Janet Winner was a counselor, I believe, in the early 1970s. I didn't know her very well then, but somehow I got to know her during a northern New Jersey-centered part of her non-summer life when she was, I believe, commuting to NYC for school or job and needed a place to live. It was agreed that she should live in the Montclair house that served as the FV office. (The house was on Valley Road and has since been sold. FV's NJ office--mostly for development [fund-raising and outreach] staff--is currently in rented spaces in a big old church just a few blocks away on South Fullerton Avenue...which I believe was the street on which the office was located after the move from Newark and before the purchase of the house on Valley.) Janet lived in the Montclair office and this was a time when I spent afternoons working there on various projects for Halbe Brown. Then it was years and years before I saw Janet again. It was here at camp, perhaps six summers ago, when one day she and her husband Dick were dropping off their two daughters. Now one of those daugthers, Phoebe, is a counselor in Pokey. And here is a shot of Phoebe with two of her campers and a co-counselor. Phoebe is at right. Yesterday, out of the blue, the normally quasi-shy Phoebe came from nowhere to ask me for one of the "I was a star at Al's Challenge Night" t-shirts I was giving only to a few special winners at Challenge Night this session. I did have a few extras and was charmed by her assertive question, so I gave her one. In a way that seems only to make sense here, this shirt has become a much-coveted item among the staff and older campers, and Phoebe was already happily wearing it last I saw her. Hilarious.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Janet Winner's daughter is a counselor now too
Janet Winner was a counselor, I believe, in the early 1970s. I didn't know her very well then, but somehow I got to know her during a northern New Jersey-centered part of her non-summer life when she was, I believe, commuting to NYC for school or job and needed a place to live. It was agreed that she should live in the Montclair house that served as the FV office. (The house was on Valley Road and has since been sold. FV's NJ office--mostly for development [fund-raising and outreach] staff--is currently in rented spaces in a big old church just a few blocks away on South Fullerton Avenue...which I believe was the street on which the office was located after the move from Newark and before the purchase of the house on Valley.) Janet lived in the Montclair office and this was a time when I spent afternoons working there on various projects for Halbe Brown. Then it was years and years before I saw Janet again. It was here at camp, perhaps six summers ago, when one day she and her husband Dick were dropping off their two daughters. Now one of those daugthers, Phoebe, is a counselor in Pokey. And here is a shot of Phoebe with two of her campers and a co-counselor. Phoebe is at right. Yesterday, out of the blue, the normally quasi-shy Phoebe came from nowhere to ask me for one of the "I was a star at Al's Challenge Night" t-shirts I was giving only to a few special winners at Challenge Night this session. I did have a few extras and was charmed by her assertive question, so I gave her one. In a way that seems only to make sense here, this shirt has become a much-coveted item among the staff and older campers, and Phoebe was already happily wearing it last I saw her. Hilarious.
