News Release: Ceres Holds Annual Homecoming

The Ceres Alumni Association sponsored its eighth annual Ceres Homecoming on October 18, 2008. The Homecoming was well attended and enjoyed by all. The day started with registration and a chance for guests to tour the buildings on the former Ceres school campus and visit with old friends. Each attendee was given a flashlight with screw driver set from the Association and member Wiley Cox of Georgia brought beautiful gold Last Supper medallions for the guests. Betty Hubble, Vice President, welcomed everyone and thanked all who had worked so hard to make the event a success. At 1:00 PM a delicious and bountiful meal, catered by Loretta Worrellm, was served to approximately 141 guests. Several others came by after lunch to visit with old friends.

The theme for the day was to honor the FFA’s 80th year. The indoor and outdoor decorations, cleverly and artfully achieved by Becky Kimberlin, Lorree and Buddie Waddle and Joyce and Kirby Keen, carried out the FFA theme. The six displayed FFA jackets included jackets owned by a former State FFA President, The Honorable Daniel W. Bird; State FFA Vice President, Robert O. Munsey; State FFA Secretary, B. J. Boothe; and a jacket from the State of Montana from Jack Jenkins and two Ceres FFA members, Archie Atwell and Dan Foglesong. All of these jackets are on permanent display in the Henry C, Groseclose Museum due to the generosity of the owners. Mother Nature decorated the mountains and valley to make the scene perfect.

Every Ceres High School graduating class, except one, from 1940 through 1962, when the high school closed, was represented. The class of 1957 had the most present.

Following lunch Bill Crabtree, former FFA member and advisor, delivered an interesting presentation on the history of FFA.

Thirty members, family and local citizens whose deaths were reported to the Association since the last Homecoming were remembered with a long stem rose presented to family members who were present. Those remembered were:

D. C. Fields, G. Victor Groseclose, Lorrayne C. Muncy, Joseph Bohara, Donald Barger, C. Raymond Thompson, Robert (Bob) Compton, Helen Lindamood Cassell, Edgar Ned Baugh, Mildred (Mrs. Dee) Hubble, Margaret (Mrs. Dennis) Tibbs, Joseph DeWilde, Mildean Hanshew, Nannie Hayton Hilderbrand, Pauline Lambert Barker, Joe Tibbs, Anna Wayne Tibbs Thompson, Santa Fe (Mrs. Fred) Hubble, Edward "Ed" Kimberlin, Billy R. Umbarger, Sr., Teren e Martin, Margaret (Mrs. Paul) Hubble, Ronnie Hubble, Billie Jo Compton Tackish, Stephen Ernest Hubble, Doris Waddell Beasley, Pearl Hounshell, Anna Katherine Brown McComas, Charles A. Umbarger, and Hazel Waddle Davis.

During the business meeting, minutes were read and approved and reports presented by the Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Museum committee, Grants committee and on gymnasium use. New business included the approval of some operational changes to the Constitution and By-Laws.

The following Association officers were elected for 2009: President – Wade F. Hall, Vice President – Betty C. Hubble, Recording Secretary and Reporter – Rebecca M. Peery, Membership Secretary – Lorraine S. Waddle, Historian – Becky N. Kimberlin, Treasurer – Robert I. "Buddie" Waddle. Archie Atwell will hold the position of Past President. The Association’s Board of Directors for the period through 2009 will be Jonan C. Repass, Sue T. Repass and W. Nelson Tibbs. Directors through 2010 will be Anne H. Britton, William M. Creggar and William H. Hubble. J. W. Cassell, Frances C. Davis and Evelyn H. Groseclose were elected to serve three-year terms through 2011. The Association Endowment Fund Directors will be Joyce Keen, G. H. Peery, III and James F. Wilson for a term through 2009, Judy Cassell, William H. Crabtree and DeWayne Hubble for a term through 2010 and Dean D. Kirk, Robin U. Repass and Jerry Thompson were elected for a 3-year term through 2011.

A much anticipated event of the day was the drawing of the winning tickets in the annual raffle. Thirty-five raffle prizes were awarded to: Simone Manis, June A. Russell, Tommy Repass, Edgar Wimmer, Melissa Hatfield, Stan Melvin, Warren Tibbs, III, Dan Foglesong, John Melvin, Doris Woodward, Micky Vance, Kathy Frye, Shirley Bunce, Ron Cresaloni, Linda Bailey, Glen Repass, Linda Schwaitzburg, Carl Russell, Don Cooper, J. C. Dillow, Kelly Williams, Ed Corrett, Tommy Buck, Bill Hubble, Peggy Ellison, Gail Hawk, Mary Ann Musser, Johnny Crabtree and Lon Hopkins. The five largest prizes of the day were a Waterford crystal Santa donated by Randy and Myra Moler and won by S. B. Thompson, a Dell laptop computer donated by Wade and Becky Hall and won by Ron Dove, a 22 Magnum Marlin rifle donated by the Association and won by Phyllis Kirk, a P. Buckley Moss print donated by the Moss Foundation and framed by Farmer’s Daughter Framing won by Richard Sauls and handmade quilt donated by "Just for Fun" Quilters and won by Roscoe Hubble. Don Cooper of Bluefield and Della Mae Neel of Ceres were each given prizes for selling $364 and $362 worth of raffle tickets respectively. Linda Davis of Bland sold $210 worth of tickets. Twenty-six door prizes were given to those attending the Homecoming.

Appreciation was expressed to all the donors of the raffle gifts and door prizes, especially those who gave more than one gift. The following businesses and individuals donated prizes: Ceres Alumni Association, P. Buckley Moss Foundation and custom framing by Farmers Daughter, "Just for Fun" Quilters, Randy and Myra Moler, Muncy Associated Management Service, Inc., Becky Kimberlin, Crabtree and Pruett Sewing, Bill and Betty Hubble, J. W. and Judy Cassell, Buddie and Lorree Waddle, Della Mae Neel, First1VA Bank, Jack King – State Farm Insurance, Rusty Bird – Bland Farm Bureau, Wade and Becky Hall, New Peoples Bank of Bland, Sue Repass, First1Bank of Wytheville, Kathy Hubble, Jean Hayton Hubble, Bland BB&T, Wytheville BB&T, Laura Peery-Mary Kay Consultant, Nelson and Diane Tibbs, Jonan Repass, Annie Peery, Claude and Frankie Davis, Evelyn H. Groseclose, Harner’s Grocery, Abingdon Equipment Co., Bland Nationwide Insurance, and Building and Design of VA Paint Store, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is providing a special matching grant for the raffle.

The 2009 Homecoming will honor the Ceres 1959 boy’s basketball team who competed in the State tournament. The day’s events will be coordinated by Dr. Sidney Harvey, coach of the 1959 team.