directors 2006

Frost Valley's 2006 summer camp directors (plus Ben), a photo taken in June just before staff training began: from right to left, Joanna Levin, Assistant Program Director; Kristen Judd, Program Director; Dale Whittaker, Wawayanda Director; Jeff Daly, Hird Director; Kelly Zingone, Assistant Hird Director; Steve Parsley, Assistant Program Director; Ben Filreis, 8-week PAC camper. Click on the picture at upper left for a larger view.

1963 hike

Homer McLemore leads Lenape campers on an overnight hike, 1963. Homer identified the campers for me: R. Lewis, M. Pitcher, P. Cole, R. Scharf, R. Gershem, R. Schiffman, R. Pimenthal, D. Eisman. Check out the white Wawayanda sweatshirt. I once owned several of these gems. And the Wawayanda sailor hats were de facto uniform, especially on overnight hikes. I can remember that for a few years we carried out of a camp a #10 can of baked beans: at dinner time, we opened the can a little, stuck it in a campfire, stirred often and ate beans with our roasted hot dogs. Well, that was in 1967 or so. Homer's group here is '63 and I'll be they brought some more legit food for their overnight. (Could these kids really be in Lenape? The seem a bit young.)

"The Hird Song" on YouTube (go figure)

So far as I know there are two recordings of "The Hird Song" out there on YouTube. Here's one from last summer (2006), recorded at the second session closing campfire: WATCH & LISTEN. Another one was made in 2005, recorded by Tacoma at the end of a Challenge Night: WATCH & LISTEN.

the sound of Olympics

In 2005 I spent the two days of the annual Frost Valley Olympics walking around camp, intercepting ecstatic participants and recording the noises of this annual throat-challenging event. Then I did some editing and created a collage of sounds. Here it is in mp3 format. China ("A BILLION VOICES!") was the loudest team that year, as I recall, but that group did not win the coveted Spirit award.

listen to Kenny Abbott sing a song

If you click on this link you will be able to listen to a recording of our Kenny Abbott singing a song he wrote called "The Grass Down Below." In his musical heyday at camp, Ken sang a beautiful version of Lennon's "Imagine" (accompanying himself on keyboards), "No Woman, No Cry," and of course was always on hand to help me with various standbys such as "The Hird Song" ("Easy Chair"), "Four Strong Winds," and occasionally a Dylan tune (such as "You Gonna Make Me Lonesome When I Go") at closing campfires. Twin brother Bill--funny thing about twins--could never keep a tune, but Ken sure could can can. Thank goodness, for he saved my spirits a number of times. The photo of Ken above was taken in '84 on the porch of the Castle. Click on the image for more.

Julius made fancy woolen clothing

Julius Forstmann of course made a good deal of his money owning a great woolens manufacture firm. There was a time with "Forstmann sweater" was synonymous with expense and value. I found an ad a few years ago and was fascinated by the tony brand for which Forstmann was striving. Of course Forstmann's summer home in the Catskills is our beloved Castle.

Giannotti's totem pole

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.

dialysis unit dedication, 1975

The dedication of the Ruth Carole Gottscho Kidney Dialysis Center at Frost Valley took place in August of 1975, toward the end of the unit's first summer of operation. From left to right: Eva Gottscho, chair of the Gottscho Foundation; Halbe Brown, FV's executive director; Ira Greifer, director of pediatric nephrology at Albert Einstein Hospital (the name of the academic hospital within Einstein is now called Montefiore); Bill Primack (the doctor who served as the unit's first medical director for that summer). I've gotten to know all these people fairly well over the years, Halbe and Eva especially; it's never lost on me what a signal moment this was in inclusive camping, a real turning point. The Gottscho Foundation/Einstein-Montefiore relationship was not always perfect, and Halbe and more recently Jerry Huncosky have managed it deftly, yet the partnership has held together and many kids with renal failure have had their time at camp...a miracle. One of these kids was Eddie Padilla of the Bronx, a real character.

Sven, Bill, Bob

From left to right: Sven Grotrian, Bill Walton, Bob Davis. They're standing at the edge of Big Tree Field and I'm guessing the year is 1978 and--given that Bill is smoking a pipe--the photos was taken during a "holdover" weekend. Sven was a Hemlock staff member and LIT Director in '76. Bill and Bob co-ran Sequoia Village one summer, and I believe both led Adventure trips at various times. I've lost track of Bill. Bob is a clergyman in, I believe, Massachusetts, and Sven is in NJ somewhere (and in touch with email with me periodically). None of these guys have been to a reunion lately. We hope to see them again soon.

1959

The grainy blow-up of a photo here shows Dave King as the Lenape VC among the 1959 Wawayanda staff. Here is a link to a web page which presents the whole photo, which Dave & Shirley King lent me to scan. At one point Dave had identified everyone in the photo, but I don't seem to have that list at the moment. I'll find it and add the names. 1959 was of course the second summer Wawayanda was at Frost Valley. There were five villages, from youngest to oldest in order: Totem (cabins 1-5), Forest (cabins 6-10), Outpost (11-15), Lenape (16-20), and Hemlock (21-25). Girls camp would be built a few years later.

Marie Kremer and Halbe Brown

At the September 2006 reunion we dedicated the Halbe & Jane Brown Pavilion on a blustery and rainy Saturday late afternoon. Notwithstanding the high winds (which knocked out the power, so we ran the speaker system on a generator) the ceremony was very moving--with various people from across the generations speaking to and about Halbe and Jane. We had also heard that Marie and Charles Kremer were planning to move away from their long-time Claryville home. So without telling them we would honor them too, we invited them and as many of the Kremer clan as could be there. This photo captures the moment when both Marie Kremer and Halbe Brown were being recognized for their many years of service to Frost Valley's people and goals. The Brown pavilion has been a great help - on check-in days and especially on rainy days spring, summer and fall. Here are some photos of the pavilion taken during the summer of '06.

Sequoia '82

Dari Litchman sent me this photo of the Sequoia campers and staff of 1982. You can view a larger version of this photograph here. Dari is the dark-haired kid with the bandana right in the middle. This summer--2007--Sequoia has been revived. Brian Sense and his staff have set up a FV Adventures blog, and you can keep up with Sequoia's doings by going here. Dari, with some help from others, identified these folks in the larger photo: Dylan Frankel, front row kneeling 2nd from left; Sue Geller and Dari Litchman, 2nd row leaning over with bandanas; Jon Bell, Debby Geller, in row behind Dari to the right; Conrad Soong and Ted Guild, two tallest campers in the back row; possible Mike Gold, to the right of Debbie Geller.

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.

the old Wawayanda gates

For the centennial celebration of Wawayanda (1901 - 2001) a replica of the original camp gates was built under the supervision of Carol O'Beirne (who coordinated the centennial programs). It's 2007 now and these gates are still there in the back of the Olympic Circle - next to Biscuit Creek.

Bud's thirsty boots

Of course it was Henry A. ("Bud") Cox who first created Frost Valley's Adventure Program. The photo here was taken in August of 1973, about an hour after Bud returned from a summer of Adirondack backpacking. In 2007 Bud still works at Frost Valley, leading hikes, helping Brian Sense with details of the current FV Adventures program, and, once in a while, leading "Goin' on a Lion Hunt" in the dining hall. We have two videos of these "Lion Hunt" revivals and I hope to post at least one of them before too long to this blog.

Frank's Lenape photos, finally

This photo is taken in front of cabin 17 in Lenape (currently numbered 14) during the last summer that Lenape resided in that gorgeous spot up the hill (it has since become the home of Hemlock). Frank Goetz, a Swiss international counselor in the 1980s, sent me some wonderful camp pics at least two years ago. I thought I had lost them but just today located them in my files, scanned them, and posted them here on the web. Frank was a Lenape village mainstay during his time at Frost Valley. In the picture at right, it's the great Lenape staff of summer 1983: top row, Dargie Mombo (VC), Ben Lavelle (ICCP), Flash Gordon; Frank Gotz (in front of Dargie); seated, Dave Gold, Terry Bachus, and Kevin [last name?]. Later, Dave Gold founded "Pac" (Quinnipiac) Village for the oldest boys in Hird Lodge - and still later became a camp director, even though he couldn't carry a tune. ("Buy me a ring / and a Dave Gold that sings / a flute that toots / and a bee that stings...") For more about Frank today, click here.