My Mother and the Gold and Green Ball

1947 Lincoln Ward

Stake Ball 1947

1947

My mothered was honored with being in the Lincoln Ward Gold and Green Ball royalty two years while she was a young woman.  In 1947 she was queen in the Lincoln Ward Ball.  Charleen was an attendant.  The Post Register Files in 1947 recorded, "Bishop Gordon C. Gaily will crown Ileen Wright as queen of the Lincoln LDS Ward MIA Gold and Green Ball.  Her attendants are Joyce Jensen, Charlene Wright and Marie Weaver.
In 1947 she was also an attendant at the stake Gold and Green Ball.

1948, Lincoln Ward

She was also involved in the Lincoln Ward Gold and Green Ball in 1948.  Rose Marie was an attendant.  My mom later wrote of these events, "I was queen of the Gold and Green Ball and Delbert Nield  (from Ammon) was my escort.  It was very nice and the theme was "Old Dutch Garden".  I was also an attendant in the stake Gold and Green Ball and Kim Johnson was my escort."

This article explaining the Gold and Green Ball was published in the Church News in 1992:

GOLD AND GREEN BALL
Occasionally, one still hears of a Gold and Green Ball being held in one of the units of the Church, the last vestige of what was once a pervasive custom in stakes and wards. The balls were best-dress dances put on yearly. Within the confines of limited budgets, the best band available was hired and the cultural hall decorated as lavishly as possible. Sponsored by the MIAs, the dances typically attracted young and old. In later years, most people had forgotten the significance of the colors gold and green, but the dances continued to be popular until changing tastes in music and dancing made it somewhat difficult to put on a dance that appealed to both adults and youth.
"Actually," wrote Harold Lundstrom in the Jan. 26, 1949, Church News, "Gold and Green Balls were first introduced to the MIAs of the Church through a recommendation of Pres. Oscar A. Kirkham, then a member of the YMMIA general board. He proposed that each year the Mutuals sponsor a formal dance with the highest and most beautiful standards possible. Clarissa A. Beesley of the Young Women general board suggested using the names of the MIA colors, green and gold.
"These suggestions, adopted at the suggestion of Ellen Wallace Green, stands for youth and growth; gold stands for purity and perfection - combined, they symbolized the young men and women of the Church and their MIA program. Some years later, by official action of the general boards, the order of the words was changed from green and gold to gold and green so that they would be more euphonious."