Yesterday, at our annual summer board of trustees meeting, Jane Brown was among those inducted into the Frost Valley Hall of Fame. I had the honor of speaking about Jane's impact on FV's people just before the induction. The first photo above was taken by me, and the other four were taken by Sara Alexander.With Jane, of course, was her husband Halbe, our beloved long-time (35 years) executive director. Also their son Bill and his wife Katherine, and Halbe's brother Paul, who lives in Claryville. (Halbe was elected into our hall of fame in its first year.)
Since my talk about Jane was done improvisationally from notes, I can't reproduce it here, but below is the paragraph-long note which I wrote for the program:
Those who have felt the Frost Valley magic – its capacity to welcome everyone and to create a remarkable sense of familiarity and ease – will know or come to learn that it is in no small part owing to the generosity and hospitality of Jane Brown. Jane joined her husband, long-time Frost Valley Executive Director D. Halbe Brown, and their young family, here at Frost Valley in 1966. From then until 2001, no one provided keener or more consistent stewardship of Frost Valley’s people—campers, staff, trustees, grantors, donors, friends, visitors for a day or for a year—than Jane. To the extent that people at Frost Valley felt specifically connected to the place, it was almost always Jane who had supported the connection. By electing Jane Brown to our Hall of Fame, the trustees with great pleasure honor her for her brilliant and dedicated stewardship of people—one of the true core values of Frost Valley in her time and forever.
