CZ Guest and Dr. Scott Wells |
GRENVILLE
BAKER BOYS AND GIRLS
Adele Smithers-Fornaci Fete
At Old Westbury’s Sunridge
Story
by Roger Webster
Photos by Gandalf Gavan
 HE
Grenville Baker Boys and Girls Club honored Adele
Smithers-Fornaci at a black tie dinner dance held on the lawn
and terraces of Sunridge, the home of top plastic surgeon Dr. Scott
Wells and his decorator wife Kathleen Wells, in Old
Westbury, Long Island.
One
of the major focuses of the Grenville Baker Boys and Girls Club, is
to educate youngsters on the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
Ms.
Fornaci was a suitable honoree. Not only did she donate $500,000 of
the $800,000 raised by the gala, but her late husband R. Brinkley
Smithers was one of the founders of the club. He was a grateful
recovering alcoholic and one of the patriarchs of the alcoholism
recovery movement. She is the current president of The Christopher
Smithers Foundation, which is celebrating the fiftieth year of
treating substance abuse.
Robert Tartarini,
Adele Smithers-Fornaci,
Kathy Wells, Christopher Robbins |
The
350 guests included ageless and beautiful CZ Guest and her
daughter Cornelia (they started off with a smart cocktail
overlooking the garden at their nearby home, Templeton); the
Metropolitan Museum’s Hamish Bowles; stunning Mary Kay
Moulton, who owns a very winning King Charles Cavalier Spaniel
named Nicholas; Tony Award winning costume designer William Ivey
Long; top interior designers Robert Tartarini and Todd
Romano; Bergdorf Goodman’s Robert Burke; Robert and Richard
Dupont, Roz and Joseph Milana with their
grandchildren Spencer, Hunter and Austin Wells; Melony
Mazzeo; Howard Cain; Devon Menges; Ross Meltzer; Barbet Smith; Jen
Charleston; David Greenough; and the evening’s emcee John
Gambling.
Chairs
and committee members included Anne Finley, Susan Lenior, Toni
O’Hara, Nikki Smithers, handsome Christopher Robbins, Liz
Mocorrea, Wendy Grant and Peter Colgrove.
Vegetable Napolean by
Robbins Wolfe Eventeurs |
The
evening was divine – warm and breezy with the joyousness of June
literally floating on the air. The tables were covered with cinnamon
silk printed with renderings of blue and white Chinese
export-pieces, donated by Scalamandri.
Kathy
Wells used candles in hurricane globes on footed bamboo trays, mint julep
cups filled with flowers by Scarsella’s, and suspended rice paper
lanterns to create a romantic ambiance. Evans & Towers
Productions played and sang irresistible music, which kept the dance
floor busy.
Robbins
Wolfe Eventeurs served a delicious dinner of Vegetable Napoleon
(grilled spring vegetables, layered with fresh mozzarella and herbed
ricotta on a plate with roasted asparagus spears and basil oil and
balsamic molasses drizzles), seared tenderloin of beef with green
peppercorn horseradish sauce, golden corn pudding, glazed baby
carrots, haricots verts with lemon butter, and individual blueberry
and strawberry cobblers
baked under a cinnamon crumb crust accompanied by a sauce of fresh
whipped cream and creme anglaise.
Sunridge |
For
fifty-two years, this annual party has always been considered the
opening of the little social season during which the North Shore
becomes home to many New York City socialites.
Debutantes
have often been presented here. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were
frequent guests.
It
has traditionally taken place on one of the Gold Coast’s most
legendary estates, including Sherrell and Muffie Potter Aston’s
Land’s End Manor in 2000, as well as those of George F. Baker,
Jr., Shelby Brian, and Oliver R. Grace. Last year, the
party was held in a private club, so it was nice to have it back in
a home again.
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