On a winter afternoon better suited to poring over seed catalogs, the Colorado Governor’s Mansion was abloom with yellow roses cultivated for the newest crop of Central City Flower Girls.
The 14 high school seniors – Kelly Elizabeth Buntmann, Caroline Elizabeth Butler, Madeline Elaine Caudle, Carter Ames Grey, Alexandra Nicole Harding, Kaytlyn Rosalie Jornayvaz, Kaitlin Michele Loiseau, Chelsea Barron Magness, Madeline Sue Morrissey, Patricia Ann Pogge, Lauren Walker Schaefer, Lillian Dunbar Schlosser, Virginia Kedzie Schotters, and Sarah McChesney Wyman – each received a yellow rose dipped in 24-karat gold.
Their formal presentation will be on June 24, which is opening night for the Central City Opera’s 75th season. Between now and then, the Flower Girls will take part in numerous activities, including two service projects.
Pam Riebesell chaired the announcement tea. Opening night is being planned by a committee headed by Ann Dafoe Clark while Julie Rose is the Flower Girl chair.
Honoree Kelly Buntmann is a varsity cheerleader and captain of the varsity lacrosse team at Mullen High School. Her aunt, Marnie King, was one of the original members of the Central City Opera Guild and her mom, Mary Buntmann, chaired the guild’s signature fundraiser, L’Esprit de Noel, in 2002. Caroline Butler is captain of the cross-country team at Kent Denver School and volunteers at Children’s Hospital while East High School’s Madeline Caudle is captain of the lacrosse team and also an award-winning artist and inventor.
Carter Grey plays tennis for Colorado Academy and volunteers as a tutor with the Salvation Army. Alexandra Harding sings with the Kent Denver Choir and belongs to its drama club; her mom, Vicki, chaired L’Esprit de Noel in 2005. Kaytlyn Jornayvaz has the lead in Kent’s 2006 musical, “West Side Story,” and was chosen for the National Association of Teachers of Singing honors recital. Her grandmother is a past president of Opera Guilds International.
Kaitlin Loiseau is a senior at Kent who volunteers for Project Angel Heart; both her mother, Meegan Carey, and cousin, Nancy Harrington, are former Flower Girls. Chelsea Magness plays basketball and soccer for Cherry Creek High and is a competitive equestrian. Madeline Morrissey’s father, Mitch, is Denver’s district attorney and her mother, the former Maggie Cannon, was a Flower Girl. Patricia Pogge is co-president of the Mullen student body and a National Merit Scholar.
Lauren Schaefer is co-editor of Kent’s yearbook and a fourth-generation Coloradan. Lillian Schlosser, co-editor of Colorado Academy’s literary magazine, is the great-granddaughter of Central City Opera House architect Alexander Gustaf Jan Ruhtenberg. Kedzie Schotters is on Colorado Academy’s dance and field hockey teams and sings with its a capella, concert and chamber choirs, while Sarah Wyman is a member of Cherry Creek’s Meistersingers and jazz choir. She also plays varsity lacrosse and made National Honor Society.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Due to incorrect information from a source, the name of Central City Opera House architect Alexander Gustaf Jan Ruhtenberg was misspelled in print.
