Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 10, 1993 TAG: 9308130230
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Kathleen Wilson
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On most days, Sidney Miller is the regional manager for Leggett. But late Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of the Roanoke Airport Marriott, Sidney was one of the many celebrants at the 45th anniversary of the Roanoke Rescue Mission.
The parking lot was an appropriate location for kicking off the party. Donors scaled flatbed trucks to sign the logs they had purchased as part of a recent fund-raising campaign to build a day camp in Salem for homeless children.
"Bob, can you get up here?" Jo Oliver asked her husband. " 'Cause you print so pretty." Together the couple dedicated a log to the memory of her parents, Elsie and Bill Hylton.
Bill Hunter and his family provided the bluegrass music. Ben, the youngest at 2, was banging on a guitar with one string and singing along.
"It's a BASS!" Ben corrected me. That made sense. The guitar was a bit bigger than he was.
This warm, casual party was an appropriate celebration for the Rescue Mission. Most everyone wore jeans. But there certainly was no lack of class among the hundreds who came.
I got a big kick out sitting next to Tom Hunter, who at 23, is a charming dinner companion.
During dinner inside a Marriott ballroom, Lois Bettis Johnson and her daughter, Joy Sylvester-Johnson, the Mission's director of development, took microphones around the room and introduced some special people.
Wayne Smith, who sat at my table, told us how he'd literally crawled into the Mission 10 years ago. Now he's a deacon at church and celebrating 10 years of sobriety.
Across the room, Tom Fisher described the Mission as "the only place where you can go to church seven days a week."
Alison Oldham came all the way from Liverpool, England, to volunteer at the Mission this summer. The 20-year-old thanked the Mission for the privilege of letting her live there.
"This summer I learned that there's not a particular kind of person who becomes homeless," Alison told me earlier. "It happens to people because of a variety of situations. Situations that could happen to any of us."
Diane Whitehead of Terrifics Catering looked a lot like a Secret Service agent running around with headset microphone. Buzz Scanland, general manager for Mountain Lake Hotel, was mumbling, "We can't have our heart attacks until tomorrow."
It was like being in the eye of the hurricane. We were in the midst of the single biggest party ever thrown at Mountain Lake.
There were 14 ice sculptures, each lit with a single spotlight. A huge white tent supported with poles wrapped in illusion netting and encircled with flowers. There was room for 700 guests at the tables covered with white cloths and flowers and candles.
Hundreds of long-stemmed roses lost their lives for this event.
They called the party Midsummer's Night Dream in the Mountains. And only the best would do for the guests of Georges Bourelle, vice president of Prevost, the leading manufacturer of top-of-the-line motorcoaches.
"A Rolls Royce is the Prevost of cars," explained Joe Craig, vice president and general manager of U.S. operations.
This party was a successful collaboration between Mountain Lake chef Steve Williams - who also did all the ice carvings - and my favorite caterer and party planner, Diane Whitehead of Blacksburg.
Prevost motorcoaches will run you anywhere from $400,000 to $800,000. So a party for folks with that kind of disposable income just had to be the very best.
Which explains why we were eating antelope. (Yes, antelope! And it was darned good!)
Diane named every single piece of food. At the Small Wonders of the Sea table, there were flambe brandied crabs and scallops in amaretto sauce in puff pastry.
The scallops were a particular favorite of the guys I ate with. Geoff Barton of California went to college on a tennis scholarship, was an alternate for the U.S. Olympic sailing team and claimed to have been a contestant on television's "Studs."
Geoff looked just like - I swear! - Jason Priestly of "Beverly Hills 90210."
Geoff works for Gary Villa of Villa Furniture in Anaheim, Calif. Gary, a seasoned conventioner, was carrying around this little box that made a sound like a horse whinneying. He was bummed out that someone named Neil Lynch had missed this party.
"He's a really great guy who usually brings plastic ants with him to parties like this," Gary explained.
Somehow the party went on without Neil, and everyone had a marvelous time.
by CNB