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.

core values - yes, they take them home

From a mom whose daughter I met last session: "Annika loved camp -- she's been telling us stories about all her favorite things. And I was pleased to overhear her earnestly explaining Frost Valley's core values to her 4-year-old brother! She can't wait until he is old enough to go along with her. Thanks for providing such a great experience!"

happiness...

...is the energy one feels after a good breakfast with new friends.

two camp generations on a Friday

Allye and Jesse Glicker had visitors yesterday and took part of the morning off to spend time with Aunt Dawn and Uncle Russ. Yes, these are the Helfands, who, with sister Robin (the Glickers' mom), were mainstays here in the 70s and early 80s. From left to right: Jim Huebner (Dawn's husband); Russ Helfand; Jesse Glicker, Susky counselor; Heidi Benoit, Russ' wife; Dawn Helfand Huebner; Allye Glicker, VC of Lakota.

Filreises abound

Here's my niece, Danielle Pancoast, a JC in Susky. She's the daughter of my sister, Liane Filreis Pancoast. Her first summer on staff after many years as camper, starting in Pokey. She's having the time of her life.

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).

videos: Pokey-Totem cheer & Susky too

Seen and heard your Pokey-Totem cheer for the day? No? Well your day's not complete without it, so click on this link and see a video of what will for many be a familiar cheer--recorded during the current (4th) session at camp. The cheer is called "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train."

Now let's leave the dining hall and watch Susky in the Big Tree Field perform their favorite cheer: here's your link.

Sue Whirty, Ellen Hart, John Mumford

Bob Whirty was mentioned in a recent post. Bob's daughter Hanna is in camp this summer (session 4) and it was great to see him. I asked about his sister Sue, who is a bit older and also spent many summers with us. Here is a photo of Sue Whirty (at right) and Ellen Hart (left) in their Goldrush Day get-ups in the mid-1970s. A summer or two later Ellen Hart was the VC of Susquehanna and worked closely with the VC of Susky's brother village, Forest. And that gentleman was the unforgettable John Mumford. I have lots to say about Mumford, a guitar-playing hipster from Montclair, but these few things will suffice for now: (1) it was John who brought to our village--for I was a counselor in Forest at the time--a real mascot...a goat named "Bozo"...who joined us at flag raising and even came into the dining hall to help us with our village cheers and performed as himself in the Forest skit in the staff show; (2) wrote with me, in 1974, the song that's come to be known as "The Hird Song" (or "Easy Chair" in the 90s). John had a fine voice and was a wonderful guitarist. John's favorite expression was "Lemme go!" Meaning: give me a break; you've got to be kidding; get out of here.
John Mumford in 1978

Susky lanyards

I spent about an hour with these Susquehanna (Susky) girls and their counselors on a warm sunny afternoon about a week ago. For their "feelin' good" cabin activity they chose to make lanyards, that time-honored pastime at camp. They were marvelous - concentrating on their lanyard-making yet chatty and relaxed. I recorded part of my conversation with them and here it is. At the end of the recording they perform for me "The Hill," a cheer that is chanted by Susky and Lakota together, they being the two villages that currently reside in cabins 41-45 and 46-50, the two groups of five cabins assembled in rows up the hill above the lake. I've always thought of these two villages (for many years they were Sacky and Tacoma) as not a very nice place to live--cabins too close together, not enough of a woodsy setting. And yet there is remarkable unity among the campers who live here, just as there's always been. In recent years the two village staffs even share one CQ fire, just in front of cabin 48.