Last call for the tuxedo: Final black-tie event of the season benefits homegrown charity

The intimate ambience of Club Colette lent the perfect "we're-all-family" air to a charity established in memory of a Palm Beach resident.

The annual Spring Dance, a benefit for the Mary Obolensky Underwood Leukaemia Foundation, took place April 7.

More Palm Beach society news here.

Jennifer Garrigues , Barbara San Damian and Mary Underwood were honorary chairwomen for the event, which was under the patronage of HRH Princess Christina of Sweden.

The black-tie gathering began with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres on the terrace, then moved to the dining room for dinner and dancing to the music of Alex Donner .

The night's highlight was an auction that included two artworks of note ― an oil by Gustavo Novoa and Basia Hamilton 's lithograph portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, painted in May 2022 at Windsor Castle, four months before her death. It was the last portrait to be painted of her.

More than 130 people attended.

Antony Underwood was honorary chairman.

Committee members in addition to Novoa included Catherine Adler, David Bush, James Borynack, Bill Blind, David Barton, Gil Cohen, Whitney and Jonathan Cameron-Hayes, Rosalind Clarke, Laura Codman, Jeanne Chisholm, Baroness Mary D’Anglejan, Jean Doyen de Montaillou, Joseph Paul Davis, Chip DiPaula, Christopher Drake, Joseph and Sheila O’Malley Fuchs, Anne Fitzpatrick, Renate Franco, Paul Gervais, Olive Greeff, Shelly and William Gubelmann, Torrence and Rosemary Harder, Charlotte Kellogg, Helmut Koller, Maggie Kirkbride, Michael Kovner, Elizabeth and William Leatherman, David Miller, Timothy McVay, Wendy Mcilvain, Robin Reardon Nelson, Kathrine Palmer, Claudia and William Peterson, Carole Phillips, Ava Roosevelt, Bryant Sims, Margaret and John Ruel Shaffer, Dorothy Slover, Jane Smith, William Steele, Louise Stephaich, Meredith Townsend, Ray Wakefield, Maureen Woodward, Jane Ylvisaker and Adolfo Zaralegui.

Proceeds from the event benefit the Mary Obolensky Underwood Foundation for Leukaemia Research, founded in 1988 by Antony Underwood after the death of his first wife, Princess Mary Obolensky, who grew up in Palm Beach with her sister Ann.

Monies raised from the evening will fund research grants as well as provide financial assistance to patients undergoing treatment for leukemia and ancillary diseases.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Last call for the tuxedo: Final black-tie event of the season benefits homegrown charity