Ear to Tampa Bay
Dr. Harry Barash and Pat Rawlings
hosted a brunch at their home in
Clearwater in honor of Diane Nelson’s
retirement as Pinellas County’s Tax
Collector.....Betty Lang hosted an
indoor picnic at her home in Palm
Harbor.....Dr. Erick Grana and
Katherine Knoll invited guests to
decorate their hats, place their bets and
enjoy mint juleps and Southern fare
during a “Hats and Horses” Kentucky
Derby party at their home in Odessa.....
Pat and Bill Blizzard hosted a “farewell”
dinner party at their Victoria Shores
home in Dunedin for Carol and Tom
Patterson, who are moving to Tampa
and Dottie Scroggins and Rick Nelson
who are moving to Cobb’s Landing in
Palm Harbor.....Aleta and Fred Fisher
of St. Petersburg invited guests to a
“Sugar Sand and Sunset Dining
Experience” party catered by Island Way
Grill in an alfresco sand alcove at the
Sugar Sand Exhibit on Clearwater
Beach.....Charlene and Mardy Gordon
of Crystal Beach combined two charity
auction “wins” for a party with a private
“Lobster Dump” at Carlouel Yacht Club
on Clearwater Beach and a sailing
excursion aboard the yacht of Sandra
Nesbit and Greg Willsey of Clearwater,
the principles of GFS Private Wealth in
Clearwater.....Stella Spencer, daughter
of Megan Bach and Jimmy Spencer
was given a “Little Princess” birthday
party for fans of all ages by her
grandmother Wendy Spencer at the
Spencer home in Belleair.....Paula and
James Paxton of Belleair Beach were
given a joint peacock-themed birthday
dinner party by Karen and Brett
McMullen in the McMullen’s Clearwater
home.....Ed Halleran of Safety Harbor
was given a birthday dinner party by
Betty Lang at her home in Palm
Harbor.....Nancy McKibben of Palm
Harbor and Dan Shouvlin of Largo
were given an engagement party by
Jennifer and Jon Sweat, Denise and
Fred Watkins, Val and Jeff Anderson
and Suzanne and Paul Cheeks at the
Sweat’s home in Palm Harbor, that
featured hors d’oeuvres by The Stuffed
Mushroom and live music for listening
and dancing.....Megan Simons, owner
of Pippa Pelure women’s fashions and
82 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE
Things Heard by The Ear
The Ear is wearing one of a pair of exquisite
Bez Ambar 2.81 caret weight pear-shaped
diamond dagger drop earrings set in 18 karat
white gold from International Diamond
Center in Clearwater and Tampa.
Sethlina Rae Styles in St. Petersburg,
excitedly announced that her daughter
Shannon Simons and Christoph
Dreyfus will be married at The Florida
Botanical Garden in Largo this
September.....Zuhure Ruko of Albania
and Jason Sulisufay, owner and
operator of Jessi’s Restaurant in Pinellas
Park, have announced their engagement
and wedding plans for the first of next
year.....Dr. James Foster, son of Jan and
Jim Foster, and Jennifer Griffin,
daughter of Susan and Will Griffin, all
| JULY/AUGUST 2016
of Clearwater, who became engaged at
the Griffin farm in Habersham County,
Georgia last November, are planning a
March, 2017 wedding at the Oxford
Exchange in Tampa.....Ambassador Mel
Sembler and his wife Betty of
St. Petersburg invited guests to help
them celebrate their 63rd wedding
anniversary by attending The Florida
Orchestra’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s
Symphony No. 3 and a post
concert reception at the Mahaffey Theater
in St. Petersburg.....Eden and Raymond
Mollison of St. Petersburg are enjoying
their son Raymond James Mollison,
who was born on December 28th, as
are proud grandparents, her mother
Cherie Pattishall and Michael
Wyckoff, owner and broker of Engle
and Völkers Madeira Beach.....Susan and
Sam Palmer of Clearwater are excited
that their daughter Hannah Ryan
Russo and her husband Nickolas Russo
of Houston, Texas are the proud parents
of Charlotte Apple Russo, who was
born in March.....Cathy Schoeppler
of Palm Harbor and The Honorable
Bob Schmidt, the mayor of Belleair
Shore, attended the Kentucky Derby in
Louisville, Kentucky.....Charlene and
Mardy Gordon of Crystal Beach
attended the Tony Awards and gala in
New York City.....Nicolas Sanchez, who
grew up in Tampa, graduated from Boot
Camp at Lackland Air Force Base in San
Antonio, Texas, where his grandfather
Richard Ware was stationed 50 years
ago, during a ceremony attended by his
parents Dena and Darrin Handsome of
Jacksonville and his grandmother Karen
Ware of Tampa.....Joe Cappello, owner
of Cappello and Company in Seminole,
and Julie Brasier of Dunedin attended
the world’s largest international jewelry
show in Las Vegas, Nevada.....Gary
Puckett, the rock n’ roll legend who lives
in Palm Harbor, was joined at the
Southpoint Casino in Las Vegas by his
wife Lorrie and in-laws, Dr. Allen and
Judith Haimes of Clearwater Beach, for
his three sold-out shows with his Union
Gap band, which is already booked for
its ninth season there next year.....Dawn
LaCross and Jim Davis of Palm Harbor
cruised Alaska’s Inland Passage to
celebrate her birthday.....Cindy Gorche
/Beach.....Ch
/March.....Ca
/Kentucky.....Ch