Birmingham News (AL){PUBLICATION2}
Section: LIFESTYLE
Page: 06-E
Illustration: NEWS STAFF PHOTO/BEVERLY TAYLOR

Ordinary boxes have become artwork being admired by, from left, Joyce Hudson, Teresa Kirkwood, Jenifer Given and Borden Burr. P art of the fun of a gift is concealing it in a box, festively wrapped and tied with ribbon.

Susan Strickland
Most shoppers opt for the complimentary wrap although some may splurge for a custom package. No matter the exterior, tucked away inside is something selected with care especially for the person receiving it.

So it is with the Hope Chest Auction on Friday. Every box will be custom wrapped.
Noted artists have painted, pasted, stitched and turned ordinary boxes into works of art. These miniature chests are symbols of full-size Hope Chests into which is put a family history selected with thought – photographs, gifts for milestones ahead, mementos. Hope Chests are a way to help the children of parents with AIDS deal with grief and loss.

Hope Chest Auction, complete with food and music, will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Clary Sage Gallery in the Dr. Pepper complex. Janice Rogers and Pat McReynolds will emcee. After a silent auction of the miniature chests, John Forney will be auctioneer for the live auction.

Planning the benefit are Teresa Kirkwood, Becky Berte, Rosalee Giattina, Borden Burr, Jennifer Given and Robin Richeson.

Hope Chest Auction benefits Family Pairs program of Children’s Aid Society. Part of the program is to provide Hope Chests and to help parents put a heritage inside it.

Some of the artists creating boxes are Robin Richeson, Maud CoirierBelser, Laura Lee Samford, Jennifer Given, Perle Champion, Rachel Dodson, Jon Coffelt, Sybil Sylvester, Jane Longshore and Bettie Cox, Joyce Hudson, Johnathan Bloom, Lila GravesBloom, Danza Masters, Kit Samford, Alice Hammell, Nat Andrews, AntJuan Oden, Jennifer Bennett, Charlotte Rose, Chrissie Little, Laura Secord, Kay Sasser, Jess Marie Walker, Shawn Boley, Richard Carnaggio, Frieda Hall, Laure FreudenbergerCarlisle, Shirley Farmer, Alice Pederson, Rowland Scherman, Karen Ohlman, Terri Murdoch, Susan Oliver, Cindy Owen, Amasa Smith, Toni Tully, Frank Fleming, Maralyn Wilson, Stacey Cohen, Chris Clark, Niva Reardon, Patty Woods, Elizabeth Holmes, Frank Kirk, Stephen Ledford, Jon Ledford and B.J. Morgan.

Family Pairs provides a range of services and support to the HIV-affected family. Services include friendship, transportation, even help to identify a permanent home for the children. Bon fete St. Mark’s Cathedral in Shreveport was the setting for the 7 p.m. wedding May 17 of Warner McGowin and Amy Sealy. May flowers appeared everywhere, marking pews and in graceful compositions with all white flowers throughout the sanctuary.

A full program of music was performed by an orchestra assembled by Laura Crawford and made up of professionals from the Shreveport Symphony and advanced students from the Centenary Suzuki School.

The reception followed at The Shreveport Club. The bride is the daughter of Diane and Scott Sealy of Shreveport.

Warner is the son of Emmy and Travis McGowin, who entertained after the rehearsal with a dinner at The Petroleum Club.

Family friends attending the wedding discovered the joy of a Cajun throw-down. Early arrivals started with shrimp busters at Herby K’s and later a crawfish and shrimp boil – fried alligator, too – at the home of the bride’s parents. The wedding day had a pleasant beginning at a jazz brunch at the home of Jon and Michelle Petersen.

Day-after-wedding brunch was a last bon fete for guests. Grillades, grits and quail were the fare at the Sealy’s camp at Bistineau on a bayou amid cypress trees dripping with Spanish moss.

Family and friends of the bridegroom were Emily McGowin and Jeff Payne, Warner’s grandmother Emily Warner, Judge and Sherry McGowin of Mobile, JoAnne and Nick Gaede, Anne Gaede, Pat Kilpatrick, Frances Robinson, Billy Robinson, Jane and Cecil Morgan, Toni and Albert Tully, Adele and Chuck Colvin, Nancy Wagnon, Beverly and Harry Register, Sara Ellen and Joe Archie of Raleigh, N.C., Tom Archie of Charlotte and DeeDee and Earl Bloom.

Warner and Amy’s friends included Jon Van Wezel, Maye Head, Lea Shaun Jacobson, Missy Bynum, Julie Allison, Vaughan Skinner and Kristin Wilfong, Michael and Kana Goldsmith, Chandler Busby, Mary Claire St. John, Jamie Hollingsworth of Atlanta, Charles Robinson of Durham, N.C., Jenny and Billy Walker, Duncan Hulsey of Memphis and Lori and Richard Patterson.

In April, friends of Emmy and Travis entertained for the couple. The home of Jane and Cecil Morgan was the setting for the dinner party with a band. Hosts with the Morgans were DeeDee and Earl Bloom, Helen Camp, Adele and Chuck Colvin, JoAnne and Nick Gaede, Millie and Billy Hulsey, Douglas and Tommy Joyce, Pat and Andy Kilpatrick, Mary Kay and John Klyce, Beth and Bill McDavid, Peyton Norville, Susan and Randall Pitts, Toni and Albert Tully, Judy Reber of Sylacauga, Beverly and Harry Register, Frances Robinson, Irma and Warren St. John, Robin and Jim Sulzby, Nancy Wagnon, Tina and John Darnall and Kirke and Bucky Cater. Meek alumni gather Various classes since the first graduating class of 1928 were represented by about 100 alumni of Meek High School in Arley. This was the turnout for the annual banquet in May of the Alumni Association.

Spotlighted were the classes of 1947, 1957 and 1977. All will have a reunion this year.

Outgoing president, Janet Lansford, was master of ceremonies. Officers elected were president Avolee Dunn Wooten, Bonnie Neal Estes, Roger Hamner and Steve Fincher.

Entertainment was by Heather Goforth, a music student at University of North Alabama and an alumna of Meek High School.

Named Alumni of the Year were Beulah Cook Fincher from the Class of 1934 and Jack Nunnally from the Class of 1942. Beulah, a lifelong resident of Arley, has been a model employee of Meek High School. Jack was an Air Force officer and fighter pilot during World War II. A retired aeronautical engineer, he lives in Huntsville.

The Class of 1997 valedictorian Michelle Ory and salutatorian Jaime Robinson were introduced. Both have been awarded full academic scholarships to the University of North Alabama.

A silent auction raised $500 for a landscape project for the school grounds.