Here are the three directors in 1979, having one of our on-the-field meetings. Mike Ketcham, at left, was the Director of Camping; I (Al Filreis) in the middle, the Wawayanda Director; Peggy Rub, at right, the Hird Director. (Carolyn Shelburne, not pictured, was the Program Director.)Mike had recently been hired as the full-time, full-year Director of Camping. This was the first time FV had such a position. Before that, we directors were all summer-only; Halbe Brown, Executive Director, consulted with us by letter and phone as he did the first rounds of winter/spring hiring, and then we got up there as soon as we could in May to do the rest and make do otherwise with what we'd been given. Once Mike started in the full-time position, staffing got a lot better and a lot easier. And of course Halbe, in the spring, could spend more time on long-range vision, acquisition of property, developing new programs, and fund-raising.
