During Sunday's check-in, all sorts of former staffers showed up with their kids. Debbie Reich (Sacky counselor way back in the late 70s) brought her daughter. Jim Neilson (Forest counselor and bike repair guy in the early 80s) drove up from Virginia with his daughter, who left on an Adventure Trip this morning. Adam Weiss, a Lacota (tipi village) camper in the late 70s, showed up with his son and simply could not believe I was "still here." There were others, but the big shocker was Todd Payton. Todd Payton! He brought his daughter who also left today on an Adventure Trip (to Maine, I believe). I hadn't seen him in 25 years. Jim's daughter snapped the shot above: from left to right, Mark Gottdenker, Jim Neilson, Al Filreis, Todd Payton.Now don't stop reading. You just have to experience the story Jim Neilson tells, which is partly about what his daughter Leah is about to experience and partly about his accidental meeting, after all these years, with Mark Gottdenker:
Funny connection happened to me during my short visit. It seems that Mark Gottdenker (out trip logistics coordinator) and I were both in Forest back in 1980 (or ‘81). He was a camper and I was Greg Aggs JC. I was telling my daughter a story about Gregg just before we left for FV. The story was prompted by a little swimming accident we had at Blue Hole (have you been there?) down here in C’ville. At the time, myself, Scott Robinov and Gregg were standing near the edge of the wall at Biscuit creek. It was a hot day and there were a few campers in the water cooling off. Scott said, in an off-handed way, “Hey, Gregg, why don’t you dive in.” I don’t think Scott thought that Gregg was going to actually dive in head first off the 8 foot wall – but he did. We were all in shock and stood there frozen on the wall. Greg surfaced (there was only 3 or 4 feet of water) with a big knot on his head. Thank goodness we were right next to the infirmary and so Val or Joy could get him down to the nearest hospital. As it were, the FV magic was in full swing that day and he was fine – or could it be that all the VC’s are thick headed. Anyway, as I was relating the story again in the dining room Mark’s eyes got big and said that he was at Biscuit when Greg took the dive. He remembered it as clearly as I did. I could see Leah grinning out of the corner of my eye, she’ll have her stories to share someday.
By the way, the very same Greg Aggs (with Ulla, his wife, whom he met HERE) will be visiting us later this session, along with Jody Ketcham who is escorting them.
