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

DATE: THURSDAY, July 27, 1995                   TAG: 9507280011
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: E-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VINTON COMMUNITIES PLAN REUINIONS

Residents of three communities in Vinton will hold their biannual reunion in August for an expected attendance of 500 to 600 current and former residents.

The event will be held Aug. 4 through 6 for the Gladetown, Carline and Midway areas.

This will be the third reunion held by residents of the three communities.

Harriet Childress, one of the leaders of the event, said reunions were held in 1992 and 1993 but the committee organizing them decided to go on an every-other-year schedule. Childress is corresponding secretary of the Gladetown-Midway-Carline Community Reunion Committee.

Childress said that at the other two reunions people from Washington, New York and elsewhere throughout the nation attended. Many of the same people are expected to attend this year also.

The event will begin Aug. 4 with a dance from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Days Inn on Plantation Road in Roanoke County.

Most of Aug. 5 - a Saturday - will be taken up with a picnic beginning at noon, various activities for adults and children and general socializing, Childress said. This will be held on vacant property on Franklin Avenue across from the Craig Avenue Recreation Center in Vinton.

Childress said the vacant property consists of several lots owned by residents of the community - Frances Banks and Audry Bigalow - who make them available for the reunion.

One of the events during the picnic will be a fashion show put on by teen-agers.

On Sunday, on the same site as the picnic, a community memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. to honor deceased residents. Childress said the speakers for the service have not been selected.

The idea for the community reunion originated with Glen Thomason, who is now a member of the committee that was organized on the basis of his suggestion, Childress said.

Childress said that, in addition to the reunion, the committee raises money through such means as the sale of T-shirts and hats. The money is used to support community affairs and charitable groups. It also awards scholarships for high school seniors, she said.

More information about the group or the reunion can be obtained from Joe Banks at 343-0536.

by CNB