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The 70-year-old served on the board for the Winona Health Auxiliary Birthday Ball in every capacity since she and her husband John, who practices adult medicine at the Winona Clinic, moved to town in the 1970s.
Although Mulrooney hasn’t been on the board for the past five years, she looks forward to sharing a fancy sit-down dinner and rubbing elbows with fellow community members at the ball every year.
“The first balls we went to we were the new kids on the block, but Winona’s always changing so there are all these brand new people coming to the ball so you see whole new faces,” she said.
About 370 people will attend the 45th annual Birthday Ball, held 7 p.m. Saturday at the Saint Mary’s University Toner Center. The theme is “Countdown to Midnight: A New Year’s Eve Gala.” For many attendees like Mulrooney, it’s a black-tie tradition that supports a good cause — medical equipment and student scholarships.
The $100 ticket price will go toward $20,000 in 21 student scholarships and a new patient lift system at the hospital. If more than 250 of the $20 raffle tickets are sold, those proceeds will go toward rebuilding the Rushford Clinic, said Auxiliary chairwoman Laura Feller.
The lift system will help caregivers avoid back injuries and allow them to handle patients safely, said Sally Mergendahl, occupational therapist and ergonomics specialist for Winona Health. Three systems have already been installed, she said, but Winona Health has a five-year plan to have lifts in every department.
Since 1962, the Birthday Ball has been the Auxiliary’s chief fundraising event, bringing in $533,213 and awarding more than $401,000 in student scholarships. Last year’s proceeds of about $21,600 went for a new pager system.
The history of the charity balls date back to 1894, when a group of 50 women formed the Women’s Auxiliary to furnish Winona’s first hospital on Wabasha Street, Mulrooney said.
The Women’s Auxiliary held its first charity ball that year, netting $254 for the treasury. By 1910, the balls became an annual event held during the holidays. It was named the Birthday Ball in 1962 to honor Winona Health’s anniversary.
The Birthday Ball has evolved over the years, Mulrooney said.
“People talk about those first balls,” she said. “It was all live flowers and really elaborately decorated. I bet it was really quite lovely.”
The first balls used to be held at the former Minnesota City supper club called The Oaks, but the venue has moved and many have been held at the Winona Country Club, she said. Sometimes, there would be three dinner seatings because so many people attended.
In the early days, Mulrooney said attendees hosted pre-ball parties at their homes, couples were announced during a grand march and women strutted the latest fashions down a runway.
“When those glitzy gowns came in (style), you’d see them all over,” she said. “We went through a period where it got so casual and I don’t think it was as fun but it’s gone back to being formal.”
Fashions and the ball’s theme change, Mulrooney said, but it’s always fun to get all gussied up.
“It’s one day to be Cinderella,” she said.
Reporter Amber Dulek can be reached at (507) 453-3513 or amber.dulek@lee.net.
Reminder wrote on Sep 10, 2007 9:54 AM: