She never served as Holly Ball Chair, but she was responsible for dreaming up many of the creative themes and décor schemes featured at the annual holiday social.

 

It was back in the early 1980s – when tuxedos and formal gowns were in vogue for the event and when downtown Clarksburg’s Parsons-Souders featured elaborate holiday window displays – that Noodie Runner first made the Nathan Goff Armory her canvas.

 

“Oh it was just such a challenge. It was such a wonderful, big canvas to work with because that was such a large space,” she said.  “The big problem was scaling it down because my head would be wrapped around something like a Hollywood set and we didn’t have the manpower and the money to do that.”

 

One of her favorite decorating schemes for the black tie event was a classic black and white set design.

 

“We made screens out of a big box in front of the stage and on either side we used gray/clear shower curtains and behind that a light,” Runner said. “Of course, we had to do some figuring on the dimensions that the light would cover to create changing silhouettes.”

 

For that Holly Ball and others, massive rolls of paper were purchased out of Charleston and used to line the walls of the Nathan Goff Armory.

 

“We ordered them from Quarrier Street and we would drive a van down there to get it,” Runner said. “The cost of shipping would have been horrendous, so we did that.”

 

It took a committee of several people to line the walls with the paper.

 

“Of course, the Army (National Guard) operated out of the armory, so if they were called out, they had to be able to get the trucks out so when we put the paper on the walls, there had to be a seam where the doors were,” Runner said.

 

In all the years she helped with the Holly Ball – probably 15 or so – that never happened, she said.

 

Runner doesn’t recall the actual theme for the classic black and white décor she so vividly remembers. She would dream up the design and friends serving as chairs would think of a corresponding theme. Although she and others were pleased with the finished product of the design she describes, it didn’t work out as planned.

 

“Something went wrong with the lighting system. They couldn’t get the stage lights off when the dance was under way and the effect was ruined,” she said.

 

Although Runner was heavily involved with the planning, she and her husband Myles didn’t always attend the Holly Ball.

 

“He wasn’t too thrilled about it until some friends of ours went with us and had such a good time, he didn’t want to leave,” she said.

 

When the Holly Ball was held at the armory, it lasted from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. It wasn’t unusual for some of the couples to move on to the Canteen upon its completion.

 

“It never closed so we’d stop there for a snack,” Runner said. “Everything else was shut down.”

 

Runner’s memories of the Holly Ball are good. She and her co-workers would spend countless hours making sure everything was in place. Sometimes, United Hospital Center electricians and other workers would assist.

 

“It was a lot of work, but it was fun work,” she said.

 

Even before the dance took place, her mind was in motion, thinking up the next one, she said. 

 

Editor's Note: The artwork above is featured on the invitation to this year's Holly Ball, which is a throwback to the past 55 years. Read the first story in this Holly Ball series HERE, where this is also information about securing your spot at this year's holiday social and fundraiser for the Auxiliary to United Hospital Center.