Susquehanna cabin 6, 1965

Top row, middle: Bev Gross, counselor of cabin 6 in Susquehanna Village, 1965. This is the cabin that is now numbered 36.

the girls' camp staffer who led songs "on the girls' side"

Above is a portion of the photo of the 1962 boys' camp staff. The handsome young guy in the middle on the bottom row is a Junior Counselor by the name of Henry A. Cox, Jr., known as "Bud."

If you click here you'll see photos of the entire 1962 summer staff, along with the names of just about everyone in the pictures.

The other night a member of the girls' camp staff that summer--Kathy Schonmeyer--found this stuff on the web, and then wrote to me. Here's part of what Kathy (who now goes by "Kate") wrote:

I just logged into your Frost Valley blog, went to the "alumni photos" page and scrolled down, and what to my wondering eyes did appear, but a link to the 1962 Wawayanda staff. I clicked on the link to the picture and there I was, as I knew I would be. I'm sitting next to Penny Hanna, and the name should be Kathy Schonmeyer. Jumping up one row, Jane Doncey should be Jane Donley.

I have some pictures from that year and the next few. I worked at Wawayanda for four summers, '62 - '65. I was one of the Ohio group. I was a counselor for two years, then waterfront director, then program director, and then I had to get a serious job that paid real money. The fact is, I'd still be happily coming back every summer if I could....

1965 was my final year. Carol DeVita was Girls' Camp Director that year. I just read about Gerry Lester's passing. She was good people.

I also read about Dave King. I usually led the songs on the girls' camp side during my tenure, all the raucous songs from Broadway Y in Cleveland, some of which I'm sure were retired many years ago, like "Titanic." "Hey Look Us Over" was one of the songs that came from Broadway Y, my incubator.

Kate will be happy to know that the campers and staff of girls' camp (Camp Hird) sang "Hey Look Us Over" at least until the early 1980s and that "Titanic" was sung through the late 80s and maybe even into the early 90s.

Hey, look us over, lend us an ear
We are from Y camp, you have heard us cheer
Never a letdown, never a frown,
Whenever we get together life is just a merry-go-round,

For there are two weeks of swimming, two weeks of fun,
We're all in clover and always on the run,
So whenever you're feeling down and out
Remember us and shout
Wawayanda is for you.

The Wawayanda version of the song was imported through the staff women who came to Frost Valley from the Cleveland Y. Dorothy Stenger, Girls' Director of the Broadway Y in Cleveland, wrote the words to the Cleveland version of the song.

Pokey '69

A village in Girls Camp (Susky?), fourth session, 1969. Later: no, no, it's not Susky, but Pokey. Here's what Sandy Bohn, then Sandy Shapiro, says: "I am in that Susky pictue on your blog from 69 it had to be Pokey since I was in it. I'm the one with the pig tails on the bottom right, can't believe I didn't notice before!" And that's Karen Krop two kids over from Sandy, with short hair.

Girls' Camp kitchen crew

This photograph belonged to Marie Kremer, and at some point her son John Kremer got it and has now passed it along to me. Remarkable shot! This is the Girls' Camp kitchen staff. Bill Van Zandt is in the center, first row, and to the right of him (our right) is Dot Van Zandt.

To date this pic I'm going to have to do some educated guessing. First, where is it shot? They are gathered just to the west of the Girls' Dining Hall (now Geyer), right smack where Lakeview Lodge is currently located. Up at the top of what many know as Hirdstock Field. Behind them and to our right you can see Ricciardi Cabin, which was built in 1967 or 68. And the staff shirts, I think, are from '67. And notice the hill is grassless and stony, which would be still from the construction of the dining hall in '66. So my best guess is 1967.

The crew here are a few professional cooks but otherwise they are the LITs and possibly also the CITs. I hope folks from there era, seeing this, will identify some of the people.

- - -

Later, Myra Margolis Katz send us this: "The picture of the LIT's and CIT's was either 1968, or 1969, I think second session 1969. (I was a LIT first session 1969). The girl in front with the dark hair and blond streak is Suzanne Steinberg."

Margaret Kremer remembers...

Margaret Kremer McLaughlin's daughter Emily has been a Tacoma counselor here all summer, and this vicarious re-emergence into Frost Valley has set Margaret to fond remembering. Here is what she recently wrote to me:

Ray my oldest brother was actually the first employee of Camp Wawayanda from the Kremer clan under Jim White in the early 60s. (Mom and Dad were late entrants into the Frost Valley employment pool). I think Ray met his wife Meg at Camp. All the Kremer siblings worked there as you know -- my son Nathan was also a counselor for a couple years in 1998, 1999.

I was hired the first year they had a girls camp kitchen with the Van Zandts as cooks. I was either 15 or 16 (1965-1966)... but the main criteria for employment was being at least 5 '10' as the men were not certain that girls could handle the heavy workload - particularly the pot duty. If there were pictures... we were quite a hefty crew.

Elsie Kimble was girls camp director when I began.. I became very attached to her. I tried to find her after I dropped Emily off this summer. I know she was a Professor at Mississippi State University. I was allowed to visit her during my junior year of high school while she was in graduate school at the University of Alabama for Romance languages. It was my very first plane ride and I was only allowed to go if I made it into the National Honor Society..

I continued to work every summer afterwards in a variety of roles. The next big "boy-girl" issue arose over "out tripping". The boys went on extended out-trips and canoe trips... and the girls staff had to push for equal opportunity for the girl campers. I recall hiking with girls wearing desert boots because there was no such thing as a girl's hiking boot available at the time. Desert boots had very flimsy soles. At some other time, when I have more time, I could muse a bit about the boy-girl development at the camp!

Carol English, Janet Winner, myself and I think John Paul Thomas (although I don't recall all the male counterparts) took the first co-ed cross-country trip in early 70s. [This was called "Western Adventures."] We flew stand-by with a passel of campers out of New York into Denver, rented a bus and traveled all over the place, and I think the thing cost about $400 per camper. I remember at the end of the trip the bus driver was in tears because he had never had a group behaved so well for four weeks. The bus got impounded the day we visited Disneyland as we had been on the road for too long... so we had to stay at the park for 14 hours. This was not a problem!

girls at Wawayanda

In the early days of what was called "Girls' Camp," or, more formally, "Camp Wawayanda for Girls," it seems that the organization felt the need to persuade parents that Wawayanda at Frost Valley was really serious about wanting girls to enroll. Their approach will seem dubious to us today, for sure. But here is a brochure from (I'm guessing) around 1965 or so, a few years after Girls' Camp (later Camp Henry Hird) was founded and situated in 20 cabins above the lake. The "Girls' Dining Hall" was not completed until '66, I believe.

A word on where I got this image. Elizi LeBard (who worked full-year at Frost Valley for several years) scanned some historical photographs and materials while at camp and led me to them online. She's now in Tempe, Arizona right now, working at a day camp and going to school, and we wish her well - and welcome her to the alumni family. At some point, unless you're Bud Cox, you're inevitably away.

For the past few summers Lizi specialized in Staff Lounge Diner Night. Mmmmmm, diner food was always just what the Staff Morale Doctor ordered.

Myra Margolis (now Myra Margolis Katz) remembers:

I was taken with the flyer from girls camp as I started in 1963 and ended as a LIT (aka dishwasher) in 1969. I remember when we only had nine cabins (I started in 3 with Bev Gross and Karen something) and finished in 19. We spent much of our day (or so it seemed) walking back and forth to boys camp for 3 meals a day, up and down the hills, often in rain and mud to eat in a cramped little space with a wall separating us from the boys. I remember standing in line (each cabin had its own line) singing "Here we stand like birds in the wilderness waiting to be fed" over and over. I would like to know if any readers of the blog date back to this and would love to hear their memories. Camp was one of the highlights of my life, made me grow and more independent.