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November 25, 2006

Community Christmas Tree brings out the best in region

By Bill Archer The Bluefield Daily Telegraph Sat Nov 25, 2006, 08:02 PM EST

BLUEFIELD — Through the years, the Bluefield Community Christmas Tree has remained true to its original purpose — to provide some Christmas joy to children who may not otherwise have any Christmas at all.

This year’s party will start at 12 noon on Dec. 22, at the Bluefield City Auditorium and Herb Sims Youth Center complex on Stadium Drive. Sign-ups will begin at the auditorium on Friday, Dec. 1, from 3-6 p.m., and on Saturday, Dec. 2, from 10 a.m., to 2 p.m.

Walk-ins may sign up at the Bluefield Daily Telegraph offices on Bluefield Avenue until Friday, Dec. 15. Parents must bring a Social Security card or birth certificate of the child they hope to sign up for the party.

For more than a half century, the Telegraph has published the names of individuals and companies who have contributed to the goal set at $25,000 this year by Tom Colley, executive editor of the newspaper. The tradition of gaining public support for the Community Christmas Tree extends back to the birth of the celebration 89 years ago, but the fund-raising method was a little different in earlier years.

“During the early 1930s, we used to put on a seven or eight-hour long show on the stage at the Granada Theater,” John C. Shott said. Shott’s grandfather, Hugh Ike Shott, was the founding editor/publisher of the Telegraph, and his father, James H. Shott and uncle, Hugh I. Shott Jr., were both active in the family’s media businesses including WHIS-AM radio that was launched in 1929 and WHIS-TV (now WVVA-TV) that started broadcasting in 1955.

“At that time, we raised the money to support the Community Christmas Tree program during the show,” Shott said. “We had the Concord Commanders and all the well-known local acts on stage. It was always held on Christmas Eve. There was no admission charge, but people gave donations during the show so we could hold the party for needy children in the area.”

The image of Little Jimmie in an old cartoon has always served as one of the most enduring images of the Community Christmas Tree program. Shott said that the people associated with WHIS radio wrote a play based on the images of Little Jimmie and his sister saying: “Ats all right Jimmie. Maybe he’ll come nex’ Chris’mas.”

“I was the second young person to play Little Jimmie in the stage play,” Shott said. “I was born in 1924, so I guess that was probably in the early 1930s. When my voice changed, I did the announcing for the program. We had some pretty elaborate set designs. I remember during the war we had a set painted up to look like a real battleship with one of the guns pointed out in the direction of the audience.”

Eva Easley said she remembers Shott’s performances at the Granada. “I was a teenager then,” she said. “I was always thrilled by the excitement and the giving at the program. It was just such a touching thing.”

Shott trained as a Navy pilot during World War II, and went to college at West Virginia University following the war. “When I finished college in 1948, I came back to work at Janpak (then Paper Supply),” Shott said. “There were four or five of us who were responsible for filling all the bags every year. It took a few days to do it.”

Shott said that Jimmy Hill was the toy buyer at Bluefield Supply and that he helped the Paper Supply crew including Benny Tillson, Sport Curley, Brownie Sutherland, Shott and others select the toys.

“Back when this started during the Depression, there just wasn’t any program of its kind around that helped needy kids,” Shott said. “There are several programs now, but back then, you just didn’t see a lot of similar programs. When the newspaper changed hands, we tried to impress on the new ownership what an important program it was. I’m glad the newspaper has kept it going.”

Colley returned to Bluefield as executive editor of the Telegraph in the spring of 1985, and has been the driving force behind the annual event for the past 21 years. A few years ago, Colley enlisted the help of civic groups in the community to purchase the gifts. Volunteers numbering in the hundreds work on various aspects of the program in the weeks leading up to the gift distribution.

Children are treated to top flight local entertainment prior to the distribution. The late Cecil Surratt entertained children at the event for 50 years. Since his death earlier this year, his long time friend and fellow performer, Don Whitt, himself a 48-year veteran Christmas Tree performer, has accepted the challenging of assuring that the children will be entertained this year as in the past.

But until that day, the burden of supporting shifts to the readers of the Daily Telegraph who have supported the program through their contributions year after year. In addition to the many volunteers, it is the donations of the Telegraph’s readers who make Christmas a little more special for the children served through the Community Christmas Tree. There names will appear daily on the front page of the newspaper during the days leading up to the party on Friday, Dec. 22, from noon to 2 p.m., at the Bluefield City Auditorium.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com