Eric Blum - four photos

As we prepare to bury a time capsule in/under the new Blum Center at Frost Valley, I quickly went through some of my old photos of Eric. Here are four of them. One of these I will send to camp now to be among those put into the time capsule. Fifty years from now when our successors at Frost Valley open it up, they will know exactly who these people are. Why? Because Blum and his colleagues did legendary work for kids, unforgettable. For a larger view of any of these photos, just click on the image.

Halbe Brown drives a hayride

August 1999.

first staff member to become a doll

The actor Wentworth Miller--born in England, raised in Brooklyn--is known mostly for his role as Michael Scofield on TV's Prison Break. Less well known is that he was a member of Frost Valley's staff, apparently in Totem village, and apparently for a few years up to 1990.

During the first year Prison Break was aired, a female FV alumna--let's call her R.--was hanging out with another alum, K. K. and R. looked through old camp photo albums. R. had had a big crush on Wentworth and took a nice photo of him at a campfire. The two were admiring this photo when K. noticed that the kid in the photo looked very much like Michael Scofield on the show. R. had already become a big fan of the show and (naturally) had a place in her heart for the actor who plays Scofield. Wentworth both times! At least R. is consistent. The two jumped around in excitement and then went back to marveling at how handsome he'd been even then, at camp.

David Lockwood has pointed out that there's now a Wentworth Miller/Michael Scofield doll (see photo at right), thus making Miller the very first Frost Valley staff member to become a doll. (The first that we know of, anyway. If you know of others, please let holler.)

Hmmmm. The Mike Ford doll. The Sue Goldberg doll. The Bud Cox doll. The Rick Wormeli doll. The Peggy Rub doll. The Rick Cobb doll. Or the generic VC doll. Maybe we're on to something. Manufacture these dolls and sell them in the store....

Well, here is a photo of Wentworth during his Frost Valley days:

remember your last summer as a camper?

Andy Ware has recently been in touch - after some years in and out of contact. Andy's last summer was 1990. This photo was taken in front of Margetts Lodge one night in '90, Andy to the left and Dave Mager on the right. Andy has just discovered that Mark Gottdenker, who was Andy's counselor in Pac that summer, lives just an hour away. They'll get together.

Milton's emotional return

I mentioned earlier that Milton Pittman (camper & staff, 1982-1990) visited camp this past weekend. On Sunday during check-in for session 4, Milt, wearing one of our bright yellow alumni volunteer shirts, stationed himself near the entrance to the dining hall and offered kindly welcoming words to parents and arriving campers, directed them to the check-in tables and did his winning jokin' thing. I watched this with amazement and nostalgia, recalling Milt's magnetic sociability and his great deep warm voice. Earlier during the holdover weekend we'd had a chance to go to Phoenicia for dinner--and got caught up on the long years. Sunday morning Bill Abbott insisted that we have our early-morning coffee at the observatory--way up the hill near where (for oldtimers reading this) the old rifle range used to be. It was a gorgeous morning--warm and sunny--and we had an amazing view of the sun coming up over Wildcat.

Later I chatted with Milt and here is the audio recording, complete with two classic Milt-UN tales. One story has to do with his time as bus coordinator, the other about his very first interaction with me in '82 when he was a camper called up to perform as Challenge Night.

It was clearly a great weekend for Milt and here is part of what he wrote me when he got back home (he begins by referring to my daughter Hannah, my all-summer Sacky camper, who, on break between sessions, joined us for various holdover-weekend activities):

It was a pleasure to meet her, and seeing you around her, I can tell that you are a really proud man. When I bought her ice cream Saturday.. I was saying to myself, Wow! I cannot believe I just bought Al’s kid ice cream.. I’m still beaming about that. I also have to tell you that volunteering at FV made me feel fantastic… It totally rekindled the old FV fire that I new was somewhere inside me. After all of the years being away from FV, I am glad that the fire has been restarted.. Especially thanks to you and brotha B[ill Abbott]. I’m going to try and get the word out to alumni that I am in touch with. If any one is on the fence about volunteering, don’t even think about it just come up and DO IT! You will feel GREAT about yourself, and the fact that you are up at the VALLEY again. The kids, the sounds, and the whole atmosphere up there will rejuvenate you, and make you feel ten years younger. I will not be a stranger, and thanks again for welcoming me back to the home I call Frost Valley…

Here's to Milt's return!

care continued, pardon, rest (with the commas)

As I was posting the photo from the early 90s in the previous entry, I noticed the grace board at the top of the shot. In 1999 the Windsong girls created three new grace boards; indeed, at the end of each sung grace, the campers and staff took to chanting, "Windsong '99!" Even those graces have been replaced (the boards, not the words--the words are the same as ever). But for many years all three graces were woven into a single home-made tapestry. The year (you can barely see it in this photo) was 1975 and the artist signed her name as initials in the bottom right corner: "DLZ" - Donna Zelaney (who was a staff member at Arts & Crafts and sister of Beth who was, I believe, at the waterfront). Donna's piece served as the grace board in the Girls' Dining Hall until the new main dining hall was completed in '86, whereupon it was moved over and was used until it frayed 24 years later and Windsong's artistry took over.

By the way, the current grace boards make a mash of the final line of the dinner grace.

Tireless guardian of our way
Though has kept us well this day.**
While we thank thee we request,
Care continued, pardon, rest.

The final line is now rendered as:

care continued pardon rest

--which of course doesn't make any sense. Yes, the old Wawayanda graces are tortured syntax, made long ago to fit the meter and rhyme without much regard for easy understanding (such as ballads--and these graces are of course ballads). The final two lines mean: We're thanking You and while we're thanking you we might as well also make some requests. Please give us continued care, please also give us pardon (or: please pardon us), and please (since it's evening now) give us some rest. The phrase "care continued" is another way of saying "continued or ongoing care." Otherwise the final line is a list of three items: care, pardon, rest. Without the commas it means nothing. Maybe Wingsong '08 will get it together and make a new one, restoring the commas. Not to carp, but...maybe we can also return to quietly sung grace too! There's nothing quiet as easeful, especially at dinner after a long day of running around.

** Back in the day, the girls sang "today" and the boys sang "this day."

1990 Ranch Leaders ("barn rats" made official)

Prior to the late 80s, campers who loved to hang out at the horsebarn were permitted to do so informally, and they were known around camp as "barn rats." Perhaps the most famous of the early-80s barn rats was Spencer Levy. A program called "Ranch Leaders" was formed to enable kids to learn advanced horsemanship as an official part of the camp program (this was distinct from Ranch Camp, which was a "specialty camp" and included beginners). Chris Mills worked at the barn on and off from the mid-80s through the early 90s (1985-91, to be exact) and sends me this photo of a number of barn staff and "Ranch Leaders" from 1990. Among those in the picture are: Brad Gaver, Brian Butler, Jen Rotella, Jess Soller (Jess is the girl on the lower right, leaning up against Olivia; Jess is wearing a black top and light-colored shorts), Chris DePuy, JD Louis, Debbie Floyd, and Olivia Ostrow. Olivia's sister Jenna was of course a lifer too. Leon Greene is second from the right on the top row (in the light blue shirt). In the bottom row, sitting to the right, is Becky [last name?]. If anyone can identify others, drop me a line. I believe that the girl standing at far left is Tammy Lynn, who in recent years was Frost Valley's full-time camp nurse. I'm guessing that's a young Brian Butler standing at the far right. That would mean Brad Gaver is third standing from the left.

When Karin Turer (FV 1988-97) saw this photo, she sent some thoughts, triggered by seeing Jess Soller in the picture. Here's Karin:

A girl in the Ranch Leaders photo is named is Jess Soller from TX. She was close with Becky Merino...and we were all in Tacoma and Windsong together. Jess was the coolest girl and we all shaved the backs of our heads and listened to the Violent Femmes and Fishbone. My age group lost a lot of people as counselors because the year we were all supposed to become JCs, they camp decided to de-emphasize under-18 staff and create the "A.C." position. So in 1993, there were only 8-10 previous CITs who had the opportunity to "graduate" into being JCs. It was too bad because we lost a lot of the friends I'd grown up with. Jess had an older brother named Mike who was a counselor. We all thought he was hot. He played the guitar too, so he was double-hot.... I was never a barn rat, but as staff I was always a woods rat, spending most of my time in Sequoia and Woodwise.