Prior to the late 80s, campers who loved to hang out at the horsebarn were permitted to do so informally, and they were known around camp as "barn rats." Perhaps the most famous of the early-80s barn rats was Spencer Levy. A program called "Ranch Leaders" was formed to enable kids to learn advanced horsemanship as an official part of the camp program (this was distinct from Ranch Camp, which was a "specialty camp" and included beginners). Chris Mills worked at the barn on and off from the mid-80s through the early 90s (1985-91, to be exact) and sends me this photo of a number of barn staff and "Ranch Leaders" from 1990. Among those in the picture are: Brad Gaver, Brian Butler, Jen Rotella, Jess Soller (Jess is the girl on the lower right, leaning up against Olivia; Jess is wearing a black top and light-colored shorts), Chris DePuy, JD Louis, Debbie Floyd, and Olivia Ostrow. Olivia's sister Jenna was of course a lifer too. Leon Greene is second from the right on the top row (in the light blue shirt). In the bottom row, sitting to the right, is Becky [last name?]. If anyone can identify others, drop me a line. I believe that the girl standing at far left is Tammy Lynn, who in recent years was Frost Valley's full-time camp nurse. I'm guessing that's a young Brian Butler standing at the far right. That would mean Brad Gaver is third standing from the left. When Karin Turer (FV 1988-97) saw this photo, she sent some thoughts, triggered by seeing Jess Soller in the picture. Here's Karin:
A girl in the Ranch Leaders photo is named is Jess Soller from TX. She was close with Becky Merino...and we were all in Tacoma and Windsong together. Jess was the coolest girl and we all shaved the backs of our heads and listened to the Violent Femmes and Fishbone. My age group lost a lot of people as counselors because the year we were all supposed to become JCs, they camp decided to de-emphasize under-18 staff and create the "A.C." position. So in 1993, there were only 8-10 previous CITs who had the opportunity to "graduate" into being JCs. It was too bad because we lost a lot of the friends I'd grown up with. Jess had an older brother named Mike who was a counselor. We all thought he was hot. He played the guitar too, so he was double-hot.... I was never a barn rat, but as staff I was always a woods rat, spending most of my time in Sequoia and Woodwise.
