Debutante! The very name evokes images of young women in long white gowns twirling in the arms of young men dressed in white tie and tails or tuxedos and black tie. Or does it? How many young people today even know what “white tie and tails” means? Or twirling women in white dresses? Twerking is the word of the first quarter of the 21st Century. Elegance is a memory. However, in 1960, it was still very real for many well-bred,…
On the night of my debutante ball, Richard Nixon, who was Vice President, and his wife, Pat, came over early with their two adolescent daughters, Julie and Tricia. They wanted to see the tent and the decorations before the extraordinary debutante party my parents gave for me at Underoak, our beautiful estate. Walter Sharon, the florist, was there, too, working on the flowers. Ridgewells Caterers were setting up for the breakfast to be served later. The “A 1 Tent Company”…
