When George and María Luisa Ballas celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, they did it grandly with church and reception, most enjoyable.
Invitations, embossed in gold, were sent to about 200. Because of a terrific rainstorm with thunder and lightning which put out the traffic lights in Houston, not all guests could get to the ceremony on August 3, at the Church of the Annunciation, the oldest Catholic church in Houston.
María Luisa, who is the epitome of graciousness, wore a gold lace gown fashioned like a Spanish dancer's, with a high comb holding a mantilla. She went from table to table greeting her guests. She had many people from the dance world as guests, including Rogelio Rodriguez, who has operated a dance school in Houston for 36 years. A few years back María Luisa's daughter Michelle and her husband won dance laurels in England.
Maria Luisa taught a multitude of Laredo girls to dance 50 years ago. Among them, Diana Leonor García Tsirigatis, now of San Antonio, who was present.
All her ornaments were emeralds set in diamonds. Some of her original attendants were there: Leonor J. Marulanda, her sister, maid of honor; Linda Cantu Perez and Aurora Dominguez Cruz, bridesmaids; Fortunato Cantu, ring bearer; and Fernando A. Salinas, groomsman.
The Joe Romanos orchestra played during the evening. High on the wall a screen had been arranged for a video of high points in the life of María Luisa and George.
George Ballas is proud of his having built the Westchase Hilton Hotel where the party was given. Most Laredo guests stayed there.
Olga la Vaude drove over from Laredo bringing Fernando Salinas, who had been George Ballas' best man 50 years ago. Olga was delighted to bring her friend from her university days, Ruth Lewis, and Ruth's escort, Ross Carl.

Mendel Pogell visits Thailand
Riding elephants in Thailand was the recent experience of Mendel Pogell, former Laredoan, who has been a successful real estate agent in San Antonio ever since he retired after 20 years from the Air Force. Mendel, Martin High School graduate of 1941, attended Texas A&M University and then served as a fighter pilot in the Pacific area during World War II. He returned to A&M afterwards but was recalled by the Air Force.
As is customary for many former officers in the Air Force to retire to San Antonio, he did just that and has found a pleasant life there. His sister, Jerry Pogell Francis, also lives there.
He is a very active member of St. George Episcopal Church. As a boy, he served as an acolyte at Christ Church Episcopal in Laredo.
He will come to Laredo to escort Suzy Mayo to the Starduster's Ball.

Brands suffer loss
Josephine Brand, accompanied by grandchildren Mark and Lisa, flew in Seymon Deutch's plane to Tulsa, because of the recent death of Abe Brand, 96, brother of the late Joe Brand.
Linda and Seymon Deutsch, who were in New York on a buying trip, returned to Tulsa for the funeral. All the Brand grandchildren came.

New friends
Joseph Addison wrote: "Man must keep his friendships in constant repair, else toward the end of his life, he will find himself alone." Here in Helotes, I have been fortunate to meet Russ and Dawn Neuman.
Russ grew up in the Pacific Northwest with the beaches of the Puget Sound as his playground. His early adulthood was spent in the Air Force during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. The thrills and awards of combat were nothing compared to the excitement and rewards of meeting his wife Dawn, whom he married shortly after his retirement.
Dawn's childhood was spent playing in the snow around the outskirts of Syracuse New York. As a young adult she worked for a number of businesses and banking concerns. Dawn created her own excitement when she and a friend quit their jobs and traveled through Europe for three months. She met Russ the day after she arrived in California to a start anew. Little did she know that "new life" would be a married one.
As a couple, Russ and Dawn then went to work as foster parents with Father Flanagan's Boys Home in Omaha, NE, where they raised over 50 teenagers during a 10 year period. Both are now retired, and Dawn keeps busy as a member of St. Francis Episcopal Church Vestry and does volunteer work with Reach to Recovery, a Cancer Society group of breast cancer survivors. Russ writes poetry and teaches parenting skills to the residents of the Bexar County Jail.
With DKG members
Lizette Villa, Elsa Nicholson, Rosalinda Herrera, Esther Herrera, Esther Buckley, Terry Medellin, and Ann MacDonald were hostesses for the Alpha Nu, Delta Kappa Gamma September meeting in the Methodist Fellowship Hall.
Linda Mitchell, one of their members, had earned a doctorate degree from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi during the summer.
Raj Chekuri Rao, who teaches at Laredo Community College, earned a master's degree from the University of Oregon during the summer. She won the University Professors National Teaching Excellence Award. She serves as president of Literacy Volunteers of America.
The Chapter gathers toiletries to donate to the Women's Shelter at each meeting.

Some Laredo members of the Pan American Round Table will attend the Pan American Alliance in Monterrey this month, including Olga Verduzco, Ina Poole, and Sheila Glassford.
The state meeting of the Round Table will take place in Laredo March 28-30, 2003, according to Sheila, a state officer.
Fanny Stavorowski became an American citizen in a private ceremony conducted by Judge George Kazen.
Recently a film crew spent the day doing a documentary on the Río Grande at the Glassford residence on the banks of the river.
When Mauro Gallardo graduated in business from Texas A&M International University, he was surrounded by loving relatives; his mother and father from Acapulco, Mexico, and his brother and sister-in-law and their three-year-old son, of San Antonio. They called on Elizabeth Sorrell in Helotes and then the parents flew to San Francisco to see another son. Mauro returned to Laredo.
"Oh, to be in England now that April's there," wrote an English poet. Former Laredoan Sterling Sorrell and wife Mike spent five days in London in early August. A few quotes from his travel letter:
"From Dallas non-stop to London's Gatwick airport, nearly 5,000 miles. Our hotel was the Radisson Edwardian Vanderbilt in Cromwell Road, Kensington, near the Victoria and Albert Museum. Just two block from Harrod's, famed emporium.
"Sunday morning we took off for Greenwich by boat from the landing close to the House of Parliament. We walked up hill to the observatory where science was begun as early as before Charles I's reign on longitude, where clocks were tested and built by inventors working for a prize to get British seafarers a clock that carried about ship to measure with accuracy the distance east or west a ship had to run, once some measurements were taken with a sextant. This bore some interest for me, having learned ship navigation at UT in 1958 and having served as assistant navigator for my vessel when on active duty for two years. The observatory buildings had been designed by Christopher Wren."
The Victoria and Albert Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral where Evensong was in progress, Warwick Castle, House of Parlament, Westminster Hall, the Red Lion Pub, Tower Hill, Bombay Dreams, a theatrical production, and Buckingham Palace were other places on their itinerary.
About the latter: "This being 'jubilee year,' the Queen allowed the public to view her private art collection. Mike said she had seen many of the elaborate places of Europe but this one topped them all in elegance." They also saw the Changing of the Guard, which took place even though it was raining. Great trip they reported.