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.
One of the most creative people I've ever met, John Giannotti spent an entire two-week session sitting out on the lawn in front of Hird Lodge carving a new totem pole from a huge tree Chuck White selected and felled for him. John was the camp director and seemed to be able to do all his work--talking with campers and staff, even taking phone calls on an extention dragged out the lodge's window--from that spot. At the end of the session the pole was done and it was time to put it in the ground at the entrance to the main part of camp. Take a look at several photos of this hilarious scene. No one can remember whether this was 1977 or '78. Asked to identify some people in these photos, Michele Palamidy wrote: Well in the first one i think that is Lou Senor from maintenance in the back [with mustache], Valerie Kay [the blonde on the truck], Karen Giannotti, with her head cut off, Bernard Gauthier [dialysis doctor] bent over near the totem, Paul Brown's back with the heart on his shirt, Jan Gickner on the ground to the right [curly hair, in overalls], and, sitting on the totem pole is one of the Kremers. [The little girl is Dani Giannotti.] Of course that is the indomitable Chuck White driving the backhoe in the later pictures!John Giannotti writes:
Michele's photos of the totem pole brought back so many wonderful memories. Seeing my then 6 or 7 year old daughter, Dani, in one of them induced incredible tears of joy. Your account of the carving, however, is totally inaccurate! You state that I did 'little else' for two weeks while carving it. Hey, I was Girl's Camp Director at the time! Carl Hess and Chuck White chopped down this twenty five foot hemlock and dragged it up the hill. We mounted just outside of Hird Lodge, where the Girls Camp Director's office was located. I remember getting an extension for the phone so that I could carve and talk to upset parents at the same time. Now THAT was multi-tasking!John Kremer remembers:
I remember that summer well, and can also recall having to repaint the Totem pole shortly after it was raised, the wood was still so green the paint just did not hold. By the way, the 'Kremer' that Michele recounts sitting on the pole was me - next to Lou Senor, in the dark blue shirt; also in the last photo I am working level with Chuck on getting the pole plumb. 1977 or '78 would have been my 2nd or 3rd summer on the maintenance crew, as one of Carl's and Chuck's boys.I suppose what intrigues me about this scene is that it is like so many others: it becomes mythic; everyone remembers it more or less similarly yet with different emphases; it serves as a springboard for associational memories. This was the time of our lives.
