Jody Davies Ketcham was visiting camp yesterday, and she and I took an hour's walk around--so she could have a look at things in action. It was a misty-rainy and quite cold second-to-last day of the summer's last session, but everywhere we went spirits were alive and activities were at full tilt. Under the big tent behind the Ad Office two villages were setting up a barbecue dinner. Outpost and Lakota were planning that evening's "graduation ceremony"--which would mark their "graduation" from Wawayanda and celebrate in advance next summer's emergence into the Hird. The staff at Arts & Crafts were cleaning up after a day of kids making projects. Jody noted with a smile that A&C looks and even feels and smells just the same as always. If you look really hard on the walls you can see the spray-painted leftovers from Olympics many summers earlier.We wandered into the summer camp office, on the second floor of Smith Lodge (the Health Center), said hello to long-time registrar Rhonda McNamara. Turned around on the stairs and there was Lourdes Montoro. At the little reunion of Jody and Lourdes, I snapped this shot.
Lourdes came first as an ICCP counselor in the early 80s--maybe mid-80s. I assigned her to Tacoma that summer, but that was a mistake; she wasn't cut out for the older girls and wanted Pokey in the worst way. We made that move and she loved the little kids and thrived. Summers went by and still Lourdes managed to get away from her life in Spain to spent at least some time here. Now, years and years and years later, she has structured her life as a teacher in Barcelona to be able to spend four weeks every August here for sessions 3 and 4. For the past numbers of summers her job is the late shift in the Margetts Lodge program office. She keeps it utterly clean and organized, no small feat as anyone who remembers working there in the summer will realize. She's a fixture, an institution unto herself...another blessed with the Wawayanda spirit.
Pretty much everyone to whom I introduced Jody noted the name "Ketcham" and because of the Ketcham legacy in the air, helped by the name of the chapel at Reflection Pond, made a big friendly gesture of welcome. "Oh, the Ketcham family means a lot here," said one Susky girl. Well Jody of course is a Westfield Davies, but later married John Ketcham and of course is proud of her heartfilled connection to the Ketchams. She and I more or less grew up here together. For the 2001 Wawayanda centennial, she and I co-wrote (she made the photos and I the text) a book called Finding the Way Back. She was a camper, CIT, counselor, VC, Adventure Trip leader and later, for many years, the fulltime year-round Director of Development.
Too bad Jody had to go back to NJ so soon. She missed, late last night, a special treat at the staff lounge: real BBQ, including pulled-pork sandwiches. The place was hoppin'.
Later, Bill Abbott added this remembrance:
I think it was 1983, maybe 1981, when we had a soccer/gymnastics village located in old Hemlock [cabins 21-25]. We were two girls cabins and three boys cabins. Mike Ford was there as well as Tom "ya ya!" from Germany. Kathy Bell was with us as well as Molly Shea - I have a picture of the whole group I will find and forward to you. Lourdes was, as you mentioned, brand new to counseling. One night the two of us had CQ on a cool, rainy night. We decided to sit in her counselor's quarters in cabin 25. She barely spoke English and I could barely order a burrito, much less speak Spanish. We decided to play cards and I remember with great fondness how we kind of taught each other English and Spanish as we played. It was a night I thought would get me to sleep early, but we had such a nice time communicating as best we could in hushed tones, playing cards and laughing quietly as we enjoyed the effort of playing some game neither of us truly understood. It was a classic example of how two people from opposite ends of the earth, unable to speak fluently with each other, could spend an entire evening together and enjoy every memorable moment of it! My/our plans of retiring early went for naught as we didn't want this special evening to end! It created a bond between us that we couldn't articulate to others, but it must have been apparent to the other counselors as well as the kids when we subsequently shared "a look" and a "knowing" smile between us... It warms my heart that Lourdes not only continued to come back to FV as a staff member, but also that her attachment to our wonderful summer camp brings her back year after year. If there was ever any doubt that FV is a magical place that touches hearts and minds in profound ways - the story of how it has affected Lourdes removes all of it!
