ENGAGEMENTS : McDermott-Brittingham

Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Otis Booth Jr. of Bel-Air hosted a family party to announce the betrothal of her daughter, Ashley Cummins Brittingham, to Jeffrey Alan McDermott.

The bride-elect, a graduate of Marlborough School and of Southern Methodist University, is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and of the Spinsters, Los Angeles. Her father is the late Thomas Evans Brittingham.

Her stepfather, a private investor/rancher, served as group vice president of Times Mirror Co. and as chairman of Publisher’s Paper Co. He is the great grandson of Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, founder of Times Mirror Co., the parent company of the Los Angeles Times.

The bridegroom-to-be, a vice president of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets in Westwood, is a graduate of UC Berkeley where he was affiliated with Phi Gamma Delta; he also received a master’s degree from the UCLA School of Business.

McDermott’s parents are William John McDermott of Los Altos Hills, founder and retired chief executive officer of Pacific Computer Corp., and Mrs. Cleary McDermott of Los Altos.