Fiesta for the Last, Least and Lost

There seemed a hidden significance to the star-shaped pinatas that twirled above the tables at Fiesta, the 1988 version of the annual dinner-dance and auction celebrating the 61st anniversary of Episcopal Community Services.

In the eyes of event chairman Betty Walker, the 400 patrons who crowded the Sheraton Harbor Island’s Grand Ballroom each became a star for the evening by lending support to ECS.

The fiesta theme is a natural for these parts, one that the guests seemed to greet with enthusiasm. The invitations offered the option of black tie or fiesta attire, and the latter choice led to everything from San Diego backyard barbecue to gaucho and, in one or two cases, gauche. It was a colorful group that seemed attuned to the business of making merry.

The cause behind the celebration, however, never fell beneath the party’s surface. ECS and its 23 countywide programs, which will assist 200,000 people this year, repeatedly popped up in conversations. Among the many programs are a residence for homeless and abused women and children, several centers for drug abusers and recovering alcoholics, an employment program for the homeless and a program to help find jobs for recently released prisoners.

ECS spokeswoman Patt Casey said the programs focus on “the last, the least and the lost.”

“We take everyone, and that’s what makes our services unique,” said Casey. “No matter how down and out a person may be, we have some program that should fit his or her needs. Nobody else wants to deal with the homeless mentally ill, but we do.” (ECS operates a clubhouse for that group.)

A feature of the silent auction that enlivened the cocktail hour (and considerably fattened the evening’s proceeds) was the “angel tree,” a Christmas tree cut-out hung with angel ornaments donated, and, in some cases made, by the 39 members of the ECS board. The ornaments symbolized the angels that are presumed to be looking out for ECS clients. The purchaser will receive in December a live tree to hold the 39 angels.

Besides benefiting ECS, the evening also brought members of the Episcopal Diocese together in a social setting. Bishop C. Brinkley Morton, honorary Fiesta chairman and head of the Episcopal Diocese of San Diego, said, before offering the invocation, “It’s wonderful to have the family of Christ come together to have fun for a good cause.”

Guests danced to the Wayne Foster Orchestra between dinner courses that ran from saffron soup to pollo madrileno and an elaborate dessert mousse. Afterward, the bidding occasionally grew fierce during the auction that featured fancy food packages in addition to the ever-popular trips and local getaways. Two of the more indulgent offerings were a pair of baskets crammed with choice chocolates and enrollment in a cake-of-the-month program donated by one of the city’s premier patisseries .

The Fiesta committee included honorary co-chairman Virginia Morton; ECS executive director Glenn Allison; Gloria Roetter; Duff Tomkins; the Rev. Ned Kellogg; Diane Mitchell; Bert Potts; Shirley Vialpando; Penny Williams; Jane Clifford; Dollie Pion; Christopher Carstens and Elizabeth Davidson.

Among the guests were Ed Chapin, ECS board president, and his wife, Debbie Malloy; Melesse and Bob Traylor; Sue and Gene Dramm; Mimi and Bob Morris; Meredith and Phillips Montross; Barbara and Harold Bright; Janet and Richard Gilman; Audrey and Donald Dinning; Rena and James Parks; Mary Lou and Robert Orphey, and Katie and Lex Williamson.

The sunny first week of April turned out to be a difficult time for Philistines.

A spiritually related pair of events, given Tuesday and Wednesday at UC San Diego and the San Diego Museum of Art, offered a kind of baptism by total immersion to both thoroughly committed arts patrons and waverers. Few who attended either event--and none of the many who turned out for both--remained unconverted to the arts by the time the sun blinked Thursday morning.

A very (make that very ) high-powered guest list of 240 showed up before 6 p.m. for Tuesday’s “The Arts at UCSD,” a multimedia presentation of the best the university has to offer, coupled with a reception, dinner, art tours and performances.

Benefit chairman Betty DeBakcsy said the evening was planned to seed a town-and-gown dialogue to involve prominent arts backers who may previously have been unaware of the university’s programs.

“We wanted to bring to the gallery a lot of old-time San Diegans who have never been here,” DeBakcsy said. “They’ve lived here all their lives and didn’t know what was happening in the arts departments at this university. Everybody knows about UCSD and science--now they’ll know how lively the arts are here.”

The indoctrination program was intense. Those who felt like going for a stroll joined Stuart Collection director Mary Beebe for a tour of three monumental outdoor sculptures, each commissioned to suit its particular site. The program moved next to the Mandeville Art Gallery for a reception and a tour of works executed by UCSD’s visual arts faculty. Works by 14 faculty members filled the gallery; all drew considerable attention, but the one that provoked both wonder and delight was a wild sculpture titled “Bunk Bed.”

The ringing of the dinner bell called guests in for a sneak preview of the new Ida and Cecil Green Faculty Club, which had not yet been dedicated and which doubtless will become the envy of faculties elsewhere. Chancellor Richard Atkinson spoke during a break in the chicken piccata dinner, stressing the university’s desire to become known as an artistic force.

“What has not always been recognized about UCSD is that we have excellent departments in the humanities and in the arts,” said Atkinson. “We emphasize the creative artist, which makes us unique in the UC system and somewhat unique among American universities.”

This emphasis became obvious as the evening progressed, especially after the group adjourned to Mandeville Auditorium for a program that began with a short concert of Chopin impromptus by pianist Cecil Lytle and continued with cabaret performances by graduate students in the professional theater training program.

The guest list was headed by Minerva Kunzel, chairman of the Board of Overseers’ Arts and Humanities Committee, and her husband, Herbert. Others were Beverly and Bill Muchnic, Marge and Fielder Lutes, Elinor Oatman, Dian and Ray Peet, Anne and Abe Ratner, Leila and Marshall Taylor, Mollie and Arthur Wagner, Jean Stern, Pat and Hugh Carter, Emily and Dean Black, Marie and Dean Dunphy, Jeanne and Gordon T. Frost, Frank Kockritz, and Liz and Mason Phelps.

A definite sense of occasion accompanied Wednesday’s opening at the San Diego Museum of Art of “The Walbridge Legacy,” an exhibit of more than 90 paintings and sculptures collected by Barbara Walbridge and the late Norton S. Walbridge. It includes works by such pivotal 20th-Century American and European artists as Georgia O’Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Milton Avery and Henry Moore.

Planned for a select guest list of fewer than 200 major museum supporters, the event also included the dedication of Gallery 12 as the Barbara and Norton Walbridge Gallery. The formalities were brief and sweet--the intention seemed to be to allow guests the maximum opportunity to examine the exhibit--and consisted of witty remarks by museum President Joseph Hibben. After commending Walbridge for her generosity, Hibben offered the leading arts patron a pair of scissors, which in a single snip ushered in a new era for the museum. After the reception, many guests went to La Jolla for a celebratory dinner at La Valencia hosted by Judy and James Ridgway.

Among the guests were Walbridge’s daughters, Patricia Ahlbrandt and Julia Berkhaut; museum director Steven Brezzo and his wife, Dagmar; Katy and Michael Dessent; Sue and Charles Edwards; Jodi and Lee Estep; Martha and George Gafford; Norma and Ollie James.