
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995                   TAG: 9506290024
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES REUNION

The seventh Christiansburg Institute School Reunion, beginning Friday, will feature James C. Mills, an alumnus and retired U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs lawyer, as keynote speaker. The reunion also will honor Joe Williams, coach and teacher at the school.

Mills, a member of the Class of 1945, will speak during the reunion's banquet Saturday, at the Best Western Red Lion Inn in Blacksburg.

An honorary lunch for Williams, who was a football and basketball coach at the institute, is also scheduled for Saturday.

For 100 years, from the 1860s to the 1960s, the Christiansburg Institute was Southwest Virginia's only high school for blacks, closing only when integration began. Students from around the country attended the school.

Other events during the reunion will include a reception at 8 p.m. Friday, followed by a dance at 10:30 p.m.

Activities scheduled for Saturday include coffee hour at 9 a.m., lunch at 11:30 a.m., and a teen disco and cabaret ball, each at 9 p.m.

Events scheduled for Sunday include a business meeting at 9 a.m., a brunch for the classes of 1943, 1944 and 1945 at 10 a.m., a memorial service at 2 p.m., followed by a tour of the school's smokehouse museum. A picnic is set for 5 p.m., and a buffet breakfast for Monday.

A package ticket, not including lodging, is available for $89. Separate tickets for the Friday night dance, banquet, teen dance, cabaret ball and picnic also are available.

For further information, please call alumni association President Charles Johnson at 552-8685 or 552-9641.

by CNB