ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 23, 1996 TAG: 9607230043
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: MCCOY
SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER
As well as anyone can remember, it began with a casual suggestion. One member of the Christiansburg High School Class of 1980 said to another, "Hey, let's go camping on the river."
Seventeen years later, their annual gathering has become a tradition - and an eagerly anticipated reunion, too.
They returned this past weekend, old friends who consider the broad field where they congregate beside the New River as an island of security amid many changes.
Back in 1979, when they were rowdy teen-agers, getting together was easy for the founding fathers of this event. Now they are working men in their 30s with wives, children, mortgages, less hair and a few extra pounds.
And they've come to realize how difficult it is to backtrack along the various pathways their lives have followed.
So the simple act of getting together and sharing companionship during one weekend each year has become increasingly meaningful.
"Everyone takes it really personally. It's one little safe haven where you can go to talk about the old times. It keeps reality in perspective," Scott Hammond said.
Good times were as abundant as the colorful tents and the sizzling barbecue grills Saturday at the 17th edition of this unnamed party. Around the blazing campfire at night, recycled tales of glory days and pratfalls brought fresh gales of laughter, and a fierce marshmallow fight broke out.
"It doesn't make any difference what you do," Bryan Simpson said. "You know how everyone's going to act."
Cray Callahan comes in from Lynchburg, and Greg Kiser drives five hours from his home in Columbus, Ohio, to spent the weekend with his buddies. The rest of the "steadies," as Mark Cash calls them, still live and work locally.
Their bivouac is on property at McCoy owned by Steve Knowles' family, just upstream from the site where his great-uncles operated an old-time ferry across the New River.
For most of the year, the site is empty. Come spring, the guys mow and manicure the field and select a mutually convenient weekend to gather. There's no formal invitation, just word of mouth.
Once set, however, the weekend is a camp meeting that's sacred and faithfully attended. Steve's wife, Amy Greer-Knowles, badly wanted to see the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last Friday night. Her father carried the Olympic flame briefly as it passed through Ohio, and she wanted to see who would ultimately light the big torch in Atlanta.
But she knew better. Friday was the first night of the annual campout and not to be missed. "I set the VCR," she said.
It's true that the boys founded the event and remain its undeclared board of directors. "Whenever they got a new girlfriend, the first question was 'Does she like to camp?''' Greer-Knowles said.
Fitting into the weekend's high society was the deciding factor for more than one relationship. "This broke me into camping," said Valerie Callahan, Cray's wife.
As an example of their sensitivity, the founders point to a Port-a-John situated at the edge of the field. "When it was just us guys, we didn't worry," Cray Callahan said.
And the weekend has calmed down from the early days. "We've gone from kegs to kids," Wendell Flinchum said.
There's still a lot of talk about high jinks from past years, like the moss-tossing battles or the time they accidently burned a poison ivy log in the campfire and sent several attendees to the emergency room.
On some mornings-after of the past, they said, the railroad trains that rumble along the tracks beside the field sounded as if they were traveling inside their aching heads.
But that's ancient history now. The weekend is given over to more sedate pursuits, like fishing, swimming, over-eating, engaging in some feisty volleyball games and watching the kids - the next generation of campers - gleefully scamper around the camp.
Over the years, there have been all kinds of weather for the event. But this past weekend was perfect, if a bit windy. Sunset caused the wide New River's surface to shimmer, and it cast Steve Knowles in a reflective mood.
He talked about the originals and what they do for a living. Knowles works for American Electric Power, Hammond works for Norfolk Southern, Callahan teaches special education, Flinchum is a Virginia Tech policeman, Cash is a sales representative for an oil company, Simpson works for fellow founder Randall Maxwell at Fire Safety Products, Kiser works for an environmental engineering firm, and Steve Albert works for United Cities Gas.
All are healthy and living self-sufficient lives. Nobody has been in trouble with the authorities, he said. "Really, life's been pretty decent to all of us."
That's plenty to celebrate, he said. And when they depart, everyone feels better for having spent the time together, even for only 48 hours out of a long year.
"This is better than a class reunion," Simpson said. "Here you only see the people you want to see."
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON. 1. Members of the "Class of 80" meet outby CNBin the New River. From left: Randall Maxwell, Val Callahan (not a
class member), Cray Callahan, Wendell Flinchum, Steve Knowles, Mark
Cash (standing), Bryan Simpson, Scott Hammond, Steve Albert and Greg
Kiser. 2. Sharon and Wendell Flinchum cook up steaks for the
Saturday evening meal. color.