Olympics 1967

A race during the 1967 Wawayanda Olympics. The "field events" took place in the Big Tree Field. For the "track" a swath of grass was mown short. I remember running some of these races myself as a camper. The Big Tree Field - then even more than now - was full of hillocks and bumps, and it was impossible to run really fast without stumbling or going wobbly in the knees. (Photo by Geoff Hazel.)

a perfect midsummer morning & bits of news

Last night I awoke at 3 AM feeling chilly. Sleepily I grabbed a second blanket and slept soundly and happily another 3 hours. Yes, folks, here at Frost Valley it was a two-blanket night. A starry sky, the sounds of full streams...perfect night for an overnight, as Susky and Forest found out in their sleeping bags around fires at their various campsites. And this morning, well, it's gorgeous. Campers and counselors in sweatshirts at breakfast.

Today folks start to arrive ahead of tomorrow's annual summer Board of Trustees meeting. In the past few summers, we've transformed the summer meeting somewhat. Now it is essentially our "annual" meeting (which used to be held in May in NJ). We invite many guests (80 expected tomorrow) and we use the occasion to induct two or three or four people into the Frost Valley Hall of Fame. Tomorrow we will honor:

Jane Brown
Emiko and Tatsuo Honma
Charles R. Scott.

I'm honored to be giving the introduction to Jane. Bud Cox will speak about Charles Scott, who was, of course, the first director of Camp Wawayanda in 1901 and directed the camp for 21 years. Scott formed the first lifesaving corps at a camp in 1910 (of course also at Wawayanda) and he was the first president of the American Camping Association. He visited regularly through 1954. It was then, that summer, when he died suddenly in the dining hall--surely a fitting end, if an end had to come. (Bud was actually there that day in '54 - a camper at 10 years old in his first summer.)

Marie Hess is here for her usual all-August stint, volunteering as hardily as ever. She's amazing. David Gansler, who hasn't been here in years, will be a guest at the meeting tomorrow. Jeff Daly, now directing a Y in the Philadephia area, makes his triumphal return. Lourdes Montoro is here as well (also as usual in August).

The current Pokey-Totem VC, Sian Martin, went to her dentist for a check-up during a recent holdover weekend. Inevitably they got to talking about Sian's summer job, whereupon her dentist, John G. Pitman, told her that he too had been a counselor here, back in the 60s. I remember him! He was (is) British and was a member of the "Athletics" staff in 1967 or '68. I remember John advertising the Athletics program at Flag Raising by singing "They call us Ath-a-LET-ics" to the tune of Donovon's "Mellow Yellow." So this morning I will send John an email and see if I can get him to be back in touch with his old camp.

John Paul Thomas

John Paul Thomas in the summer of 1972 - at the Wawayanda Chapel one Sunday morning. I'll be he was singing "If I Had a Hammer." At other occasions - especially in later years - he sang a gorgeous version of "Rambling Boy." JPT started in around 1967 and in either '67 or '68 was our Archery Director. I think he was also, at least one summer, the Totam VC. In the early 70s he was a CIT Director, the LIT Director, and the did perhaps two summers as half-summer (July) Program Director. Some years later he came back and did stints as FV's Conference Director, living at camp all year. Last I heard, he was in North Carolina.

everyone knows Dot Conklin

Those who've been around the past decade or so have seen Dot Conklin around the dining hall, before meals and between meals, cleaning the bathrooms, walking in and out of the kitchen, eating her meals in the staff dining room. Before that you'd remember Dot at the laundry and driving around to various lodges in one camp vehicle or another, delivering linens, hauling out laundry.

Dot started at Frost Valley in 1967--forty years ago--although in my recent chat with her (which you can hear by playing this mp3 recording) it became clear to me that Jim Whyte hired her, and Jim was gone by '67. So I'd guess that she was first hired in early 1966.

Dot is an original Catskills denizen. She has family scattered all across the region, she knows all the old stories about one-room schoolhouses, what this Claryville house was used for in the old days, and so on.

Dot was the first recipient of a recent annual staff award, and when she received this honor everyone stood and applauded, tears in their eyes. Finally a chance to recognize a true community elder - hard working, honest, a kind & beautiful soul.

the magic of mutual respect

I've been corresponding tonight with Geoff Hazel, an Outpost and Forest JC in 1967--his last summer at camp. (He had started in 1961 as a camper.) I was myself a camper in Outpost in '67 and remember him! I hope I wasn't in the cabin of unruly kids he describes. Okay, here's Geoff, remembering:

I was a Jr. counsellor in '67. I started out in Outpost, and shortly after the summer started, was moved to Forest. It was an amazing time for me, spiritually. The first time I was left alone with a cabin full of kids, they ran roughshod over me, I had no control over them at all. I went up into the fern fields above the rifle range, just bawling and praying for help. I didn't know what to do. Somehow I got through that first weekend. Then I had to take another cabin, and a kid threw a rock over the cabin and broke a window. No problem. Let's go talk with big DAVE [Dave King, the camp director]. And we did. And he took care of it. And then something happened, God answered my prayer. I had to take what appeared to be the worst cabin the village. The counsellor was always yelling at them during the lineup at the dinining hall "Get in line" "Stop fidgiting" "Be quiet!" and so forth. Oh boy, did I dread taking that cabin! But when I got there, they were angels. Never had to shout, they obeyed right off the bat, and it was great! What the heck?? And then one of them said to me "We like you. You never yell at us the way Doug does." Well I didn't HAVE to. And along the way, I learned about the magic of mutual respect. I expect the respect due to me, and I give you the respect due to you, and most of the time, it works. It worked the whole rest of the summer in Forest, I didn't have lick of trouble after that first week. Once I got into college, I fell away from my faith, but found it again not too long after in 1972, and have been faithful ever since. That summer will live in my memory forever.

Kids would sometimes arrive with a bundle of comics: Superman, Archie, etc. They quickly became the property of the cabin and were fodder for reading during quiet time after lunch.

The rain in summer is often a warm rain. One time when I was JC in charge, it was cabin night (Wednesday) and we walked down to visit another cabin that was on an overnight at some waterfall just down the road a litlle ways (what was the name of that place? It had a small swimming hole and a waterfall? [High Falls]). Anyway, it was light when we left, but we returned in twilight, and as the rain fell, we were walking down the road getting totally utterly soaked and not minding one bit. Then we got back to the cabin, took hot showers, hung our wet clothes on the rafters and then fired up the stove until it glowed red.

Remember "Cabin Night dinner," Wednesday cookout? The pickup [truck] would drive around and drop off the hamburgers or hot dogs, along with a big milk can full of "bug juice". Had to be at least a 10 gallon can. Then you'd make a camp fire and cook your food. I don't know as I can recall a single "rain out" on Wednesday night, either. Must have been one but I can't recall it. One year I was JC in Forest, and those little kids wouldn't always eat all the food that arrived on Cabin Night. One Wednesday, I sat by the [CQ] fire which was on the main trail between Outpost and Lenape and the staff lounge, and offered hamburgers to everyone who strolled by. I got quite a few takers, too.

The photo shows Geoff today. He'll send me a photo from his days at camp and I'll post it when I can.

Later, Gary Gold - who was a camper then - saw this blog entry and, sure enough, he was in the cabin Geoff staffed in Forest! What a convergence, all these years later! Gary writes: "Then I read the [entry] about Geoff Hazel. Holy Canoli! I remember when they moved him down to Forest from Outpost. We were a rough cabin when he took over thats for sure. I remember JC (that was his name) [Pony] leading us in the forest village chant. And Steve Gladden running faster than any human alive! And... And..." JC Pony's chant was "Has Forest got the spirit? Yeah, man!"

Tom Ashbaugh surfaces after only 40 years

My Outpost counselor in '67 was a lanky, blonde, kind guy named Tom Ashbaugh. Since helping to found the FV alumni association in the late 80s, I've made efforts to locate Tom and get back in touch. But no luck ever. I had given up when a small-world story told itself as follows: We use a company named BlackBaud for our databases and apparently the corporate folks at BlackBaud like to talk about us as one of their model customers. At such a meeting, after Frost Valley was mentioned, one of the managers got a big smile on his face, and said, "Well, I know Frost Valley. I was a camper and counselor there." Of course it was Tom Ashbaugh. I got a message from the other manager who was delighted by this and urged me to write Tom. I did and we have been exchanging elated nostalgic messages for the last 24 hours. Tom will dig up some pictures and remember a few good times, but that's for another entry. Meantime, here's what he's told me so far (I knew none of this):

I was part of the Westfield crowd. My brother Bob first attended camp in the 50's in NJ and my first year was a special "trial" for kids thinking about camp but either too young (my case) or not ready to commit to 2 or 4 weeks. We went (I think) after summer sessions were over for three or four days and I was hooked. I went the next few summers for 4 weeks, then spent a number of summers attending Camp Dudley in NY and returned to Wawayanda in 1967 as cabin counselor. Kathy Ketcham was in my class at Westfield and Mike is her older brother. I had forgotten how involved the whole family was.

I'm insane about memory, but I can recall the entire staff of Outpost '67: cabin 11--Roger Pollard; cabin 12--Tony Selese, the village chief (Ai, yi yi yi, greasy Salese [please forgive the slur against Italians in that ditty, but I didn't make it up]); cabin 13--Bill Kingston (who actually kept a machete in this cabin); cabin 14--the aforementioned sweet Tom Ashbaugh, called by Dave King "Big Daddy Warbucks Ashbaugh"; cabin 15--Chris Schmidt, camp's Rifle Range director and a fellow who truly scared me for some reason. "Bill [Kingston] was a good friend," Tom wrote me, "at Wawayanda and back in Westfield. I remember Bill and I tried to revive the camp to sing a very long and uninspired version of John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt. We had sung it when we were campers and when we returned as counselors, it didn't seem to be on the list of songs that were regularly sung. We bombed, our voices were certainly not pure - but we didn't care. It's not like we were going to get fired!"

Well, it's only been exactly forty years since this Westfield guy Tom--this smart easy-going adult, this easy mentor, this man whom I wanted to be--was my Wawayanda counselor. Four decades. Eight half-decades. Four times the age of today's Forest kid. Oh, Wawayanda has been in New York State for nearly 50 years and for 40 of them Tom hasn't been there. Tom, Tom, where have you been? Come back soon.

Castle hostesses on final day of summer '67

On the final day of the summer of '67, the Castle "hostess" staff were literally leaving the old stone mansion through the basement door when this snapshot was taken. From left to right, they are Kathy Ketcham* (sister of Billie Jean and Mike and John--of Westfield, NJ), Shirley King, head of the Castle staff (long-time camp partner and of course wife of Dave King**), and Linda Gridley (of Grahamsville, NY). The Kodacolor Print was given to Shirley who gave it to me. On the reverse, in Shirley's handwriting: "Castle Goodbye, Aug 1967 - notice the tears?" She also notes: "(missing Carol ________ from Westfield.)"*** FV folks who came along later might not know that in the late 50s and 60s the Castle was run like an inn, with rooms for rent (for visiting parents and others), 3 meals a day served in the dining room and (I think I'm remembering rightly) men's jackets required at dinner. I believe tea was served on the veranda in the afternoon. My own memory: summers '67 and possibly '68, during "holdover" weekends, my parents took a room in the second floor (probably #24) and we had a heavenly two days away from the cabin mattresses and mildew and lived in luxury on what truly seemed the other side of the Wawayanda tracks. This otherness was surely emphasized by the rule against any camper crossing the Biscuit Creek bridge near the Ad Office. No campers lived in Pigeon or Biscuit Lodges in those days and only for special programs and events did we visit Reflection Pond. There were certainly no "Castle tours." The Castle, by the way, functioned as a quiet/alternative staff lounge (with snacks served) every evening well into the 80s. I'll leave it to others--perhaps Shirley herself--to write me with more details about this extraordinary and mostly forgotten history of our use of the Castle as an inn, after which I'll add it to this entry.

* Kathy is listed on the staff list as "Hostess--Housekeeper."
** Shirley is listed as "Castle Director." By the way, in '66 Shirley's position was "Staff Lounge Hostess."
*** According to the '67 staff list, she was Carole Plenty, indeed of Westfield.