when Margetts Lodge was new

This photo was taken in the spring of 1976 or possibly the early fall of 1975. Margetts Lodge was new and hadn't been named yet (we called it the "New Conference Center" and used "NCC" on schedules). The Volkswagen bus is that of Leon Van Heusen.

a new Gansler

At right: from left to right, Dave Gansler, Heather Sachs, Ira Sasowsky.

David (Dave) Gansler was one of the young "phenoms" who came of age at Frost Valley in the late 70s and early 80s. As he approached JC/counselor age he found himself associated with the then-new teepee/Sioux village called "Lacota," created by the late Leon Van Heusen. I've told this story here before, so forgive me. Gansler (and Heather Sachs and others) learned the Lacota ways and did a marvelous job with this experimental village, which was located in real Plains teepees (with Lodgepole Pine poles) on what is now called "the Hayden soccer field." "Van," as we called him, became ill and had to leave camp, and later passed away. Dave Gansler, though young, took over as VC of Lacota, which had been Van's dream, and made it work beautifully, and then, over several summers, became truly one of the leaders of Frost Valley. So smart and so intense. (And quite a challenge to his Camp Director when he believed said director was wrong - that would be moi.)

Anyway, last summer I invited Dave to be a guest at the summer Trustee meeting at camp, in part to help us honor Jane Brown, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Dave brought his son Jeremy, whom he was hoping would fall in love with FV and the people there.

A year later - Jeremy Gansler is a counselor in Adventure Village (living in tents in Sequoia) and is doing very well. In this photo Jeremy is in the middle, looking like his dad. At left is Dylan Monahan, the brilliant and hilariously quirky VC of Advill.

A few hours after I posted this entry, I heard from Adam Weiss. Adam was a Lacota camper. Now he's the dad of twin girls - who will be back at FV for their second summer next session. They will be in....you guessed it....Lakota. He's trying to explain to the twins that Lakota doesn't live in teepees as he did. Adam wrote:

"I was in Lacota!!! I had Dave, Heather, and Ira (or was it Rich?) as counselors. We all had a crush on Heather. The photo I’ve attached (1978) had to have been from the same summer as the one posted on your blog. Somehow I wasn’t in that session [and so am not in the photo]. I recognize several of the campers. My girls are going into Lakota this year and I had to explain to them that it was a different village way back then. It was a great experience and unfortunate that the Indian village concept was discontinued."

Gansler!

Yes, and David Gansler visited FV yesterday, a guest of the Board. I think it had been many years since Dave's last visit. He is currently a prominent psychologist in the Boston area, running a center and affiliated with a university. No surprise to me that he has done so well in his field. I remember him as an utterly brilliant and (self-)demanding village chief - of Lacota, the first Lacota, the Sioux Indian-style village residing in tipis (sorry, I've mentioned that lots in this blog). When I was director, Gansler was for several great summers among the very finest VCs. Sharp guy, and brilliantly effectively ascerbic when necessary. Anyway, David was back and brought along his 18-year-old son Jeremy. We're hoping Jeremy applies for a job as counselor next summer.

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.

June Kaiser, Sven Grotrian, Rich Weinberg, Brad Gaver

Today I spent the day on the phone calling various friends and supporters of Frost Valley. Among them were these old camp friends: Sven Grotrian, June Kaiser Campbell, Rich Weinberg, Brad Gaver. Brad picked up his phone while he was feeding hay to his horses. He co-runs a horse ranch just west of West Palm Beach in Florida, and does a lot of traveling to teach about horsemanship. (We talked about the possibility that he would come here to Frost Valley to lead a session.) Sven's silvery slightly yodel-like voice reminded me instantly of some wonderful weeks and months we spent together here. Sven started at FV in 1963 and his last summer was '77. Today he reminded me that (a) we roomed together one summer and (b) that for the last two weeks of his last summer he was a Camp Director. Sven's two daughters were both campers here a few years ago. I caught Rich in Maine where he was putting siding on his cabin up there. I hope to talk with him again soon. Rich spent some of his many years here as a counselor in Lacota, the tipi village. Rich is somewhat in touch with Heather Sachs. We knew June as June Kaiser--hailing from Summit NJ (her brother David and sister Linda both also worked at camp). She is now an attorney in Seattle and lives with her family on Bainbridge Island. Her kids are 16 and 14. I hope to chat with June again in a day or two. The photo above is a picture of June taken at the old horsebarn (aka "the Lazy Nag Corral").

Lacota (not Lakota), the tipi village

In the 1970s there was a proliferation of new villages: Sequoia was created in the early 1970s (our adventure village), Cherokee for the oldest girls (forerunner of Windsong), Winnetou for a group of German-language campers (Winnetou, Winnetou, ja, ja, ja!), Seneca (a forerunner of MAC)...and also Lacota, a Native American village modeled on the Oglala Sioux, the creation of Leon Van Heusen, who was Lacota's first village chief. The Lacota people were very very serious about reproducing Plains Indian ceremonies and customs (and costumes). The tipis were pretty real - the poles were made of Lodge Pole Pines, brought to the Catskills by Chuck White who several times drove all the way to South Dakota and back to pick up the poles just in time for the start of camp. The tipis lasted five or six years, as did this experimental village. "Van" as he was known, alas, died of heart failure in the village's second summer. Folks such as Dave Gansler, Heather Sachs and Rich Weinberg succeeded Van as VCs. In recent years, the name Lakota (with the k) was brought back as a girls village to match Outpost. Here is a photo of the Lacota staff.