dinner to celebrate Bud Cox on the occasion of the opening of the Bud Cox Trip Center

new: ALUMNI FUND

I couldn't be more excited to share with all Frost Valley alumni and friends that we've launched the Frost Valley YMCA Alumni Fund!

This fund was created to ensure that our most passionate supporters can give directly towards financial aid for campers, or "camperships," and thus ensure that the Frost Valley magic can change the lives of generations of new campers, including those whose parents cannot afford to pay even the modest fees.

So, yes, our goal is to provide a camp opportunity to those who would otherwise not be able to experience what Frost Valley has to offer. Please join me in supporting the Alumni Fund.

To learn more and join me click here:


https://donate.frostvalley.org/events/alumni-fund/e74986

rare old FV mug

Al Filreis & John Giannotti on stage

Al Filreis and John Giannotti performing in 1976 or '77.

Dawn on belay

Dawn Helfand Huebner in 1974 (we think) at Giant Ledge learning how to belay down a rockface. That's George Piche (now Gail) helping her.

Biscuit Creek Falls

Cooling off, floating around on inner tubes, below Biscuit Creek Falls on a hot day in August of 1979. Photo by Jurgen Bobrowski, ICCP counselor that summer from Germany.

old Wawyanda graces

Click on the image for a larger view.

1973, 1974, 1975

Ilana Feitlowitz—whom I mentioned the other day—went looking for some photos from her camp years and sent us a few.

Along Biscuit Creek just above the falls.

Lake Cole not long after the swimming docks were moved from the beach by the boathouse to their current location.

Ilana with her Junior Counselor in Sacky cabin 16 (now numbered 46). And that JC was Liane Filreis (now Liane Pancoast).

Ilana with her counselor Ryoko in 1973.

Yes, we had unicycles in the 70s. Here Ilana is learning how to ride the one-wheeler behind Biscuit Lodge. (That white VW belonged to Sven Grotrian.) This is 1975. And look—no helmet.

Bud Cox Trip Center update

The screen porch—for hanging around before and after the trip! With a view of Biscuit Creek.

The sink arrived just the day before I visited. This will be located in the large porch in the front of the building (not the screen porch above, but a large roofed porch on the opposite end. This will be where campers and counselors arrive, learn about their trip, help with packing—and where, on return, they will clean their equipment.

The Bud Cox Trip Center looking toward the north. The screen porch faces south, toward Biscuit Creek (and the Project Adventure field). Passing in front of the other end of the building is the walking path you used to walk from Hayden Lodge to Sequoia.

The main room inside. In the far corner an office will be closed in. This space will include Adventure archives, photos, maps, etc.

Storage upstairs. Already the Adventure/Tripping folks have moved some of their equipment here. The shed where for the last year the Trip Center was located is now going to be the Candle-making shop.

Stairs leading down from the loft storage area.

Yes! The dishwasher has arrived. Anyone who has ever run "Out-trip" at Frost Valley will know how fabulous it will be to have this new machine right there in the facility!

a CIT and his director

This weekend a number of alumni volunteered—helping to relieve the current staff and to run some training sessions. Among them was Heather Graf Noon. As Heather Graf she was a mainstay at Frost Valley in the 1990s. In 1997 she was the CIT Director and one of her CITs that summer was...Dan Weir, who is now our Director of Camping Services. I ran into the two of them in the Wellness Center on Saturday and took this photo.

Ilana Feitlowitz

This weekend while walking through the dining hall I heard someone call out, "Hey Al!" I turned and there was Ilana Feitlowitz. She had been a camper in the early 70s and by 1976 she was a CIT—I was her CIT Director that summer. Ilana told me that as a first-time camper she walked into her Sacky cabin and met her junior counselor, who turned out to be...my sister Liane Filreis (now Liane Pancoast). I gave Ilana Liane's email address and they will be in touch after all these years. Here, below, is a photo of Ilana and her husband; they have been visiting camp regularly as weekend guests but now Ilana is also back in touch with her summer camp friends. I've added her to our email list and directed her to this blog.

Hird Lodge

Here is the venerable Hird Lodge—and, below that, the view this past weekend from the Hird Lodge porch.

February view

cabin 38 is being rebuilt entirely from the inside

We are renovating cabins 35 through 40 currently, 31 through 34 having been done previously. In some cases, the renovation entails fixes and partial replacements of floors and walls. In the case of cabin 38, which really needed a complete rebuild, the floor, walls, structures etc. all had to be rebuilt with new materials. These photos are taken of cabin 38 on Saturday. All of these cabins will be finished by the summer—and some of them sooner. The photo at bottom shows the counselor's room.

Bill & Eva Devlin to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this summer

I am thrilled to pass along the news that Bill & Eva Devlin will be inducted into the Frost Valley Hall of Fame this summer—in August, at the annual summer meeting of the Board. Here they are during their most recent visit to camp a few years ago, standing with our beloved Dottie Conklin.

Sue Moriarity sings

A few years ago, as hundreds of Frost Valley friends gathered to memorialize Halbe Brown, naturally as they waited for the several memorial events, they swapped stories, caught up and...sang. Here is Sue Moriarity, back on her guitar, tuning up that amazing voice, singing with Gail Piche (off camera to the left) and Lolly Hettler Cutler Ketcham.

Sumner Dudley to be inducted into the Frost Valley Hall of Fame in August 2016

As has been noted in this blog over the years, our camp dates back to 1885 or 1886 or 1901, depending on how you work out the history. In 1886 Sumner Dudley took some children to camp along Lake Wawayanda in NJ and that's probably the best way to tell the story of the founding of the camp. Dudley's crew moved to New York State and eventually one group, including Dudley himself, moved to upstate New York, and that later became Camp Dudley. Another group moved back to Wawayanda and that camp eventually, in 1901, came to be called "Camp Wawayanda." So most people consider Dudley not just the founder of the first YMCA summer camp but also the founder of our camp.

This summer we will induct Sumner Dudley into the Frost Valley Hall of Fame and in doing so will honor our founding.

Click the image below and read an article about Dudley.

the totem pole

Once again I'm here in this blog talking about the totem pole that used to stand at the main entrance to camp. Several times I've posted photos taken by various people on the occasion when the new pole John Giannotti carved was being raised up and put into place. Just today John was digging through old photos and found the best shot yet of the new pole. Here it is, top to bottom. It hadn't been in place very long when this was taken; you can tell, of course, by the grassless patch of dirt around the bottom.

Click on THIS LINK for a larger view.

Ricciardi Cabin

Do you remember Ricciardi Cabin? It was built at around the same time as Tom Ricciardi, Carl Hess and others constructed Hird Lodge and Turrell Lodge. It used the same materials. Ricciardi Cabin was smaller and was used over the years as a staff home. Among those who lived there: Carl and Marie Hess (while they waited for their home elsewhere on the property to be finished), Peter & Claudia Swain, Bob and Donna Marines. I myself lived there one summer - sharing the space with Peter and Claudia. Another summer I lived there during Family Camp with Ellen Rutan and Jim Ewen. I loved the little place, although by the end it was quite ramshackle. It was finally taken down to enable the building of Lakeview Lodge. It stood roughly at the spot that is now the back of the Lakeview Lodge parking lot, just below the road that leads out to Turrell Lodge. Here are some photos Donna Marines took. The fourth photo is of Donna and Bob in the old girls' camp kitchen (in what is now Geyer Hall).

Bill Hamilton has passed away

I'm sorry to pass along the sad news that Bill Hamilton has passed away. Bill brought his whole family to Frost Valley - and his children all at one time or another worked at the camp. They began coming to Family Camp at the end of each summer in the early 1960s. The photo above was taken during Family Camp 1962. Bill is in the back row toward the left (circled in red). The Hamiltons and the Browns became close friends, and Bill and Halbe would play regular (and very competitive) games of tennis on the Castle court - for several decades. The Hamiltons bought a house not far from camp and were regular visitors for years. And Bill served ably on the Board of Trustees for a number of years.

The Hamiltons have been one of those foundational Frost Valley families, and the entire Frost Valley family mourns the loss of Bill. According to his daughter Ann, there will be a viewing at Horton Mathie Funeral Home on Friday 1/22, from 4-8 pm. The funeral will be on Saturday 1/23 at First Presbyterian Church of Southold NY at 10:30am with a celebration of life luncheon at Peconic Landing at noon.

location of the new Bud Cox Trip Center

I've been asked a number of times where the new Bud Cox Trip Center is being built. Below are two camp maps showing where the new Trip Center is located. It will open before the summer. It is marked with an X on both maps. On the close-up map I've circled Hayden Lodge and Sequoia Village. The Trip Center is on the walking path from Hayden to Sequoia, heading northeast away from the center of camp. Click on the links for a larger view.

after breakfast, 1976

Campers and their counselors emerge from the dining hall after breakfast one morning in 1976. Yes, this is the old dining hall. A glimpse of the main hall is at the right edge of the photo. In the center (the structure with the door) is a long hallway/covered porch.

Frost Valley people mourn the passing of Jim Kellogg

The Frost Valley community has lost one of its most consistent and imaginative and longest-serving supporters—Jim Kellogg. Some will know Jim through the naming of Kellogg Lodge, others for his having set up the important annual staff awards (and thus for his visionary emphasis on the quality of Frost Valley's staff). Those who have been with FV a long time will remember him as the Chairman of the Frost Valley Board of Trustees.

Here is the overview of Jim's service to Frost Valley written at the time of his induction into the FV Hall of Fame in 2009 (along with Helen Geyer):

In the era of priority-shifting, ceaselessly reorganizing, moving-target nonprofit boards, Jim Kellogg’s steadfastness, focused commitment, and deep sense of the volunteer’s honor shone like a beacon across the national landscape; and thus Frost Valley shone too. Jim served as a member of Frost Valley’s Board of Trustees for three decades and for fifteen of those years was our Board President, succeeding Woody English. The two together can be said without exaggeration to have provided a vision of continuity unparalleled in camping. Not coincidentally this was the period in which Frost Valley’s summer camp program solidified its roots and re-attained greatness, the environmental education program was created, the conference program rose to a level of size and prominence that just two or three other camps attained, financial aid was awarded to needy families, international partnerships were constituted, and disabled children were mainstreamed into the camp without hesitation or blink of an institutional eye. Jim provided leadership when Frost Valley had to effect an efficient, never-look-back recovery from disaster by fire. Always looking problems and challenges straight on, Jim saw obstacles as opportunities, adhering without fanfare but firmly to the two-word version of Frost Valley’s mission: “Build Strong.” His service to Frost Valley has been part of a larger context of volunteer leadership and civic engagement. He has been the President of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, a member of the Bloomfield College Board of Trustees, President of the Children’s Specialized Hospital of Mountainside, and President of the J. C. Kellogg Foundation. Jim Kellogg’s distinguished career demonstrates an unmatched generosity of commitment to public service, eloquently bespeaking this core tenet: we must invest in others, so that everyone, regardless of economic background or circumstances, has the resources necessary to maximize his or her potential. Jim Kellogg truly does build strong, and when we honor him tonight we honor our most basic reason for being as an organization.

Mike Ketcham has written: "Jim was a true visionary, friend, and steadfast volunteer for FV.  He is now among those remarkable leaders who devoutly believed in our cause and inspire us to continue on.  I am honored to have served with him."

Peter Swain adds: "Jim was certainly one of the stalwarts of FV’s lay leadership and a friend of the staff.  I always felt that he was concerned about me as a person as well as concerned about the organization as a whole."

Here is an obituary:

James C. Kellogg, philanthropist and loving husband, father of three children, and grandfather of nine grandchildren, died on Thursday of congestive heart failure, surrounded by his family. He was 76 years old.

Jim was a graduate of The Pingry School, Princeton University, and Harvard Law School. During his career, he was a partner at the Manhattan law firm Townley & Updike, the President of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, the President of the J.C. Kellogg Foundation, and a valued trustee of many non-profit boards. He was most proud of his philanthropic work in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He cherished the idea of creating opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds to be healthy, learn, and grow.

Jim grew up in Elizabeth, NJ and spent his summers in Bay Head, NJ where he made many friends whom he kept throughout his life. Those friends would gather on a regular basis for couples' dinners and bridge marathons. He looked forward to Romeo lunches, Scorpions bridge, and the Literatti book club, where he always touted the latest political book.

In the past few years, Jim became a Life Master at bridge by participating in ACBL bridge tournaments across the country. He spent his winters at Yeamans Hall in South Carolina. Jim had a deep commitment to public service; he advised and served on the boards of Frost Valley YMCA, Bay Head Chapel, Short Hills Community Congregational Church, Point Pleasant Hospital, the Children's Specialized Hospital, Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Meridian Health Systems, Council of Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, Union County College, Bloomfield College, the Prudential Insurance Company, the Trust for Public Land, and the Scholarship Fund for Inner City Children. He also served on the the boards of New Jersey Transit and the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency.

His lifelong passion for philanthropy paled in comparison to his love for his family - his wife, three children, and nine grandchildren. Jim was happiest at family gatherings and loved playing backgammon and gin rummy with his children and grandchildren. Pop Pop's signature backgammon move was to wait for his opponent to admit defeat at which time he would turn the board around and play the losing side, attempting to teach his mentee how to stage a comeback and win! He was active in every aspect of his children's and grandchildren's lives, including attending their school events, and offering advice on and help with work issues.

Jim is survived by his wife, Gail Chambers Kellogg, his children, Jimmy Kellogg, Kate Kellogg, and Elizabeth Kellogg Winterbottom, adoring grandchildren, Emily, Jimmy and Grace Kellogg; Chris and Andrew Kellogg Peeler; Hailey, Francesca, Maile, and Penelope Winterbottom, and his three younger brothers, Peter, Kelly, and Rusty.

A service to celebrate his life will be held Friday, January 8th at 12:00 noon at the Short Hills Community Congregational Church. Immediately following the service, the family invites all attendees to join them for lunch at the Short Hills Club. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Frost Valley YMCA in Claryville, N.Y.

Jim Kellogg, at left, joining Jane Brown and Mary Wheeler in celebration of Halbe Brown's induction into the Frost Valley Hall of Fame. Jim and Halbe worked very closely together during Jim's years as Chair of FV's trustees.

Day off at Devil's Hole

It's 1981 or '82 and a day off. Four of us spent the afternoon swimming and sun-bathing. This photo was taken during the very leisurely walk back to camp. Fran Grayson, VC of Sequoia, and Barbara Russell (of Australia), VC of Pokey.

New Year's Eve, 1978

Celebrating New Year's Eve in Margaretts Lodge, December 1978 (possibly 1977).

VCs and other leaders, 2010

PokeyTotem - Elizabeth Boyd
Susky - Rebecca Schneider
Forest - Julian Kramer
Lakota - Kat Schneider
Outpost - Nick Lomauro
Sacky - Amanda Kister
Hemlock - Mike Taylor
Tacoma - Emily Mclaughlin
Lenape - Jackson Patterson
Windsong - Alex Jungkvist
Pac - Willie Vitagliano
Sunburst - Maddie Geftic
Mini Mac - Meaghan Flynn
Mac Girls - Shaylyn Decker
Mac Boys - Nikki Pond
STEP - Rachel Boziwick
Advill - Anna Bilton
CIT Coordinators - Anna Boziwick, Shaina Bohn, Mitch Berning, Mike Granato

Kaskel wins award

Rick Kaskel — Frost Valley's long-time medical director of our dialysis unit — has been given the Founders' Award this year by the American Society of Pediatric Nephrology. Congrats to Rick from all his many Frost Valley colleagues and friends.

Here is a link to ASPH's bio of Rick: LINK.

Eva!

Maureen Eisele (long-time dialysis unit coordinator), the late Eva Gottscho, and Maya Doyle (long-tome social work coordinator at Montefiore who helped with the kids and their families). This was the day the Guenther Family Wellness Center and the Gottscho Dialysis Center was dedicated.