Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 29, 1994 TAG: 9411100004
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Although a few of them get together annually to keep up with each other and reminisce, for some classmates the recent 55th reunion of Fincastle High School's Class of 1939 was the first time they had seen each other since graduation.
Although the event began as the anniversary of the Class of '39, members of classes from 1936 though 1944 were invited and attended. "We wanted to include others we remembered," said Garland Stevens, class president.
"We looked up to those one, two or three years older, and the classes below us looked up to us, so we invited them all."
A committee that included Virginia Bosserman Cronise, Helen Cronise Cronise, Iris Hedrick Schoenfield, Dorothy Lucas Revere, Irene Roberson Houchins, Slusser Lucas and Arthur Williamson helped Stevens arrange the Sept. 17 reunion dinner.
Of the 43 surviving members of their Class of '36 (the largest class in Fincastle High history), 28 attended. When the other six classes - and a couple of "extras" from '43 and '44 - were added, a total of 73 Fincastle alumni attended. Arthur Williamson, who made reservations, was seriously ill and could not attend, but the 115 celebrants sent him a card.
Eunice Horne Clarkson traveled the greatest distance - from Stayton, Ore. -for her first reunion. Although her late husband, Charles E. Clarkson, also was from the area, they stayed on the West Coast after World War II. Clarkson returned home to visit family, but never could arrange to return for previous high school reunions.
Ernestine Myers Vinyard, however, has already attended three reunions this year.
"I go whenever I am invited," said Vinyard, 83, who taught English and social studies and was sponsor of the Glee Club, Dramatic Club director and the Class of '36. "These people are the dearest, sweetest people on Earth." Vinyard graduated from Roanoke College in summer 1933 and found her first teaching job at Fincastle that fall. "I taught second grade in the morning and high school classes in the afternoon," she recalled.
"When I married Bill Vinyard (a Vinton Ford dealer) in 1937, I had to stop teaching there because they would not allow married women to teach."
Although nine other teachers and the principal, E.C. Snyder, 92, are still living, only Vinyard was able to attend.
About 18 members of the Class of 1939 continue to live in the area where they grew up. Stevens taught English for 10 years at Fincastle High until it closed in 1959 when Lord Botetourt High School was built. He taught at Lord Botetourt for another 10 years before retiring. He gets the group together each year for a meal, but this was his first attempt to include other classes. The response was so great, he said, he may heed the many requests to "do it again."
by CNB