When the Hope Candlelight Tour opened the doors of three of Tulsa's most spectacular homes to its donors and patrons for a cocktail tour on Thursday, it also opened the door of hope for those with AIDS.
And hope is what the general tour is all about. This year's final tours will be held 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 per person and may be purchased at each of the homes on the tour.
The homes are those of Beth and Robert Sachse, 2685 E. 37th St.; Jane and Peter Walter, 1396 E. 25th St.; Nora and Stan White, 2704 S. Victor Ave.; and Donna and Gary Gilliam, 2929 S. Rockford Road. Proceeds from the annual tour, which was founded by P.S. Gordon and Charles Faudree, go to the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network and Catholic Charities' St. Joseph Residence.
During the patron tour, Hazel Leitch, executive director of Catholic Charities, said that Faudree and Gordon have "hearts bigger than the Williams Tower."
"They have made it possible to provide a lovely home for those who come to St. Joseph's for their final months," she said.
Leitch said that St. Joseph's has nine patients living there -- two women and seven men.
"Some people who come to St. Joseph's are very ill and need the supportive nursing care that is provided, while others come there in very poor health but are getting better," she said. "A few will recover their health enough to move back into their own living arrangements." She attended the tour with her husband, Bill, and the Rev. Gregory Gier, who is a member of the St. Joseph Residence board of directors. Gier said that RAIN teams are made up of people from many parishes and churches around the area.
RAIN provides AIDS/HIV education and volunteer training for the members of the 20 active care teams in Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma. The teams help with the non-technical care and support that allows AIDS patients to extend their independent living.
They joined many other tour-goers who were treated to cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at the homes of Kathleen and Francis Rooney, Cindy and Lawrence Fields and Leigh Ann and Dr. Frank Fore.
John Duncan Forsyth was the architect for two of the homes -- the Rooneys' and the Fields' -- and Kathleen Rooney said that John Walton, who apprenticed with Forsyth, was the architect for the addition that she and her husband, Francis, built when they moved into the home several years ago.
Faudree, who was the interior designer for the Rooneys and the Fores, discussed the traditional style of the homes and the Country French influence. His assistant, Shawn Lovejoy, pointed out features in the Fores' kitchen where the front of an antique armoire has been converted for use as doors to the pantry and the armoire's ornate tops removed and used as bonnets over the sink and the stove.
Sue Simpson, the designer at the Fields' home, called the home an "Ozzie and Harriet" home full of warmth and "very cozy."
"It is elegant, but you can tell children live here," she said. She said it was a delight to decorate the home where, as a teen-ager, she and the daughter of the Laffertys, who then owned the home, had danced the can-can during a carnival held there.
Simpson visited with Myrtis and Joe Smith, and Myrtis recalled her own daughter being a guest at the home many times.
Next up for tour donors will be a special dinner at the Frank Lloyd Wright home of Barbara Tyson.
A highlight of that event will be the live auction of some out-of-this-stratosphere luxury items.
Included will be:
- Dinner for four at the Napa Valley Vineyard of Elaine and Michael Honig with a sampling of Honig's premier reserve wines.
- Rare estate bottles of wine from the Salinas winery of the Hahn Family.
- A P.S. Gordon painting.
- A botanical by Jimmy Steinmeyer.
- A painting courtesy of M.A. Doran.
- A painting from the SOBO Gallery courtesy of Stuart Bird.
- Dinner at the M.A. Doran Gallery courtesy of Alice Rogers.
- A weekend stay for 10 at the Faudree cottages courtesy of Charles Faudree and Francie Faudree.
- Jewelry designed by Denise Roberge.
- Dinner at the home of Charles Faudree.
- Dinner at the home of P.S. Gordon and Duane MenNe, catered by Catherine Seger.
- An autumn candlelight formal dinner for 10 at the new home of Ouida and Robert Merrifield.
- A one-week stay in a private home in Barbados courtesy of Joanne Castro, with airfare courtesy of Travel Connections.
- A tote, Eric Javits straw hat and Woford body suit courtesy of Danita Findahl.
- A Mercedes bicycle courtesy of Jackie Cooper.
Other donors will include Bill Fisher, Bruce Weber and T.A. Lorton.
Among those attending the patron tour were Jenny and Jono Helmerich, Judi and Ken Klein, Jackie Poe, Jane and Bruce Weber, Francesanne and John Tucker, Annette and Dr. Norm Dunitz, Annette Pringle, Debbie and Lee Bruddrus, Fran and Bob Biolchini, Jo Buford Siegfried and Milani Siegfried, Nancy Renberg, Marty Newman, Francie Faudree, Susan and Doug Pielsticker, and Carol Pielsticker and her daughter, Melissa Ison, who lives in Houston.
Also, Vaughndean Fuller, Sherri DeMier, Jonnie Nelson, Lyn Martin of Denver, Rosie Childs, Marcia and Stan Lybarger, Nancy and Hank Harbaugh, Judy Smith, Sharon Pyle, and Breniss and Daniel O'Neal, whose O'Neal Landscape Design did the grounds at the Rooneys'. Others in the crowd included Katherine Sinclair; Nora and Stan White; Sallye Mann and her son, Rick Phillips; Michael Farr; Boofy Seay and Blake Lovelace; Peter Walter; Nancy and Terry Inghram; Dr. Robert Coffee; Martha Bruner; Andy Kinslow; Bob Cisar; and Kirk Holt.
Special thanks to John Phillips who coordinated the evening's caterers including Lanna Tahi, Rick Kamp and Robert Lupo.
Thanks for the floral arrangements went to Mrs. DeHaven's Flower Shop, Mary Murray's Flowers, Toni's Flowers and Gifts, Ric Poston and Jeff Evans.
