80s friends together in San Fran

At left is Alison Perry. To Alison's right: Kate Westerbeck Lewis. In the middle is Marijke Smit (another Tacoma camper, cabin 34, summer '85). At far right: Molly Rauch. These 1980s FV pals gathered outside Kate's house in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

FV'ers converge on Big Red

old dining hall

The old dining hall in winter. Build Strong!

FV alum leads Newark's only public school lacrosse team

I was pleased to see a former Frost Valley counselor - John Dudley - featured in an article in the New York Times: here.

The article says that John picked up lacrosse in Montclair, but actually he learned it (or at least significantly refined it) at Frost Valley. It was time when lacrosse was all the rage at camp, led by (among others) then-Montclair High School star player (and now active FV alumnus) Rick Cobb. John Dudley was one of many young African American kids at Frost Valley at summer camp in those days who learned what was then deemed a suburban and "all-white" sport. (Even today: "Some had never heard of lacrosse, much less seen the game played.")

John later became an FV summer staffer and is now, at 42, teaching in Newark and inspiring young boys to take up the discipline of athletics. John's team is Newark's only public school lacrosse team. "In his fourth season coaching at East Side, second on the varsity level, Dudley lists 36 players on his roster, 23 of them cradling a stick for the first time. There is plenty of room in this urban planter’s lacrosse universe for those willing to learn and to lose, often lopsidedly, at what has mostly been a suburban sport."

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Something else is interesting here. The New York Times article was written by a Frost Valley-affiliated guy. Here's Lisa Colton to explain: "another FV connection is that [the article] is written by Harvey Araton, who is the father of Charlie and Alex Araton. Charlie was my CIT last year and is a staff member now and Alex worked as a staff member a few years ago!"

yours for $75M

From Forbes.com's "America's Most Expensive Homes"

$75 million - Former Julius Forstmann House - New York, N.Y.

Historic, spacious and well-located Upper East Side townhouses don't come on the market very often. When they do, they typically command attention with a jaw-dropping price tag, and this 21,000-square-foot limestone mansion on 71st Street, off Fifth Avenue is no exception. It has been on the market since 2008. Built in 1922 for Forstmann, a wealthy German merchant, the landmarked building offers five stories packed with original details like a sweeping marble staircase, marble fireplace and hand-carved moldings.

Thanks to David Lockwood.

Connor

Earlier we memorialized Connor Donohue, and since that post--as you can well imagine--his friends on Facebook have put together a beautiful memorial Facebook page. If you're a Facebook user, search for it as "In Loving Memory of Connor Donohue." Many folks have posted photos of Connor, and many of these of course were taken at Frost Valley. Above is one of these, posted by Lexi Cariello with this caption: "My favorite summer at camp: Connor and Zach worked in Lenape, Chris and Cara in Sycamore (and i was so happy to be there with them). The boys were excited because the camera had a remote control (Chris is holding it). So much love here! How about those smiles? And that Frost Valley milk carton?"

thank goodness Julius pulled out of the market

I've been in touch lately with the son of a man who worked as a Vice President for Curt Forstmann (and also Julius Jr., I think). This man - the son, my correspondent - when asked if he heard stories about the elder Julius, told me that "he had apparently pulled out of the stock market before the crash after making a trip (around the world?) that convinced him that the economic situation was precarious." I suppose we should be grateful for this. If Forstmann's estate had crashed in the Crash, they might not have had the Catskills home to sell to us later.

1956 staff list

Yes, you read that right--1956. A rare item. This was of course before Wawayanda moved to Frost Valley. If anyone knows there whereabouts of any of these people, please let me know.

Dave King and Bud Cox both remember that Art Lockett stayed with Wawayanda and became a staff member at Frost Valley. Dave remembers that Art worked in Outpost in '58. Dave also wonder if Larry B. Gatlin of Oklahoma City could be the Larry Gatlin of country music fame. Ah, but the famed Larry Gatlin was born in 1948 (in Texas) and would have been just 8 years old at the time of this Wawayanda staff.

Mac was back

Mike McNamee - an Englishman living in Wales - was recruited to the FV staff in 1982 through the "BunaCamp" system. We think he was a counselor in Hemlock that summer - along with Dave Gold (his JC), Dargie Mombo and others. He came back in '83, '84 and '85. He was a great VC of Forest and then of Lenape. Now he's a professor of bioethics. His wife - Cheryl - worked at Frost Valley (waterfront, I think) during the summer of '89. Their two daughters - Megan and Fionne - can't wait to come to camp in the summer of 2011 as campers. Dad's visit back to camp this past weekend should solidify that decision. "Are you going to sleep in the Castle?" asked Fionne, full of hope.

Yes, McNamee was back after 25 years. I picked him up in Garrison, NY, where he was a Fellow at the Hastings Center for bioethics. He wandered around - found his first cabin (see above) - and had breakfast and a good walk-around with Glenn Horton (who lives nearby and came to see Mac).

I drove Mike back to Manhattan, where he was to stay with Kim Diamond overnight and would meet Stu Kaufer for lunch the next day, before returning to Wales. Just as we arrived, I put on an mp3 version of an old recording of Mike and me singing harmonies to Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," at a 1985 closing campfire, with Ken Abbott singing a third part and strumming a blowsy-sad electric guitar. There was a bit of nostalgia reverberating around my Toyota as we crossed the Hudson over the GW.