ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100002
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: N6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
IT was a festive occasion for all in attendance, and especially for Bill and Jackie Sheaff.
They were celebrating two anniversaries - the 50th for their high school graduating class and their 50th wedding anniversary.
But in both cases there were unusual twists.
Even though Bill and Jackie grew up in Vinton and went to the same schools, you might say it took World War II to bring them together.
The other twist was that this was the first reunion of the class of 1946 at William Byrd High School in Vinton.
And why did the classmates wait 50 years to have a reunion?
Nobody is quite sure.
Jackie Sheaff, the principal organizer, could not pinpoint any reason except that many of the class members left this area, and everybody was busy making their own lives.
Helen Carter, another member of the reunion organizing committee, said a reunion had been talked about among some of the class members in past years. But it would have taken a lot of work putting it together, and nobody was able to muster the initiative to get it going.
But the class members could not let the 50th go by unobserved. And now that a momentum has been built up, plans are already under way for another reunion in two years.
In the matter of Bill and Jackie Sheaff and World War II:
Bill originally was in William Byrd's class of 1943, and he and Jackie did not know each other.
With World War II raging, Bill dropped out of school and went into the Army. After the war he was one of 14 dropouts to return and re-enroll. On his second go-round, Bill became a member of the class of '46.
On his return, Bill expected to get a diploma, but he did not expect to get a bride. That was not on his agenda then.
"I was planning to go to college," he said.
But through other students he met Jackie Iddings. The first time they remembered seeing each other was with a group of students in a hall at the school between classes. In short order, he asked her to join him for soft drinks at the nearby White Front Pharmacy.
They courted until after graduation in June 1946, and were married in October. Some of the other returning boys also married girls in the class, but they had known each other before the boys left for military service.
The Sheaffs settled in Vinton, and Bill became a watchmaker. He also put in a 35-year career with Appalachian Power Co.
Jackie went into the insurance business with Nationwide and Allstate as a claims adjuster. They had a son, Robert, who now lives in Vinton.
Through the years they saw some of their old William Byrd classmates who had stayed in the Roanoke Valley. But most of the 53 class members had scattered.
Jackie Sheaff said that many of the boys who left for the military did not return because they either made a career of the military or took jobs in other places. Others went away for college and did not return to the Vinton area. Still others took jobs with companies that transferred them to other areas.
All the while, Jackie seemed to have had a class reunion in the back of her mind.
She said that whenever she heard a tidbit of news about a class member, she would make a note of it and drop it into a folder.
And late last year, she said, she realized that some of the class members who had made careers elsewhere were returning to Vinton.
With all the class members retired and the 50th anniversary of graduation coming up, Jackie said she thought now was the time if a reunion was ever going to be held.
Other class members agreed and in January, about 20 of them got together and began planning in earnest. They formed a reunion committee headed by Jackie.
Everything fell into place nicely, Jackie said. A date was set, the Vinton War Memorial was engaged, and last weekend about 100 people turned out, including class members and their spouses and several former teachers at the school.
Dr. Freeman Jenrette of Bedford, the 1946 class president and valedictorian, was master of ceremonies.
Among special guests was Robert Patterson, current principal of William Byrd High - the new William Byrd High. The class of 1946 attended the "old" William Byrd, which is now the Roanoke County Career Center.
At the main program on Saturday night some members of the class staged a skit of memories from 1946. Also, some put on a show of 1946 fashions and others led a sing-along of music from the 1940s.
Other highlights included a display of oil paintings by Barbara Jannie Willis, a class member who made a career in business but now is serious about oil painting.
Each class member received a small wood sculpture of the front of the old William Byrd High building.
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. Bill and Jackie Sheaff, William Byrdby CNBHigh School Class of 1946, have double reason to celebrate this
year: It's their 50th high school reunion and their 50th wedding
anniversary. The couple met in school after Bill returned from World
War II. color.