This issue of the newsletter is being sponsored by Covington International Tours. This organization is currently putting together a May 2009 Alaska cruise tour for folks from Bland County and their friends and relatives. (See their brochure later in the newsletter.) We appreciate their interest in our county and their newsletter sponsorship.

If you or your company would like to sponsor a future newsletter, please contact any officer or mail your check for $165 to P.O. Box 32, Ceres, VA 24318. This covers postage, paper and mailing labels.

Hope you all had a wonderful Fall Season. The trees in Ceres were beautiful and the frost has certainly been on the pumpkins.

Please accept my apology for missing the Homecoming. I hear it was a great success with good food and great fellowship. I went Elk hunting in Doloras, Colorado with son-in-law Patrick Groseclose, Frankie Gray, and Ben Dillow. Patrick and Frankie had success, Ben and I had a wonderful time. I may be prejudice but fall colors in Ceres beats Colorado.

Thanks to all of you for the Toys-For-Tots. I know that there will be a lot of children very happy this Christmas due to your contributions. The stuffed animals will go to the Virginia State Police for their distribution to young children and the other items will go to the Bland County Department of Social Services for distribution at Christmas.

Activities at the gym had been slow in late summer so I hope everyone is rested up for the fall and winter season. Basketball season started this month with the Bland County Youth league starting around November 15^th and the adults soon after that.

I know everyone is looking forward to our Valentine’s Day Spaghetti Dinner on Feb. 14^{th. .} We need your help in making this once again a success as the profits go to Relay for Life to help fight cancer.

We have set March 14^th for our Applebee’s Pancake Breakfast, April 4^th for our Pig Roast and Chicken Supper sometime in June.

Please spread the word about our Nautilus Exercise Facility. You can’t beat the price of $5 a month.

The Gym Floor project is making progress. The engineering firm advises us that actual construction may start in April if all goes well with the bids and processing thru VDOT.

Please come out and get involved in the Alumni activities and recruit as many new members as possible so we can continue our contributions to the great community of Ceres. Hope to see everyone at the quarterly meeting in January. Best wishes for the Holiday Season.

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 screwdriver 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 Worrell, 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 80^th 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-one 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, Helen (Mrs. Ralph) Anderson, Pauline Lambert Barker, Joe Tibbs, Anna Wayne Tibbs Thompson, Santa Fe (Mrs. Fred) Hubble, Edward "Ed" Kimberlin, Billy R. Umbarger, Sr., Terene 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. (See more details later.)

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 raffle tickets. See the winners and donors later in this newsletter.

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

The following changes were approved during the business meeting:

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. Total raffle ticket sales were $4,194.00. 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, 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, Tractor Supply of Marion, 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. Also Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is providing a special matching grant for the raffle.

Ronnie Hubble

Billie Jo Compton Tackish

Stephen Ernest Hubble

Doris Waddell Beasley

Pearl Hounshell

Charles A. Umbarger

Hazel Waddle Davis

Dennis Hall

Bonnie Crabtree Boothe

By Sharman Beasley Vesecky

For the Endowment Trust Fund

MEMORY – Bonnie Crabtree Boothe

By William and Betty Hubble

MEMORY – Ronnie Hubble

By Buddie and Lorree Waddle

By Benjamin S. Gurtoski

MEMORY – Billie Jo Compton Tackish

By Buddie and Lorree Waddle

MEMORY – Dennis Hall

By Buddie and Lorree Waddle

MEMORY – Bonnie Crabtree Boothe

By Mr. and Mrs. David Dean

Special thanks to all who made our annual Homecoming an enjoyable day. We especially want to thank Wiley Cox for providing the Last Supper medallions for the guests. Again, thanks to all who donated raffle gifts and Toys for Tots.

On September 6, 2008, the Association sponsored an all-you-can-eat Pancake Breakfast at Applebee’s Restaurant in Wytheville. $655.93 was cleared during the two hours. Appreciation is expressed to Applebee’s Restaurant, all who sold tickets, all who enjoyed the breakfast and to the efficient Association servers. Check out the web site for pictures.

Indoor vendor booths (10 x 10’) - $10 Outdoor vendor spaces - $5

(No food booths except Alumni Assoc.)

Call 276 682-4587 to reserve space.

Sale items may be set up on Friday evening (5:00 to 9:00 PM).

The Association will be selling food, donated bake goods & donated yard sale items. All donations welcome!

Donations may be made any time prior to sale….call any Board member.

The Bland County Youth Basketball 2008-2009 season is now underway. Practice takes place in the Ceres gym 5 days or evenings a week. The game season runs from Dec. till late Feb., 8 scheduled games dates.

The league this season is made up of 18 teams, 135 kids, and 33 coaches, which includes:

4--Kindergarten/1st Grade teams,　

5--2nd/3rd　Grade teams,

5--4th/5th Grade teams, and

4--6th/7th Grade teams.

Last season was the first time in youth basketball that kindergarten and first grade played. We had approx. 40 kids in this grade division last year and are so pleased that we had the same interest in this grade　division this season.

We greatly appreciate Ceres for allowing us to use their facilities. We also use the public school gymnasiums in the county.

Games are alternated between Bland and Rocky Gap High Schools.　 The first game of the season is Saturday Dec. 13th at Rocky Gap High School.　 A copy of the 2008-2009 season game schedule can be found in the web site www.ceresva.org.

Kindergarten/1st grade always starts the games off, then 2nd/3rd, 4th/5th and then 6th/7th.　

All games are　on　Saturdays from at 8:30 a.m.　till 5:30 p.m.　 Admission is $2.00 for adults and $1.00 for students, under 5 is free.

Come on out and support the youth of Bland County, they are our future players.

3^rd Thursday – 7:00 PM

Everyone is welcome to attend.

January 17, 2009 – 2:00 PM

Feb. 14, 2009 – start serving 5:00 PM

Band – To be announced (Check Web Site)

March 14, 2009 – 7:00 – 9:00 AM

$5.00 per person

(Association receives $4.25 of each ticket)

April 4, 2009 – start serving 5:00 PM

April 18, 2009 – 2:00 PM

May 2, 2009 – starting 8:00 AM

(See other article)

June 2009 – date to be announced

July 18, 2009 – 1:00 PM

October 17, 2009

Will honor 1959 Basketball Team

Monthly Board Meetings

7:00 PM on 3^rd Thursday in each month

Henry C Groseclose Agriculture & FFA Museum

Open by appointment

Call 276 682-4587