sadler, and Donald Benjamin and his son Peter. The Benjamins have donated the Ellie Benjamin Memorial Garden at the hospice in memory of the late Mrs. Benjamin.

Saturday’s “Catalogue Caper” party at Neiman-Marcus certainly had its ups and downs.

Which is to say that the second annual treasure hunt and general extravaganza given by the Whittier Friends for the benefit of the Whittier Institute for Diabetes and Endocrinology kept its 400 guests on their toes and hopping .

The caper theme served several purposes, among them the introduction of the 1987 edition of the glamorous department store’s noted Christmas catalogue. But the theme primarily provided guests the opportunity to win one of 180 decidedly nice prizes (all donated by Neiman-Marcus suppliers) by joining in a game that kept the escalators jammed for a good two hours.

Upon arrival, each guest received a clue that, once deciphered, directed him to one of 17 departments, where boxes held further clues as well as prize tickets. If one drew a prize slip, the game ended (albeit on a cheerful note); otherwise, one continued on the paper chase until all the clue boxes were empty and all prizes had been won. This continual chasing resulted in merry mayhem on the escalators, and ensured that guests would learn their way around Neiman-Marcus.

Tired Feet

Clue champion Chuck Owen made nearly 50 escalator trips before the game ended, topping the record he set last year. Mike Madigan also played, but with a touch less enthusiasm. “It’s the women who shop here,” he said. “They know where everything is. I don’t!”

The endless dashing (“I feel like a ball bearing in a pinball machine,” commented one guest on his umpteenth trip from the first floor to the third) did take its toll. One player slumped into a chair, removed her shoes, massaged her feet and moaned, “My feet are so damn tired I don’t care if I never win anything. I’m not moving from this chair ever again.”

But there was refreshment for the weary, in the form of buffets and bars set up on every floor. Caterer John Baylin designed foods for a crowd on the go, including a Chinese lamb-and-noodle dish served up in restaurant-style take-out cartons.

The footsore also tended to forget their falling arches when prizes were awarded. As usual, the men won most of the gowns, dresses and negligees, promptly confiscated by their wives (Dodie Garner sported the dress won by husband Doug at last year’s caper); Diana Farr carried off one eagerly sought gift, a life-sized stuffed animal reproduction of Coco, the famous “talking” gorilla.

Co-chairmen Liz Smith and Karen Speidel arranged for a variety of entertainments, including dancing to the Murray Korda Orchestra and Columbus; jazz by the Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham ensemble; department store humor from comic Ritch Schydner, and cabaret singing by Tom and Wendy Blair.

The guest list included Whittier Friends President Janet Gallison with Walter Fitch; Joan and Al Arias; Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan; Audrey Geisel; Jeanne Jones and Jim Bowers; Sue and Ron Heller; Marian Smith with Dennis Muckerman; Carolyn and Cliff Colwell; Lisa and Joe Busalacchi; Maureen and Charles King; Jane and Tom Fetter; Cheryl Ayers; Kay North; Judith Harris with Robert Singer; Joy and Oren Owen; Karen Weseloh, and Tommi and Bob Adelizzi.

The invitations to the opening night dinner that preceded the Starlight Opera’s season-ending production of “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” promised a Texas-sized cocktail to anyone who turned out in a Texas Aggies letter jacket or shirt.

The invitation thus served up a healthy clue that the dinner would be no more formal than the musical, with the result that most of the 160 guests showed up in gingham, hats and boots. The more daring women--and there were a few of these--dressed in the mood of Miss Mona’s Chicken Ranch, the gone-but-not-forgotten establishment from which the play derives its name and spirit.

Given the other evening in the courtyard of the Aerospace Museum, the dinner was hosted by the Starlight Society staff, which took this first-ever opportunity seriously and arranged for a down-home party enlivened by the Stemware Steppers clogging troupe, and a Panhandle dinner of T-bone steaks, ranch beans and apple pie with cheese.

Feather Boas

The female staff members took pains to dress like denizens of Miss Mona’s place, which meant feather boas worn over nightgowns, and plenty of makeup. Starlight office manager Karen Salzmann said that the group went en masse on a shopping expedition to Frederick’s of Hollywood and didn’t leave until everyone had been provided a respectably sleazy get-up.

Among staffers hosting the evening were Carrie Jo Schober, Karen Landis, Patti Stallard, Sandra Swikard, Elinor Kjeldsen, Bob McGlade, Danny Martin and Starlight co-artistic directors Don and Bonnie Ward.

The guest list included Amy and Brute Krulak, Gloria and Olin Bell, Cindy and Jim Ingham, Rose Mary and Alan Toffler, Reba Brophy and daughter Rebecca, Rosemary Taylor, Lola and Al Renzulli, Jeannette and Tom Short, and Monette and Adam Kupiec.