2012 Slater H.S. Business Meeting: An Alumni Association in Search of a President

"It's been a good ride. Everybody has cooperated, and we've been fine."

Those words from Slate Alumni President John Hogans, upon his last reunion as head of the Slater High School Alumni Association of Bristol, Tennessee.

Hogans is stepping down after almost 16 years leading the Slate Alumni through parades, meetings, gatherings and banquets, partnered with its Bristol, Virginia counterpart, Douglass High School.

"Every time you have one of these reunions, there are little glitches that have to be worked out at the last minute, but everything runs pretty smoothly. Our joint banquet was well attended, and we appreciate our Slater family coming out to celebrate our heritage."

Click here to see a slideshow of the 2012 Douglass-Slater Reunion Banquet.

Hogans was especially complimentary of the enthusiasm of the Slater Alumni who attended the 2012 business meeting, just before the Reunion Banquet.

Click here to see a slideshow of the 2012 Slater High School Business Meeting.

"The excitement of the business meeting was evident in the factc that the group wanted to continue the reunion," he says, "even though they don't have a president. That enthusiam is good, and we're hoping to find a president soon."

Because no one stepped forward at the business meeting to volunteer to be Slater's next president, Hogans, whose term doesn't officially expire for another few months, will reach out into the Slater alumni community at a later date.

"It's a good thing to reach out to the younger people, the descendants of Slater graduates," he says. "Our numbers of actual graduates are dwindling and getting shorter. IT would be only a while that we, the older ones, won't be here anymore, and somebody has to step up and take over, if there's going to be a continuation."

Hogans says, once a president is found, the announcement will be made during the alumni association's mailings in October.

"I would encourage everybody to come and help, and to be enthusiastic," he says. "We have to keep the school spirit built up among our descendants, so that Slater High School's memory will stay alive."

The Douglass H.S. Bristol Business Meeting - Banquet: "A Really Good Turnout"

A packed house greeted the officers of the Douglass High School Alumni group, meeting in Bristol, Virginia on Saturday, July 7, 2012.

"We actually had a really good turnout," says Alumni president Fred Delaney. "We covered a lot of issues, and the business discussion went smoothly."

Click here to see a slideshow of the Douglass High School-Bristol VA 2012 Business Meeting.

The alumni budget was discussed, and among the issues that came up, was continuing the reunion and preparing to meet again in two years.

"Continuing the reunion was actually the first thing we talked about," Delaney says. "Our members want that, and so we'll have one, two years from now."

Another hot topic was the invitation to join in a gathering of all alumni associations representing African-American schools in the Tri-State region. Douglass alumni members were quite excited about that. Details of that discussion will be forthcoming in another story on this webpage.

Douglass High School in Bristol, Virginia always holds its reunion with nearby Slater High School in Bristol, Tennessee. The once-bitter enemies now hold joint events, including the alumni banquet.

Click here to see a slideshow of the 2012 Douglass-Slater Reunion Banquet.

"It was even a full house for the banquet," Delaney noted. We expected 140 alumni members to to be there, and we actually had a few more than that."

Welcome to the Douglass-Slater webpage!

Hello, and welcome to the webpage dedicated to news and information of the Douglass High School Alumni in Bristol, Virginia, and the Slater High School Alumni in Bristol, Tennessee, and neighborhood news from Bristol, TN/VA.

I am currently compiling an email list of all Douglass-Slater Alumni and residents of the Bristol African-American community, to be able to keep everybody informed of news, current events, information and pictures from their community.

When I have the list, I will establish an email log, to which I can send out mass emails to everybody on the list, letting you know when there is something on the wabpage worthy of your attention.

In the meantime, if you have news of the community and news of the schools that you need to share with others in the neighborhoods and the alumni community, please send that to me at: douglassriverview@gmail.com

Again, thanks for checking us out, and just in case I don't have your email address, go ahead and again, send it to me at: douglassriverview@gmail.com

Thanks again, and welcome aboard!


Calvin Sneed
Kingsport