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Holiday Party at a Tarrytown home
More than one guest called it “the kick-off party for every Austin holiday season.” Others said it was simply one of the biggest and best house parties of the year.
Nina Seely and Mary Yancy
At the last minute, social savior and Ralph Lauren proxy Nina Seely took me by the arm to witness Becky and Mark Powell’s renowned holiday affair on Wednesday. The Powells live a low, long Tarrytown house that looks like a European hunting lodge crossed with a remote monastery. It’s cool, unlike anything else I’ve seen in Austin, and formerly sat on many acres of land just off Exposition.
Becky Powell and Susan Auler
The Powells have made this manse thoroughly livable with an extensive patio, a pool and a basketball half-court, along with game rooms, dens, living rooms and a new wine cellar. Other houses now enclose the street and neighbors include project management expert Dealy Herndon.
Bill Jones, Dealy Herndon and Johnita Jones
Guests spilled from room to room as servers passed around treats like sugared bacon and specially made little puddings. Who were these folks? Many live in Tarrytown. Or they formerly lived in West Austin. They knew the tradition of dropping off an unwrapped toy — for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Service’s Rainbow Room — inside a sleigh in the front yard. It would be disingenuous to pretend that power performers, many tied to the statewide Republican ascendancy, others associated with the downtown business community, were not there.
They, and everyone else, dived straight into the holiday deep end. Conversations multiplied into the cold night.
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By blairforce1
December 9, 2010 12:11 PM | Link to this
Mark and Becky are so generous in hosting so many benefits in their home. My great, great Uncle, William Gatewood, and his wife Eloise (Kreisle) Gatewood, built that home in 1933 after he cashed out his stocks JUST before the 1929 crash. He paid for my grandfather and my great uncles to attend Baylor University, and he also bought the Texas Book Store, now the University Co-op. Lots of amazing history on that property!