Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 20, 1993 TAG: 9307210058
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALMENA HUGHES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Club Vice President Carole Macklin Harris stretched languidly at the prospect and popped a cheese cube from an hors d'oeuvres tray into her mouth. She was joined on a recent Saturday afternoon by President Veranean S. Davis, Historian Gloria Wingfield Wilson and Secretary Phyllis Christine Williams in munching snacks, swapping memories and finalizing trip plans.
"The Exquisite Social Club was organized in 1974 in tribute to Lucy Addison High School, to continue the spirit of unity experienced and cherished among the Class of 1961," Davis read to a reporter from a prepared statement.
"We have touched the Roanoke community by providing activities, services and stressing black unity among all generations of the Lucy Addison High School family."
Ice tinkled softly in the women's beverages as, between sips, they spoke straight-lacedly of their church involvements and numerous civic deeds. But there was an unmistakable undercurrent in the room, like when a parent lumbers into the midst of a teens' slumber birthday party.
In a way, you could say that the Exquisites were planning a slumber birthday party - to mark that, as of September, all their members will be age 50.
"It's going to be like a big sleepover," Harris said. "We've got suites at the hotel in Natural Bridge, and we're going to do our makeup, do our nails, do our hair, stay up all night talking, read. . . . "
"We could take the scrapbooks and straighten them out," historian Wilson suggests hopefully.
"Naaaah!!!"
"We can learn some new dance steps," Harris says with a grin and a twist of her hips. "I've got a couple of exercise videos, too," she adds.
"Naaaah!!!"
"We don't have to drive," Williams says. "No designated driver, get it?" she says with a double wink, drawing from the others first snickers, then hoots.
Now, normally you'd think of these women more as pillars than partyers. Harris is a schoolteacher in Franklin County. Wilson is a nurse at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem. Williams is a secretary for Roanoke city schools. Davis sells cosmetics and cares for a child. But clearly, they plan to party at least part time during their special weekend.
In their early years together, they wistfully recall, they could really revel. Their meetings often segued into nights out with their husbands and boyfriends that lasted into the wee hours of the morning. They sponsored several trips to the Roanokers' Ball - a big annual social event for black Roanokers held in Washington, D.C. And they may have been the first black group to hold a large-scale dance at the Hotel Roanoke on New Year's Eve 1978.
But in addition to their merrymaking, over the years the group: has served as auxiliary members to Burrell Memorial Hospital; sponsored debutantes; donated Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to the needy; donated money for exam textbooks for black firefighters; sponsored exercise and beauty classes for women over 30; sponsored a teen dance and a fun day for black youth; given money to the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Kiddy Cotillion, Camp Jaycee and their respective churches; and served on the Addison reunion committee.
One year, they sponsored a child through the Roanoke County Department of Social Services. They spent time with him, taking him to movies and fun days, and each month, they gave him a gift - some needed, like school clothing; others just wanted, like a shiny new red bike.
The members, who the club's bylaws stipulate must be from the Addison class of '61, are especially enthusiastic about their alma mater. For its Grand Reunion in '92, they designed and sold commemorative blue on white T-shirts emblazoned "The Addison Spirit . . . Still Going."
"Hey, why don't we all wear Addison T-shirts and white shorts when the limo picks us up?" Davis suggests. Harris says she prefers to dress up for the occasion.
"Well, I don't know if there are any triple-X sizes left anyway," one of them mumbles just loud enough to be heard.
The others look at the ceiling, at the floor, anywhere to prevent exploding from pent-up laughter as they wait for the remark to register. Suddenly, it clicks.
"Y'all are not talking about me, I know," Harris says, faking a glare at the mirth-filled faces surrounding her. Those same faces that she's seen filled with joy over the births of members' babies, neutrality over members' domestic discords, concern over members' illnesses and personal hardships and sorrow over deaths of their loved ones.
"We can fight like cats and dogs among ourselves. But nobody else better get in it," Davis warns.
On the designated Friday, the members' eyes brighten at the sight of a long, white Cartier limousine come to fetch them. This time, Treasurer Yvonne Martin Robinson, Assistant Treasurer Regina Hamm Jones and Chaplain Margie Bryant Finney also are present. Driver T.C. Banks royally escorts each member to the car and gets her settled in.
The women aren't exactly waiting by the curb with their bags, as they had threatened to do. But they're so on time, the Cadillac is able to head for Natural Bridge almost a half-hour ahead of schedule.
Over the weekend, the Exquisites say, they hope to clarify the group's direction and strengthen their commitment to each other.
"We're leaving as best friends and sisters and hope to return the same," Wilson says.
The following Tuesday, you can hear her smile through the phone as Harris tells a reporter, "The weekend was everything we imagined and more."
She says the group visited the wax museum and walked to the end of the bridge. They spent hours chatting on the hotel's veranda.
They painted their nails, experimented with their makeup and hair, ate whatever they wanted, didn't exercise. They rented movies and talked so much during them that they always lost the plots. They stayed up till 3 a.m. and slept till they felt like getting up.
They read novels and didn't once work on the scrapbooks. But they did consider some possible future projects and decide to become more civic- and charity-oriented.
Most important, they recommitted themselves to each other and to their club - whose symbol is a diamond; flower, a white carnation; which has a special prayer, bylaws and dues; and whose meetings open with devotions and close with the pledge: "Sisters, forever."
by CNB