The 2009 Douglass High School Bi-annual Reunion will be held on Friday, July 3.. Saturday, July 4th.. and Sunday, July 5th of 2009 in Kingsport.
At its regular meeting on Saturday, September 13th, the Douglass Alumni Board decided to hold the school reunion on those dates. As it was last time, the Registration, the informal Sock-hop session, and the Banquet will be held at the Meadowview Convention Center. Details for the school parade and other events are still in the discussion stages, and so final plans will be announced later.
In an almost unanimous discussion, board members felt that, since most out-of-town alumni would be staying at the Meadowview Marriott and it is convenient to Riverview and South Central Kingsport, it was best to hold most of the events at the Convention Center. Registration fees have not been set yet.
Field Day will be on the Douglass Ballfield, although planned renovation work on our Douglass High School building will most likely be going on at the same time. If you haven't been back to Riverview in a while, or you're a regular visitor, you will be witnesses to history in the making at that time.
In other business, the success of the First Douglass School Book Fair was discussed. All of the remaining school books that were not sold at the first book fair have now been cataloged and are being held alphabetically for future book fairs. When the former owner of the school book, a family member or friend purchases the book, the owner's name will checked off an alphabetized list.
SPECIAL NOTE: Please watch the website this week, for the list of names of former Douglass students whose names were in the books. The list is a long one, with many students' names in more than one book. Many of the former students are deceased, some just recently, and their school books from the school that shaped their lives would be a fitting tribute to that person's memory.
Dates for the next book fairs have also been announced. It was also decided the next book fair will be in conjunction with the Class of '68 Reunion, coming up on Saturday, October 18, 2008. The book fair will be from 1 PM to 4 PM on that day at the V.O. Dobbins Community Center. Books will still sell for $1.00, and proceeds will go to the Alumni Association scholarship fund.
The next book fair after that, will be held during a rummage and bake sale, scheduled for Saturday, October 25, 2008 at the Bethel A.M.E. Zion Church in Kingsport. The rummage sale will be from 7 AM and will run all day. The school book sale will be at the same time, and the bake sale that also include dinners, will be at 11 AM that day. Again, proceeds go to the scholarship fund.
A third book fair is tentatively scheduled in November to coincide with the scheduled planned renovation work that begins on the historic Douglass High School building. Those details are not final yet.
Please put these days on your calendars, and plan on coming out and supporting your fellow alumni, neighborhood and community. And please watch your emails and the Douglass website for updates and changes.
The next regular meeting of the Douglass Alumni Board of Directors will be held on October 11, 2008 at 1 PM, in the Fellowship Hall at St. Mark's Methodist Church.
