Shirley King remembers

As Dave and Shirley King prepare to celebrate (in July) their 50th wedding anniversary, Shirley took a few minutes to remember her experience as one of the few spouses at camp in the pre-Girls' Camp days. This is partly in response to Bill Hawkins' recollections (recently posted here).

I guess Dave [King] was one who had the first shot of bringing a wife to camp. He was Village Chief of Lenape in l958 and '59, and had talked to Dick Carey about my coming along when we married in April of l960., and what job Dave might have. (I always teased that he brought me along in l960 as "excess Baggage") There were few women at camp at that time: Dottie, wife of Ray Grant, Mrs. Cole, Jean, wife of Dick Carey, and Marian Schreck, Secretary, Gerry Lester, Camp Nurse, and Dottie Parsons, Al's wife.

Dave became Program director, and I was hired as a "Castle Hostess" ( with Joan Grant) in l960, and in '6l, ( for awhile with Dorie Masemore, who had married Jerry) and In l96l, I also did some of the cooking at the Castle during the week, toted luggage for guests, etc.

Living quarters: In the early years, staff Living in the Castle would not have been considered; the Castle was strictly off limits to staff from l958 on, and crossing the bridge from the Office was considered grounds for dismissal, so that staff never even went into Pidgeon and Biscuit Creek lodges. In '60 and '6l the Grants were bringing people to the Castle who might contribute to the "Y", and the Castle was used as a Guest House.

When Dave and I married in l960, we had one rm. in the top of Biscuit Lodge ( with the old garage underneath.) Dottie and Al had 2 children at the time, and they had a couple of rooms beside us in Biscuit. In l962, [our daughter] Kathy was born in March, and renovations to Biscuit had begun. We had 1 rm. at the top front of Pigeon, with a windowed closet, and it was there that we put a bassinette for Kathy. Another staff member with a child had a rm. in Pigeon, and in the top back of Pidgeon were 2 rms. for the cooks: Dottie and Bill Van Zandt, Vilja Kohtz [cook], and the next year, the cook and his wife, Albert Fey and Inga. (It was their daughter Inga, who later met and married Bill Van Zandt Jr., the son of Dottie and Bill.)

I spent many evenings visiting the cooks with Kathy, watching Vilja braid a rug, and those were special times, lovely people. During these 2 yrs. at Pidgeon, during the day, I did Staff Laundry at the little Fisherman's shack beside the Infirmary, and in the evening I served snacks in the Staff Lounge at Pigeon Brook Lodge (during Staff time-off, for those did not have CQ.)

We think we lived 3 summers in the old house across from the old horse barn. It had a washing machine, so "Hambone" ... Ken Hamlin...would come down sometimes to wash his clothes, and play with Kathy and Dave, and then he would babysit once in a while, and Dave and I would go into Liberty to a movie. What a great guy.

The Parsons family lived in the old house behind what was Devlin's home and then Chuck and Joy White's home (now called "the group home"), and l year our family lived there in the old house.

In l967 and 68, Halbe Brown had asked me to run the Castle, do reservations, etc. and we lived in the 2 rooms on the 3rd floor overlooking the circular drive. These were the rooms which had originally been used as a Forstmann nursery and a room for the Nanny. When the children were in camp, Dave and I lived for a short period 2 yrs. in Rm. 32, and once, for a short period we lived in Rm. 22. We went where we were directed, and tried to do the jobs asked of us.

Wonderful memories of beautiful Frost Valley, and of all the special people we have lived and worked with over the years!!!! We always enjoy coming back to see the valley, and meet again all of those wonderful people.