Thanks Jens... I just stepped thru debugger...
@SetupRender void setupRender() { grid.reset(); years = new ArrayList(TynamoUTIL.loadCollection(hibernatePersistenceService, Year.class)); yearValueEncoder = new EnumValueEncoder(typeCoercer, Year.class); this is what the debugger shows for my years collection after loadCollection gets called. [2012/2013] Thats an entity... Year.class... the toString method So the collection is populating properly. Its stored with standard hibernate Integer id. Kinda blue in the face... kinda