San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
HERITAGE DEBS CURTSY AT 77TH COTILLION
One of our favorite former debutantes was MIA at the Palace Hotel during the 77th Cotillion Debutante Ball on Dec. 22.
But Cameron Phleger had a very good excuse: The day before, she and her husband, Michael Horwitz, welcomed their first child into the world (huzzah!) — thus ensuring the future pool of cotillion escorts.
Hosted by the august ladies of the Cotillion Club Committee, this year’s presentation of 15 young ladies making their formal curtsy to a social milieu composed of founding Peninsula and San Francisco families was smaller than previous balls.
Yet generational ties among the debutantes and 500 guests ran deep. Debutantes Elaine Wisnom Kastner and Whitney Thorn Wisnom are first cousins. Olivia Huntington de Polo descends from the pioneering railroad baron whose surname graces the famous Nob Hill hotel once owned by the late Dorothy “Dolly” Fritz Cope, whose granddaughter, Lucinda Swearengen, was among this debutante class.
“You have to be careful what you say around here,” noted Judy Flood Otter, with a laugh. “Everyone’s somehow related.”
And former debutante Anne Giannini McWilliams (a granddaughter of Bank of America founder A. P. Giannini) was celebrating her 70th cotillion from the dais as she proudly watched her granddaughter, Caitlyn McWilliams, expertly nail her curtsy.
Oh, and dashing actor Don Johnson (who used to live in San Francisco while filming his “Nash Bridges” TV series) was also on hand, decked out in white-tie and tails, with his wife, former cotillion debutante Kelley Phleger Johnson (and Cameron’s big sister), as their daughter, Grace Johnson, made her debut.
“After my debut, my mother’s friends finally began to call me by my name and I was allowed to call them by theirs, instead of, say, Mrs. Rosekrans,” recalled Beatrice Bowles, who debuted in 1962. “It was a transformational ritual as these women welcomed me into their circle of friends.”
Her daughter, Jane Cafe restaurateur Amanda Michael admitted to being a sort of rebel debutante, as evidenced by the exquisite tattoo dragon peeking
2018 COTILLION DEBUTANTES
Olivia Huntington de Polo
Penelope Valentine Devlin
Jane Lucretia Gamble
Atherton Grace Johnson
Elaine Wisnom Kastner
Sibyl Anna Kaufman
Holly Lorraine Lawrence
Caitlyn Mariah McWilliams
Electa Macy Narasin
Sarah Brooks Rogers
Hanna Bransten Rumsey
Claire Kelton Ryland
Lucinda Dorothy Fritz Swearengen
Whitney Thorn Wisnom
Abigail Grace Wolfenden out from the back of her gown.
Michael debuted in 1986 with her pal, Kelley Johnson. And this year, their daughters, Grace Johnson and Jane Gamble, debuted together.
“Kelley and I were laughing at rehearsal yesterday,” said Michael. “I received a ‘dress violation’ from the cotillion committee because I wore a straight column gown instead of one with a full skirt.”
Though Kelley Johnson now lives in Southern California, she cherishes the cotillion as a time to gather with her extended family that descends from her late grandfather, Herman Phleger, a prominent San Francisco attorney and Nuremberg trial prosecutor.
“Grace loves tradition, her Northern California family, and is excited to be a part of this,” says Johnson of her daughter, a university student and budding model. “Amanda and I both had our baby girls at the same time. Whenever we’d visit, they’d be side by side on the couch. It’s funny how life intertwines.”
Fare thee well: Yet life is also heartbreaking. A mere 24 hours later, cotillion guests were devastated to learn that a Presidio Heights house fire took the lives of their friends, former stockbroker Mike Hooker (whose grandfather, Samuel F.B. Morse, founded Pebble Beach) and his wife, Connie Colladay Hooker, a former bank executive.
Friends recalled how the Hookers always added exuberance to
with his debutante daughter Grace Johnson and wife, Kelley Phleger Johnson at the Cotillion Dec. 22, 2018. any gathering. And in their retirement, they continued to live joyfully — whether traveling, growing roses or entertaining their large circle of friends and extended family.
At one point during the cotillion, the crowd parted and I almost bumped right into the always upbeat Mrs. Hooker. Seeing me juggle my camera, notebook and cellphone, she laughed knowingly.
“You’ve got your work cut out for you tonight,” she said, beaming. “Merry Christmas.”
Catherine Bigelow is The San Francisco Chronicle’s society correspondent. Email: missbigelow@sfgate.com Instagram: @missbigelow
and her brother, Sean McWilliams, at the Cotillion at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco.