The Crowd: Luminaires gather for Doheny Eye Institute
A Newport crowd made an annual pilgrimage to downtown Los Angeles to enjoy a luncheon and fashion show at the old-world California Club.
The April 16 journey was to benefit the Doheny Eye Institute on the occasion of its 40th annual spring gathering of the Luminaires, a women’s auxiliary. By the end of the afternoon an impressive $150,000 was raised to assist the Doheny Eye Institute “in its continuing mission to restore, preserve, and improve human eyesight through vision research and a full range of ophthalmic services performed by internationally recognized doctors.”
The Newport crowd contributing to the success included Balboa Island residents Elizabeth Shonk and Susan Wofford. The women joined Betsy Ulf of Pasadena serving as co-chairs of the event. Another Balboa resident Barbara Nielsen coordinated the fashion show, which featured the 2015 spring collection of couture designer Lourdes Chaves.
The Doheny ladies have a long association with Chaves, favoring her designs that feature both vibrant prints and strong solids as well as flowing gowns made of luxurious fabrics, which garnered the enthusiastic applause of the luncheon crowd.
The day at the Doheny Eye Institute benefit began with a champagne welcome and plenty of mingling in a pop-up boutique featuring a wide array of fashion merchandise. The luncheon crowd included Winnie Reitnouer, Ollie Rados Lynn, Gail Titus, Dawn Stephan, Janet Marangi and Kandi Wopschall of La Canada, president of the Luminaires, the ladies auxiliary in support of the Eye Institute. The ladies moved into the posh California Club dining room decorated for the day by the talented Dennis Richichi of Jacob Maarse Florists of Pasadena.
The assemblage was presented with a dining room decorated with tables covered in floor-length raspberry linens overlaid with a square of apple-green toile. The table décor was designed to complement the rich raspberry colored draperies in the California Club dining room highlighted with spot lighting. Floral centerpieces of fully blooming pink tulips and roses, interspersed with sprigs of apple blossom and apple green hydrangeas set the elegant mood.
Welcome speeches and introductions began with pianist Robert Carpenter creating an arrangement of the song “An Affair To Remember” from which the spring benefit luncheon took its name. Making the financial success of the day possible were dedicated Doheny committee members including Joan Bolton, Mary Cooper, Charlotte Acret, Sally Clark, Sonia Hathaway and Barbara Heublein. Also supporting the Doheny cause were Nancy Hulick, Judy Kloner, Suzanne Sposato, Bonnie Thomas, Dianne Thurman and Kathy Weber.
The Doheny Eye Institute was founded in 1947 by Estelle Doheny. Her mission was inspired by her own personal experience with glaucoma and the need for improved care. In 1975 in Los Angeles, a women’s support group known as the Luminaires was founded by Mary Crary and launched with a luncheon for 20 women at the California Club.
Forty years later, the Luminaires have grown to a membership of 250 supporters and have raised nearly $7.5 million to assist in the Eye Institute’s extraordinary research. The Doheny Eye Institute is affiliated with USC and today serves as both a major United States and international center for vision research, education and advanced patient care.
In Orange County, the Doheny Eye Center partners with UCLA Orange County, with offices in Fountain Valley. To learn more about the work of the Doheny Eye Institute, please visit https://www.doheny.org.
THE CROWD runs Fridays and Saturdays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.
