stopping with a sugar high after a stint at Katz's Bakery in Liberty

Coming back from Katz's bakery in Liberty. From left to right: Kenny Nathanson, Bill Walton, Bob Davis, Kevin Hanlon. I'm not 100% certain the fellow on the right is Kevin Hanlon, but I'm pretty certain. Can someone help? Anyway, whether or not this is Kevin, I should note, sadly, that Kevin died in an accident not more than a few years after his one or two summers at FV.

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.

when Sequoia first started

Here's a photo of Sequoia - during its first-ever summer. (Was it 1971 or '72?) The barn out there had been known as the "Trailblazers Barn" at first, home base for our Canada-bound canoe program. At some point in the 1960s it was also the home of the "CE's" - "construction engineers." Then it was "the CIT Barn" for a few years before the Crafts Shop barn was renovated into Hayden Lodge ('70). Once CITs moved into Hayden, Sequoia was created as the Adventure Village and that's--again--when this shot was taken (by Sven Grotrian). The guy you seeing wandering into "the lair" was Pat Ricciardi, one of the early and most avid Sequoia guys.

Ken Nathanson says the first Sequoia summer was '73: "I was in Sequoia the first year it was formed. The year was 1973. In addition to Pat and Sven, Rick Cobb was also a staff member that year. Perhaps in time another name or two will come to mind. It was perhaps one of my favorite years as a camper."

four musketeers on check-out day

From left to right, standing: Sven Grotrian, Doug Tompkins, Pat Ricciardi; below, Al Filreis. This is almost certainly 1973. I'm going to guess that Sven was LIT Director, Doug was CIT Director and Pat was VC of Sequoia, but that's an off-handed guess. Doug is wearing that summer's popular shirt: a three-quarters sleeved baseball jersey with the "73" on it.

Whirty and Sunshine

The daughter of Bob Whirty and the daughter of Barbara Sunshine are here this session, together in Windsong.

Whirty

Bob Whirty and his daughter Hanna (in Windsong village this session). Photo taken by Ken Nathanson, whose son Sam worked as a counselor with the holdover campers this past weekend.

Tom Cometa remembers

alumni visitors

Check-in day, as I've said, and we had a contingent of alumni visitors. Lee Griffin joined us and was very helpful--donning a staff shirt and escorting new campers and parents to their cabins up in the hills. Thanks, Lee. At lunch, Lee stood around with his former campers, now staffers themselves. That's Lee on the left (no staff shirt yet at this point).Brian Butler, James Raffo and Shawn Schaefer came too - spent the weekend here and then provided a hilarious trio of help along the trail to lost parents.
Noah Ferris arrived for two weeks in Outpost, along with his parents John Ferris and Jan Gikner Ferris.
At one point we got a radio call from the Ad Office telling us that a "gentleman" was there hoping to show us some memorabilia from 35 years ago. Allye Glicker and I promptly went down there, only to find Glenn Kreismer, who began as a camper in 1968 and kept coming through 1975, his CIT year. He had with him a carved stick, signed by staff and campers back then (I recognized most of the names)--he and others whittled such sticks under the guidance of Mark Showers, who became something of an expert in this art. Glenn also had with him an "Order of the Oar" paddle that he somehow persuaded his counselors to give him. It too is signed by many FV stars from the 70s. Chris Mills, Reed Auerbach, Mark Kramer, Ladd Connell, Doug Terrell, Pat McShane (VC Lenape), Mark Wazniak, Pete Dobbs (taught many of us how to flyfish), Jim Ewen ("your friend always"), Mark Staimer, Stu Sherman, David Householder, the late Mark Selig, D. Halbe Brown, Jon Mittelman, Russ Oeschle, Barry Dunkin, Pat Ricciardi, Mike Rubin, George Zimmerman, Bob Grant, Carl Hess, David D'Oyen, Jim Weigley, Peter Tilles, Bassem Al-Hibri, Norm Gurfinkel ("mini-bike '73"), Rick Hicks ("basketball, that's all"), John Mumford, Tim Stickel, and some guy named "Al Filreis."

Glenn donated to us both the paddle and the whittled stick, as well as some certificates (rifle range, archery range, Olympic awards) and a beautiful old blue jacket on which is sewn all of his patches. His "W1" dates back to '68. In the early 70s we switched to the not-so-nice blue-and-yellow "FV" patches, only to drop the patches altogether for many years until a few summer ago when the "W" and "H" patches (modeled on the old W's) were brought back. This jacket will be auctioned off to the highest FV alumni bidder during the upcoming Labor Day weekend reunion. Proceeds from the auction will go toward our camperships program ("Project 332").

We spent a few minutes with Glenn in the office and he remembered some details from his FV years, including his mastery of the unicycle.


Sandy Shapiro Bohn read this blog entry and wrote: "I was reading the Alumni Blog and I still have the carving Mark Showers made me and I also "had" an oar/paddle. I painted mine in arts and crafts they probably gave us the old ones. Not sure what my parents did with mine when they moved, though!"

late 1970s program instructor remembers

Doug Redosh is back in touch with us. He was here at FV in the late 70s. Here's what he writes:

I started working at FV in the spring of 1977. I had finished a BS at SUNY Albany (now the University at Albany) the June prior, with an emphasis on Environmental Biology. I had wanted to use my training to educate others about the wonders of the natural world, and wanted to live in a less urban setting than my native Queens. Initially I found work at Lake Minnewaska Hotel as a cross country ski instructor, but also had to wait tables to make ends meet. This was the mid 70s recession. The FV Environmental Ed Director, a great guy named Jim Marion, hired me and I was terribly excited. I spent a great spring teaching Environmental Ed programs. There was little developed then, so I believed I help set up programs in Ornithology, Pond and Stream Study, Astronomy and Forest Ecology. Favorites were hikes up Doubletop, Graham and Slide Mtns. I helped set up the climbing wall on the chimney of one of the buildings. I worked with a great bunch of fellow instructors: Vilis Ozolins, Louie Comeau, Lin Denham, Stan Treadway, Chuck White, Jim Marion and his wife Cheryl. Vilis and I shared the old farmhouse behind Chuck White's house [then called "Old John's House"].

That summer I traveled across the US and Canada, but returned to work Environmental Ed for the fall and winter. Hunting season brought hunters and fewer kids, but winter brought the best cross country skiing. I helped Joe Trela set up the ski shop and we taught tons of lessons. That was a great winter for snowfall and the skiing was absolutely tremendous. I shared the Ricciardi Cabin cabin with Louie and Joe. March saw me leaving the US for a 5 month gig as a program director at the YMCA camp at Fairthorne Manor, near Southampton, England. That was a great cultural experience and Frost Valley helped prepare me for that. Upon my return, after 2 months travel in Europe, I landed a job as Director of the Wilderness Program for the New Milford, CT Youth Agency. My FV experience helped me land that job as well. That lasted 2.5 years, after which I became a Physician Assistant, then ultimately attended medical school. I now practice Neurology in the Denver, CO area, but frequently ski, rock-climb, hike, backpack, bike etc. - all the outdoor sports.

Not only did the FV experience help me land those positions, it also taught me how to live with a small number of people in a relatively isolated location, not always an easy feat. It also renewed a sense of optimism about the human condition and the fate of the human race.

Todd Payton returns!

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.

Gottdenker is back

These grumpy old ("old") men await Eric Blum, coming next month, to complete the scene. At left is Mark Gottdenker, who FV years I believe date back to the late 70s (is that possible?). I know he was a camper when I was a director. Now he's an "old man," so how does that make me feel? Holy cow. Mark is back this summer, already doing a fabulous job as adventure trip supplier, overnight/out-trip packer/organizer, etc. He's really got the place in shape - in the back of Smith Lodge (site of the old dialysis unit).

dear friends for life

Liz White Russell and Leslie Black. Dear, dear friends since 1973. They met, needless to say, at Frost Valley.

Stan Treadway on the total commitment required

Stan Treadway (from Missouri) worked as a VC and trip leader several summers, and then stayed on as a full-year environmental education staff member. We've been exchanging emails lately and here's a portion of a recent note:

You know Al, I was only at the Valley for two solid years, but the caliber of exceptional individuals that I met while there boggles the mind! That place brings out the best in all of us. I swore when I left, that I would never work as hard, ever again, (and of course I lied to myself). I remember the Spring of '78: went five weeks without a day off. 6:00am-12:00 midnight every day. A wake-up call in the middle of the night once or twice per week to run a guest into the hospital for one thing or another, and never get back to sleep, was typical. Thank goodness for Jim Marion's even-tempered demeanor! He always gave me enough rope to hang myself with as environmental program coordinator. He rounded up the business, implemented the program, and I orchestrated the on-site activities with a very capable and hard-working staff. We made an awesome team.

kill the cat and other lost games

Above (click on image for larger view) is the first page of a 15-page manual of games compiled by the Village Chiefs during staff training, 1977.

org chart, 1977

Here's a page (click on the image above for a larger view) from the staff manual handed out at the beginning of the summer of 1977. Many of its pages had been written years earlier and were reproduced each year and inserted into the large (200-page?) manual--handed out to everyone on the first day of staff training in large 3-ring loose-leaf binders. This page I know was typed in 1977 (I remember the change to the new typewriter that summer--our first electric IBM). It shows very roughly the summertime FV org chart. A few notable things. First, whereas now the Executive Director reports directly to the Board of Trustees, in those days there was a "Camp Committee," or "Wawayanda Committee," which was a subgroup of the Board (though it included a few non-Board members). It was this group that set dates and rates each summer. It was chaired for many years by Floyd Hird. This reporting line would only have been relevant during the summer. Note also that the Program Director reports to the Camp Director. In those days there was one camp director for each of the two camps (boys and girls) and usually a program director for each also. The Program Director was in effect the Assistant Camp Director and had camp-directorish responsibilities as well as running the program. (The summer this org chart was composed I was myself that Program Director. Whew!) Finally, note "CIT" and "FCC." This was a two-year training project: at 16 you were a CIT (a low-level program assistant and table setter) and at 17 you were an FCC (Future Camp Counselor). FCCs went on the rigorous 11-day hike out of camp. At 18 you were a JC, so I suppose you could say there were in those days three summers of training positions.

early days of XC skiing

When cross-country skiing was new at Frost Valley, around 1973. Those skis are clip-ons (you wore your own shoes and clipped them onto the ski by means of a contraption that fell apart often for the novice). The scene of course is the Big Tree Field (ski trail through the Big Tree Field?!) and at right you can see a tobaggan that had just come a long ways down the tobaggan run that started up near cabins 21-25 and emptied out across the field. If conditions were icy and slick enough, you could get all the way to the county road. The building to the center-right is the Lake House (where in those days the Food Service Director, Everett Lake, lived) and to the left is the old horsebarn. Yes in the summers we actually ran our horseback riding program out of that barn. An old, old, old barn, barely standing. It was affectionately known as the Lazy Nag Corral.

Cobbman

Rick Cobb during staff training, late 70s.

the master schedule!

This document is rare. Click on the image above for a larger view. It's a mimeographed "Master Schedule" from sometime in August of 1976. I was the Program Director that summer (and in '75, '77, & '78 too - four summers in all in that role); starting in '76 5th period every day was time for a long list of all-camp activities. That is to say, every camper had the option of joining one of the activities listed on the Master Schedule. It had a carnivalesque atmosphere. Juggling here, unicycles there, arts & crafts, free swim, rocketry, street hockey, African story-telling, you name it. This was the chance to share the special and unique talents of individual staff members outside their villages, to share them with the whole camp. Yes, it was chaotic and, true, it didn't provide any of the sort of coverage (of campers) we demand of ourselves today, but it was tremendous fun. Hard work, too, for the Program Director to devise a new Master Schedule for each day. My thanks to Ira Sasowsky for saving this copy and sending it to me.

Note at the bottom - a mention of the upcoming Olympics. The Olympics were revised in '75, but in '76 they became the "gumbo", fun, non-competitive everyone-wins games known to those who have come later.

Each day I gave the new Master Schedule a special title. This one is named after Maurice Penn's favorite expression of camp optimism: "It's GREAT (clap clap) to be alive!"

Sacky girl, mid 80s

Mary Beth Sullivan remembers her Frost Valley years. She sent me a photo of one of her visits as an "Indian Princess" in the late 70s or maybe 1980. She and her dad and friends are at the BB Range. The staff member, in the sweater, is Paul Nelson - who was a VC in the summertime (of Outpost in around 1978). Here's Mary Beth recalling her Frost Valley summers, along with my editorial insertions:

I was in Sacky for ’83 and ’84. I used to remember my counselor’s name immediately, but now I think having a kid has drained my memory a bit. I think her name might have been Mara. She was a village leader and she was from Texas. The last time I mentioned her name to you (when I completely remembered her first and last name), you recognized it and also mentioned that she married another FV lifer? [Mary Beth is writing about Mari Angers.]

I remember my first lunch and winning a TV theme contest you personally MC’d and sang (one-man show). I also remembered the touching story you told of your friend with the arrow you found in Lake Cole. You mentioned it during Hirdstock. [Here she is probably remembering a Challenge Night that I led, and also the story I used to tell about Charlie Shelton.]

I also remember Kangaroo Court with people teasing the guy named “Flash.” [She's remembering Gordon Fair, whom we called "Flash Gordon."]

You know, I’ve been dying to visit the camp for the longest time. I live in Florida, and my parents went there about a year ago to visit during a trip to my uncle’s. As a matter of fact, this weekend, I’m flying up north for my cousin’s wedding. They live in Middletown. I almost decided to take a side trip up there, but my mom assigned me limo duties for my grandparents.

You know I’m planning to send my kid up the coast for summer camp at FV once she’s old enough. It never leaves your blood!

brave spokesperson

Dr. Bill Primack and Connie Giunta talk at the 1975 meeting of the Frost Valley Board of Trustees. This was the first summer of the dialysis program. Bill was the first head nephrologist of FV's unit. (He came from a hospital in Massachusetts to do the job, although our HQ was Einstein in the Bronx.) Connie, though shy, was willing to be a spokesperson for that first summer's campers dealing with renal failure. Earlier this summer, I had a chance to tell Connie's story briefly in a eulogy for Eva Gottscho.