November 2017

Class of ‘67

Dear Classmates,

I hope this newsletter finds each of you in good health and great spirits. We have much to be thankful for. Father Time and Mother Nature march on. A prayer is offered for each classmate.

We dodged another hurricane – Irma. We had 9 inches of rain on Sept 11. No flooding at our house and very limited damage due to the wind. Charleston had many areas that did flood. It’s hard not to flood when parts of downtown Charleston flood when we have high tides.

We had a very memorable 50Th class reunion. Highlights included: Friday night get together at Marino’s. Visit and tours for attendees at Central on Saturday afternoon. They had 50 years of memorabilia on display. Attendance and recognition of 6 of our former Central teachers. Recognition and stories shared about our classmates that have passed away. Classmate Violet W. Johnson Harris, our first African American graduate, shared her story. Elvis even made a brief appearance. A big thank you to all those that were involved. The venue at Nancy and Chippie’s was perfect. My only disappointment is that we still had many classmates that were not in attendance. Think of all the sharing and hugging that was missed. To view pictures go to centraloflunenburg.tripod.com and click on Class of 67 Scholarship. Then click on 50th class reunion. Interesting side light: Jonathan Clarke is the 2017 class president. He organized “Down Central’s corridors - 50 Years later. He set up many of the displays which those that attended Central Saturday afternoon saw. Jonathan’s Mother bought a house in Victoria at 1621 10th Street. This so happens to be the house I grew up in and Jonathan’s bedroom is my old bedroom! Small world.

I would like to recognize our 2017 scholarship recipient, Raymond Alexander. Raymond is attending Ferrum College majoring in Sports Management. His dream is to one day be an Athletic Director. Raymond is recognized as an All State Defensive End. Our scholarship was given in memory of Billy Giles and Patsey Ann Thompson Clark. The class of ’89 awarded 2 $1,000 scholarships. Their winners are – Andrew Kennedy and TanJaNeka White – Freeman. The class of ’88 did not award a scholarship this past year. Our Foundation has now awarded over $35,000 in scholarships!

Last year we did not have the 5K as we wanted to concentrate our efforts on our 50th class reunion. We have had excellent participation of class members coming back to join in the event. And we have an excellent group of sponsors ($2100). We have a great group that helps. Our biggest hurdle is to get student participation from high school, mid school and the 2 elementary schools. We will review things and keep everyone abreast of plans for this coming year.

Treasurer report from Gene Hart: We have $13,989 in our checking and our Vanguard Windsor fund is valued at $18,978. This is a total of $32,058. Wow! We are roughly a 1/3 of the way to our long term goal of $100,000 and establishing our endowment. The class of ‘88 has a balance of $715 and the class of ‘89 has a balance of $5,538.

Our fall campaign drive is to raise $2,000 by December 9th. Thank you for your participation and support. Send checks to Gene Hart at 2570 Sandy Lane, Victoria, VA 23974. Make checks payable to C of L Alumni Scholarship Foundation. Put for the class ’67 scholarship.

Venassia Günter continues to spearhead the class of ‘89 efforts while Scott Wingfield has been the contact for the class of ‘88. We continue to get questions from other classes about joining the Foundation.

Warm wishes for the holiday season ahead and for the coming year.

Al janeandal1970@gmail.com 423-367-4818 cell