2006 CITs just before their out-trip

Connor Donohue

Connor Donohue, a longtime camper and staffer whose most recent summer on the staff was 2006 (VC of Pac Village), died in an accident early Sunday morning. All of Connor's Frost Valley friends - and fans (he was a very talented counselor and loyal FV'er - mourn him, and are reaching out to his sister Caroline (she also a long-time FV'er) and their family.

The wake in memory of Connor will be at Moriarty Funeral Home (76 Park Street) in Montclair from 4 pm to 8 pm this Thursday, March 18th, 2010. The funeral service is the next day, March 19th at Saint Cassian Church (187 Bellevue Avenue) in Upper Montclair at 10:30 am. All are welcome at the wake and the funeral. If you have any questions, please email me at andrew.stephen.hammond@gmail.com or call (201) 444-2548.

Here is the text of an obituary: DONOHUE Connor, 24, loved son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and friend, Antipoverty Advocate, of New York City, formerly of Ridgewood and Montclair, NJ died in a fall from his New York City apartment when the apartment's terraces railing broke away.A Funeral Mass will be held Friday, March 19th at 10:30 AM at St. Cassian's Church, 187 Bellevue Avenue, Upper Montclair, NJ. Visitation will be at the Hugh M. Moriarty Funeral Home, 76 Park Street, Montclair, NJ on Thursday from 4-8 PM. Connor was born June 6, 1985. This is the same birthday as his Aunt and Grandfather. He was first and foremost the finest son of his parents Jane and Pat could have ever dreamed of. His relationship with his sister Caroline was the best a brother and sister could ever have. He viewed himself as an Irish Catholic who loved his family above all things. He looked forward to Alexi Mantsios becoming his brother. It was his knowledge of how privileged and loved he was that formed the basis for his career choices. Connor was pursuing a career of service. He loved his work as Dean of Students at "Prep for Prep," a respected non-profit organization committed to improving educational opportunities for talented but under-served youth in New York. Connor recently started a new job as Program Officer for Strategy at "SingleStop USA" an innovative non-profit organization assisting thousands around the country emerge from poverty.In 2009, Connor was selected as a Fellow by the NYU Wagner School for Public Services for a Fellowship for Emerging Leaders in Public Services (FELPS). He currently served as Vice Chair for External Affairs on the board of Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, NYC.While at Connecticut College in New London, where Connor graduated Magna Cum Laude with a double major in music and English, he conceived and was the founder of "New London Music Tutoring" a tutoring program for underprivileged students in many local Schools.For 13 summers Connor attended Frost Valley YMCA camp in the Catskills as a camper and later as staff. Throughout those years he developed his passion for working and changing the lives of children. He is survived by his mother and father, Jane Lyons Donohue and Patrick, his sister Caroline, his future brother-in-law Alexi, his grandfather James Lyons, 19 aunts and uncles, and 35 first cousins. He loved his "other family," the Kaplans, with whom he shared endless hours of vacations and fun. Additionally, his many friends from all walks of life provided him endless love and support.Connor loved spending time with his large Irish Catholic family and the many friends who lovingly called him "Conman." He also loved music and the New York Yankees.Donations in Connor's remembrance and in lieu of flowers can be sent to Frost Valley YMCA, 2000 Frost Valley Road, Claryville, NY 12725 where a scholarship fund is being established. Please indicate "In Honor of Connor Donohue" on the donation.

Caroline asks that in lieu of flowers friends of Frost Valley make a donation to Frost Valley camperships in memory of Connor. Go here and click on "donate" and please note that your gift is being made in Connor's memory.

Connor's family will receive a letter from Frost Valley acknowledging your gift in his honor, and in this way they will feel the affection and concern of the entire FV community, and, in addition, some kids this summer will run crazily across the valley's fields, shouting in complete delight, and we'll know that in them Connor's voice can never be stilled.

Bud Cox goes on a lion hunt (audio)

After Bud Cox finished leading us in a high-octane revival of "Lion Hunt" at the September 2006 reunion, the several generations of FV'ers gathered there gave him a seven-minute standing ovation. It was a great moment. Bud started at Wawayanda in 1954 and this was 52 years later. I made a video of the miraculous performance and will eventually find the patience to make it available here, but for now I've made an audio version. You can download it by clicking on the link; or right-click on the link and choose "save as". Be sure to have this on your IPod! Or you can stream the audio by clicking on the little encircled triangle (if you see it). So here now is your link to Bud.

tomorrow's the day Moldova's gonna come

Yes, Moldova. Wasn't the Olympic team from Moldova, vintage 2006, creative when they sang this song as one of their country's chants? They certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. Have a look and listen.

friend to friend

One Frost Valley friend tells another how much she means to her. The friend speaking was new to camp; her cabinmate, a long-time camper with a big group of already established friends, made a special effort to new include the new girl. Now watch and listen as the latter expresses her thanks for this...a small but powerful gesture. VIDEO

song to Halbe (video)

During the Labor Day weekend reunion of 2006 - that Saturday late afternoon, to be precise - we gathered under the newly completed Halbe & Jane Brown Pavilion to dedicate the building and thank Halbe and Jane for their many years of service (1966-2001). It was a blustery, rainy weekend, and indeed the power was out all across the valley; we had noisy smelly generators running not far away, just to get the power we needed to amplify the speakers. And we were shivering in our seats with the cold. Despite these natural impediments, however, it was a very moving ceremony, with Halbe and Jane sitting in the front row--two people who find it difficult to listen to lavish praise of them--and seemingly enjoying all the sentiments of respect and love and remembrance. One encomium was offered by John Giannotti, who rewrote Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody" so that it became a "Song to Halbe." Although I my hand was shaking in the frigid wind, I made a video of this with my little Nikon, and I'm glad I did. So here is that video and I hope everyone enjoys John's tender, loving, sweet, funny, and poetic homage.

And here are some photos:

from the top of Giant Ledge (video)

This short video clip is a panaroma from the top of Giant Ledge in autumn**, just after the leaves were gone. To the extreme right of the camera's swing, you can see Slide Mountain.

At the very end of the clip, there's Bill Abbott's happy face.

Below are three photos I took from the ledge. In the first one you can actually see Winnesook Lake and the buildings around that lake. (Winnesook is the club that is located about 5 miles from camp, just before the road turns sharply downhill.)




** 11/5/2006.

Ireland!

The past bunch of summers, four cousins - my kids, Ben and Hannah, and my sister Liane's kids, Stephanie and Danielle - have been at camp all at the same time. Somehow in 2006 - Stephanie was a counselor, Hannah in Lakota, and Ben and Danielle in Windsong and Pac - three of the four of them ended up on the same Olympic team, Ireland. And Ireland won! (Luck of the Jewish Irish, I guess.)

first time up Doubletop (video)

Hike up Doubletop: late June 2006, with Bud Cox, myself, and Bill Abbott. I have some great pictures of this trip, but I'll add them later. We left camp at 8 am on this particular Saturday in the drizzling rain, and maybe it was 60 degrees, but no warmer. And we decided to climb up a little-used way - up High Falls Brook, which of course comes down the mountain far far above where most folks see the brook (at High Falls itself). Following the brook to its source (which is really a bunch of swampy streams) we walked through mud and brambles, and it was still raining.

So there were nicer days of hiking, but this was fun. When we got to the two tops of Doubletop, the rain and fog lifted and so we were able to see down to camp (you can see the Ad Office from up there!). But...but...now we were hit by swarms of black flies.

Oh, and as a bonus, here's a video of Bud being Bud - hilarious - as we rested during the final ascent (very steep) up the High Falls Brook-side (or western) ridge.

Send me your first-time-up-Doubletop stories.

The first (in several respects, as you'll see) is Bill Sonsin, who goes way back, wrote me about recent posts to this blog: "The 'first time up Doubletop' and 'Hemlock cabin 24' together brought back memories. I was in Hemlock #24 in the summer of 1959. Art Fritz was the counselor. I think we were the absolute first group [from the camp] to climb Doubletop, ever." Fritz was from Westfield and a student at Syracuse University (class of 1962). Other campers besides Bill from cabin 24 that summer were Ron Lochly, Ed Kieling, Chipper Hoeck, Robert Floyd, Joe Allen, and Dave Edsall.

Here are two more Doubletop firsts.

caption contest

Okay, time for you to tell me what the appropriate caption is for this photo. Write to afilreis [at] writing [dot] upenn [dot] edu and send me your notion of what this man - Jeff Daly - is saying or thinking. I won't post lewd or off-color suggestions but you can send them if you want.

Helfand-Glicker

Dawn Helfand and her brother Russ and sister Robin were all campers. I believe Russ became an FCC (the year after CIT--"Future Camp Counselor") and Robin, I think, worked in Arts & Crafts one summer and also led an Adventure Trip.

Dawn stayed around the longest of the clan: started as a 10-year-old camper and spent her last summer at Frost Valley as the director of Camp Hird. Along the way, as a Tacoma camper, her cabin's JC was Lisa Ernst.

Later Robin - then Robin Glicker - began to send her three kids to camp and these wonderful guys, Dawn's nieces and nephew, have become mainstays. Allye, Jessie and Drew.

During the summer of 2006, Dawn and her husband Jim Huebner passed through and stopped by to see Dawn's sister kids - and I was delighted to see them myself, and snapped this shot of Dawn, Jim, Drew and Jessie.

Dawn's time:

1977 - JC
1978 - hired as counselor but became co-CIT Director
1979 - FCC Co-Coordinator (July), counselor (August)
1980 - FCC Director (July), VC (August)
1981 - not at camp?
1982 - CIT Director (July), Adventure Trip leader (August)
1983 - Hird Director

(From the 1983 staff list I see that Robin Helfand worked in the kitchen for the first half, and then led an Adventure Trip the second half.)

Now how ever did Dawn move from JC one summer to CIT Director the next? I remember what a phenomenon she was--how early on we saw her excellence--but I hadn't remembered such a jump. Surely that's never happened otherwise. (Well, as always, there's more to the story than the staff list tells. Here's Dawn's memory of it: "The JC --> CIT story, as far as I can remember, is that I was hired as a counselor, but recruited to assist Leslie Black as CIT Co-Director upon arrival at FV. I was SCARED (given that I was a scant 3 years older than the average CIT) but did it and, as they say, the rest is history.") (The photo here shows Dawn--upper left--in the 1977 staff picture.)

Dawn now has a psychology practice and has written a series of What-to-do guides for kids (and their parents). What do Do When You Worry Too Much is a kid's guide to overcoming anxiety, and What do Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck is a guide to overcoming OCD. And there are more. She's currently writing What to Do When You Dread Your Bed: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Problems With Sleep. Pay a visit to Dawn's web site.

In the staff photo, who is the other person, below Dawn? I believe she's the sister of Joe McLaughlin--Joe who married Margaret Kremer. Am I right?

1997

Dan Goldman (middle) and Rick Mckay (at right) and Chris Giampapa (left) at the 2001 centennial reunion.

Here's a selection from the 1997 staff list:

Catherine Baker - VC, Sacky
Amy Barkley - barn staff
Matt Buczek - counselor
Brian Butler - counselor
Sarah Chapman - JC
Heather Constant - babysitter
Jeff Daly - counselor
Rich Eddings - Pac counselor
Carly Einstein - JC
Catharine Giegengack - counselor
Dan Goldman - counselor
Heather Graf - CIT Coordinator
Dave Haight - Wawayanda Director
Nicholas Ippolito - horsebarn instructor
Khalid Jenkins - counselor
Katie Kelly - Assistant Director
Steve Ketcham - counselor
Mike Lee - assistant program director
Rick McKay - counselor
Todd Miller - "unit leader of Sequoia"
Nicole Parisi-Smith - counselor
Carol Paterson - waterfront director
Carrie Petrick - AC
Moira Poe - AC
Steve Purkis - Hird Director
Shawn Schaefer - counselor
Beth Schwartzapfel - AC
Maria Shapiro - VC Iscusfa
Vyaacheslav Tokar - counselor (from Ukraine)
Tara Wigand - VC Windsong

Is it possible that Carrie Petrick is related to Bill Petrick who had been a VC back in the early 80s?

Mike Lee stayed on at the valley for years - working all four seasons for some time before moving on.

Am I right that Carol Paterson later became a director - perhaps Program Director?

Moira ("Mo") Poe, of Brooklyn (once and now again), rose to Assistant Camp Director in '05. In '06 she was supposed to take a summer "off" (doing some research projects at camp) but then got pulled back into the fray and spent the second half of that busy summer again as a director, plugging holes, using her vast talents.

Nicholas must be the older brother of Zach, who came of age later - doing a summer in '06 as CIT Coordinator. Zach engineered his Olympic staff dream team (for China, I believe) and then promptly lost his voice within 10 minutes of the start of the program. (Here's an exhausted CIT Coordinator Zach along with Chris Cariello.)

I had met Beth Schwartzapfel maybe 5 years earlier when she was a camper. I could see immediately how bright she was (and also how committed she was to FV). I believe she came up to me and said, "I hear that you can teach me some of the old songs." And so we sang and talked for a while. Later she earned a degree in writing and spent several years as a journalist (and perhaps a journalist-activist). Beth and I are of entirely different real-world and FV generations, but I have a feeling that if we'd worked together, she in my era or I in hers, we would have seen eye to eye and been very close.

notes on the leadership generations

Dan Goldman has a significant 12-month full-year job in Manhattan, but not so significant that he couldn't get the heck outa town for a week to come...back to the valley to volunteer in any capacity needed. Dan has become one of those jack-of-all-trades. In '06, however, he was between jobs (or some such thing) and worked as a counselor. But otherwise lately it's been hit or miss: Dan tries to be there when he can.

Since I began to listen closely to Frost Valley voices (long before starting this blog) I've been impressed at how relatively articulate these people are about the value of their experiences. I say "relatively" and without pointed judgment mean only to say that relative to the way most people talk about their most important experiences, these people can really describe what they feel and what's important. Maybe it's just that there's a FV dogma we learn and then can repeat when someone asks. But maybe it's that we learned the value--itself a value--of talking about values.

I spent an hour or so with Dan the other day at camp, and here is a good piece of that conversation.

stand by me

Here are the girls from Susky singing "Stand by Me" at the final Wawayanda closing campfire of 2006. This link will take you to a QuickTime video (as it has to download before playing, you'll have to be patient).

November moonrise

Full moon over Lake Cole, as seen from the end of the lake looking eastward back to camp (photo by Phyllis Kaskel, taken November 2006).

Hirdstock 2006

Last summer I put together a quickie web page featuring photos from Hirdstock 2006. The response to this was so positive that I added some photos that others sent me from a few earlier Hirdstocks.

bittersweet reunion

From left to right: Carolyn Shelburne, Jody Davies Ketcham, and John Giannotti - at the September 2006 reunion. As many know, John and his family lost his and Karen's eldest son, Oran, a little more than a year ago, in the spring of '06. The September reunion was a chance for the family to gather at a place that meant to much to Oran, as to all of them, and mourn him in a way they hadn't quiet done yet: at camp, with all their camp friends. Keara Giannotti's talk about Oran at the in memoriam service on Sunday morning during the reunion was very moving. Here is the note I sent to the alumni listserv at the time of Oran's death:

This is the time of year when, typically, messages sent through this listserv anticipate the joy of the coming summer, a season when Frost Valley is especially noisy with euphoric voices, and when many of us most happily remember our own times there. But in the rhythm of our extended community there are also very sad seasons, and this seems to be one of those. It's with great, great sorrow that I report the death of Oran Giannotti. Most
on this list will remember messages sent this winter, describing the cancer of the esophagus Oran was fighting. A number of Frost Valley friends of the Giannottis joined a Super Bowl ("Oran Bowl") fund-raiser to help Oran's family deal with the unbelievable costs of the treatment. Radiation successfully reduced the tumor; then surgery successfully removed the cancer; but very recently Oran suffered from what turned out to be major damage done to his lungs by the radiation. During his second visit to the ICU this weekend, Oran succumbed, with his family, his sisters Keara and Dani, his father John and stepmom Toni and mom Karen, his wife Dara, near him. Oran literally grew up at Frost Valley. When the Giannottis first came to camp in the crazy summer of 1969, Oran was in tow, a little kid. Later he played in summer camp and eventually became a counselor. I remember him best as a novice counselor in Hemlock Village in 1984 or so--not perhaps the most organized of counselors but always extraordinarily creative in dealing with his boys' problems and complexities, and always astonishingly sensitive. He was just as creative as his father, John--utterly brilliant at, for example, solving homesickness with whacky but 100% effective methods. Oran's many dear Frost Valley friends are on this list. So are those who knew John and Karen Giannotti from earlier years and who might remember Oran as a small child. And so are many who didn't know the Giannottis but have heard
the Giannotti legend, and legend it is. A Frost Valley family more devoted to camp there never was.

directors 2006

Frost Valley's 2006 summer camp directors (plus Ben), a photo taken in June just before staff training began: from right to left, Joanna Levin, Assistant Program Director; Kristen Judd, Program Director; Dale Whittaker, Wawayanda Director; Jeff Daly, Hird Director; Kelly Zingone, Assistant Hird Director; Steve Parsley, Assistant Program Director; Ben Filreis, 8-week PAC camper. Click on the picture at upper left for a larger view.

"The Hird Song" on YouTube (go figure)

So far as I know there are two recordings of "The Hird Song" out there on YouTube. Here's one from last summer (2006), recorded at the second session closing campfire: WATCH & LISTEN. Another one was made in 2005, recorded by Tacoma at the end of a Challenge Night: WATCH & LISTEN.

Marie Kremer and Halbe Brown

At the September 2006 reunion we dedicated the Halbe & Jane Brown Pavilion on a blustery and rainy Saturday late afternoon. Notwithstanding the high winds (which knocked out the power, so we ran the speaker system on a generator) the ceremony was very moving--with various people from across the generations speaking to and about Halbe and Jane. We had also heard that Marie and Charles Kremer were planning to move away from their long-time Claryville home. So without telling them we would honor them too, we invited them and as many of the Kremer clan as could be there. This photo captures the moment when both Marie Kremer and Halbe Brown were being recognized for their many years of service to Frost Valley's people and goals. The Brown pavilion has been a great help - on check-in days and especially on rainy days spring, summer and fall. Here are some photos of the pavilion taken during the summer of '06.