After hearing the recording of the conversation Dave King and I had on Olympic Day last month, Rick Cobb sent us his thoughts:I just listened to your recording at the Big Tree Field; what a masterpiece! While I'm sitting here on the porch looking at our mountains early Sunday morning and listening to your podcast on my version of the Crackberry (which is my Dell laptop), I'm really right there with you. Or, I'm going back in time as you mention folks: Mike Ketcham, Dick Haney (who was my first counselor on the Adirondack Explorers [along with Bud Cox, Hoby Spitz, and Mark Fisher]), Peter Boyd, etc.
I then flashed back to a story about Jane that I told at Halbe and Jane's retirement event (2001?), where Peter Boyd walked into the Ad Office one summer with his wife and young daughter (who may be Ellen Boyd that you mentioned in your recording). Peter and his wife, who had worked at a different summer camp growing up, had argued about which camp to send their daughter. Apparently Peter had "won"; as they entered the Ad Office, Jane, who had not seen Peter for ~20 years, said: "Peter Boyd, from Summit, NJ". Peter turns to his wife and says: "See! I TOLD you this was the right camp!" And the tradition continues with Elizabeth....
As far as changing and not-changing goes, to me Frost Valley represents core values and principles that hopefully will never change; it's their internalized existence that allows us to deal with the ever-increasing rate of change of everything else around us. I agree that FV is a very special oasis that, while its physical appearance changes, the real core value and principles have remained constant through the years. While the manifestations of those values and principles change as programs and initiatives change, the values and principles underlying them do not.
Thanks for reminding me of that today. Keep the podcasts coming!
