Looking around the gargantuan new mansion of Christy Thompson and Stephen Hill that had been years in the making, one guest at the Crystal Charity Ball Circle of Angels Dinner on Thursday, November 2, wished aloud that s/he had worn their walk-about shoes to get a better feel for the 24,000-square-foot-plus house and grounds.
Said another of the evening’s 120 or so guests, back in an anteroom after concluding a quick tour: “They might have people living here they don’t know about!”
It wasn’t hard to see why the sprawling, multi-story home in Volk Estates was all the buzz.
Immediately upon entering, guests like Laura and Jason Downing, Judy and Scott Mitchell, Michal Powell with her son Caleb Powell, Carmen and Don Godwin, Jennifer and David Lancashire, Lauryn Gayle White, Lee Bailey with Sharon Merwin, Minnie Caruth and Anne McPherson encountered an upsweeping set of two dramatic, black-and-white marble stairs with chrome and glass banisters leading to the next level, where several chamber-type musicians were playing tasteful, uptempo party songs like “Stand By Me.”
“I love the violinist on the stairs,” one guest remarked. “That’s a nice touch.”
Down below the musicians a tall-ceilinged Great Room had been laid out beautifully with seven tables for the dinner, which was being prepared —and had been donated — by Cassandra.
Just off the Great Room was the Game Room, adorned with a mounted deer head and a sizeable Rat Pack photo depicting Frank, Dean, Sammy and Peter. Five more dinner tables had been set up there.
As guests like Candace and John Winslow, Louise and Joe LaManna, Pat and Charles McEvoy, Kim and Greg Hext, Stacy and David Blank and Lisa and Clay Cooley thronged both rooms and the patio during the cocktail hour, their chatter eventually veered away from discussion about the house.
Eric Gambrell said he was about to run his 30th marathon — this one in December, in Sacramento, California — while others shared talk about the gathering for Donald Trump that had been held the previous night at the home of Lisa and Kenny Troutt.
A good-natured Ken Christensen was a tad red-faced after having undergone a significant skin treatment (“My face feels like it’s burning,” he said). Meantime, Dinner Chair Mary Clare Finney was asked about progress on the renovation of her property in Volk Estate. She had hoped to have spent the night before at the home, she said. But something went awry, so the plan was delayed.
When someone suggested she should name the property after William Randolph Hearst‘s San Simeon estate, that lit a match in the crowd, with Daffan and Doug Nettle joining Mary Clare in reminiscing about their visits to the California landmark. Their favorite highlight? The indoor and outdoor pools, hands-down.
Soon enough it was time for 2023 Crystal Charity Ball Chair Angie Kadesky to formally welcome everyone. She chose to do so not from high on the stairs, but from a crowded spot in the Great Room.
She’d scarcely gotten a word out before someone cracked loudly, “Where are you, girl?!”
Angie went on to surprise the group by noting that this night was the 25th anniversary of the Circles of Angels Dinner — the brainchild of CCB member Jill Smith that’s intended to recognize the charity’s biggest donors in the lead-up to the annual Ball.
Angie also reported that the CCB was “very much on our way to fully funding our commitments this year” — the goal is $6,686,131 — before turning things over to Dan Berner, whose Deloitte firm has sponsored the Circle of Angels Dinner for the last 17 years.
Like others at the event, Dan couldn’t help chiming in about the home of the evening’s hosts. “I have a confession to make,” he said with a smile. “We may have taken a few pictures of the house. If that’s a problem, I can turn in my phone.”
For more looks of the evening, check out MySweetCharity Photo Gallery.