Homer McLemore remembers the early 60s

Homer McLemore remembers:

In the summer of 1961, my family members took me by automobile from northeast Miss. to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for an overnight train ride to NYC followed by a bus ride, via the Big Apple on Highway 17, to Liberty. In those days, Liberty was the abuzz with tourist and summer Catskill visitors. Arriving Saturday night about 10:00 p.m., Ralph Holt and Bill Starmer met me at bus station. Although I did not know the two, I felt as if we had been friends for life. We made the rounds of local clubs, hotels, and sidewalk café tables where we met with other counselors on that mid-summer week-end break.

The following morning, I was greeted at breakfast by Richard “Digger” Short, Mike Devita, Dave and Shirley King, Jerry Lester, and a number of others. It was a great summer with Mike Devita as Lenape Village Chief. I returned for two more summers as Archery Director and Family Camp Staff.

In the Spring 1964, I decided that summer employment within the area of my college studies was more responsible than returning as a camp counselor. The decision was difficult because of the memories of Wawayanda friends and things like the cool Neversink waters, the surrounding terrain, and hikes to the top of Slide Mountain. Other memories include flaming sneaker toes as I sat by a camp fire with cold wet feet and playing broom polo using the stable horses - seems we broke a number of broom handles. Other polo players included Bruce Whyte.

In those days, campers and counselors did not routinely cross the bridge on the road leading to the Castle. Staying at the Castle for a night was a special event. In 1962, Castle guests were served three meals including a semi-formal dinner serve by the staff who were more formally attired in their black dresses with white aprons and caps. In August 1972, my wife and I spent a honeymoon night at the Castle. What a ten year letdown! Alas, only one piece of fine china remaining in the cupboards. In the summer of 1995-ish, we ventured to Liberty on Highway 17. At one highway exit, a small bear greet us by sitting unnerved as we slowed for pictures. The town, Grossingers, the Concord, and many other summer resorts were sad reminders of the past. But (old English for something like: Behold the Undeniable Truth), the warm memories of Frost Valley have not faded in the past 48 years.

More on Homer here.

Girls' Camp kitchen crew

This photograph belonged to Marie Kremer, and at some point her son John Kremer got it and has now passed it along to me. Remarkable shot! This is the Girls' Camp kitchen staff. Bill Van Zandt is in the center, first row, and to the right of him (our right) is Dot Van Zandt.

To date this pic I'm going to have to do some educated guessing. First, where is it shot? They are gathered just to the west of the Girls' Dining Hall (now Geyer), right smack where Lakeview Lodge is currently located. Up at the top of what many know as Hirdstock Field. Behind them and to our right you can see Ricciardi Cabin, which was built in 1967 or 68. And the staff shirts, I think, are from '67. And notice the hill is grassless and stony, which would be still from the construction of the dining hall in '66. So my best guess is 1967.

The crew here are a few professional cooks but otherwise they are the LITs and possibly also the CITs. I hope folks from there era, seeing this, will identify some of the people.

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Later, Myra Margolis Katz send us this: "The picture of the LIT's and CIT's was either 1968, or 1969, I think second session 1969. (I was a LIT first session 1969). The girl in front with the dark hair and blond streak is Suzanne Steinberg."

where have you gone, lean-to?

For years and years, long past the kids in the picture had grown to be adults, this postcard was sold at the "canteen" and later "the camp store." I can only for the moment identify two people in the shot: one, at far left, a camper, is the young Pat Ricciardi. And the counselor stirring the big pot was Lynn Garrison, from somewhere down south (I assume Mississippi). Lynn was probably the VC at the time of this Devil's Hole overnight. Later he was the Program Director (I'm going to guess in '67 or '68). I'll guess that this shot was taken in '66 or '65.

Indeed it was at the Devil's Hole camp site. Today's campers and staff will immediately notice that cooking was being done here from the big pot. Not something done these days. Indeed one probably can't get such a pot to take on an overnight. (Not that I'm recommending the return of these clunkers. I ate too many bad meals from the insides of them in my time.) Since Lynn's stirring the pot we can assume that it's not merely boiled water for hot dogs. I'm guess it's either a big mess of baked beans or some kind of beef stew. About the site: these days the hole area itself - the big flume - is referred to as "Devil's Hole." The hole itself is on State of New York land. So way back, presumably in the late 50s, the camp site was built about 100 years on the camp side (to the west) of the hole, on Frost Valley property, next to a beautiful and less dangerous swimming hole and little waterfall. The whole site - the flume and hole; the camp site just to the west - was called "Devil's Hole." Now the first site is called "Brothers' Hole" and only the main hole (the real attraction) is called "Devil's Hole." Not sure why or when this name change happened. There's a cable bridge at Brothers' Hole, so one can cross and use a new-ish trail to get back to Devil's Hole. In my day there was a nice lean-to built at the camp site. It's long gone, and is a fabulous spot for a new one to be built. (Any volunteers out there wanting to re-build that old lean-to. Excellent for rainy nights out.)

Can anyone identify others in the postcard?

Barry Glickman returns

I remember Barry Glickman from the summers when we were campers together in the mid-60s. Barry lives in the Northwest now and doesn't get back east much. But recently he and his wife were in the area, climbed Slide together and then sought to visit Frost Valley after all these years. Dan Weir showed them around. Here is part of Barry's happy response:

What impressed me was how friendly the staff was and how clean the camp was. The new cabins were really nice, but not as cozy as the old ones. The mess halls were huge and the new medical facilities were amazing. I like the new dock which made the lake look cleaner and the horse fields added a lot to the camp. I was also glad to see that the big tree is still around. My sisters asked me about the swimming pool which was supposed to have been built ages ago, but I don’t remember seeing a pool. Did I miss it or is it still on the drawing board? Personally, I think a lake is all you need for an outdoor camp.

From a business standpoint, I have to say again how impressed I was with what that camp has done to bring in extra income. I don’t know if it is working, but I was impressed when Dan was telling us what the camp has to offer. Oh! I was also impressed with the castle. I only got to see it from the road, but it looked great.

friends for life

Ellen Rutan and Jim Ewen visited on Wednesday (8/20/08) and what a gorgeous day it was. Without really thinking about it, I found myself scheduled to give not one, not two, but three Castle tours. Fortunately Jim and Ellen love camp, fit in instantly, and are incredibly knowledgable about the Castle for our Forstmann history. So we did these three together. I'll admit that we got a little goofy by the very end of these sessions and we began telling some ridiculous and apparently believable semi-spooky stories about the Castle. (I generally do not tell such and am always a little sorry when I do. But we had fun and the kids absolutely loved it all.) At the bottom of this entry, you'll see a video clip of Jim telling one such tale.

We had some time to see the 2008 campers and staff do their amazingly loud and together thing in the dining hall after lunch, took a tour of the Wellness Center and saw the dialysis unit in action, and walked through Lakeview Lodge (J. and E. were amazed by this gorgeous building).

They stayed overnight at the Roxbury Inn in Roxbury, which is a few miles beyond Margaretville off Route 28. The manager at the Roxbury is our beloved Leslie Black. I drove over there yesterday morning (snapping the pics of early-turning leaves on trees in the previous entry on the steep hill after Slide Mountain) and met Jim, Ellen, and Leslie for breakfast at a cute little cafe on Roxbury's main street. Jim was first here at Frost Valley in 1959; I and Ellen in the early 60s and Leslie in the mid-60s...so we have had many years together, a huge cast of camp characters to talk about, and enough affection for each other to exceed the size of the cute little Catskills town where we spent our sunny morning.

Summit and Westfield, 1968

Here are some of the names of campers coming up to Wawayanda through the Summit YMCA and/or on the Summit NJ bus during the summer of 1968:

David Koury, Bruce Kessler, Joseph LaDuca, Elliott Lewis, Russell Lyles, Mike Marder (attended 3 sessions), David Nufrio, Jon Olesky, Richard Penwell, DAvid Quick, Karl Sackmann, Scott Sellers, Richard Spender, Jim Suurballe, Peter Wallburg, Thomas E. Ward, Gary Weskerna, Diane Pedersen, Cindy Rancke, Ellen Rickard, Holly Riegler, Joanne Schwartz, Virginia ("Ginny") Scott, Nancy Suurballe, Paula Thomas, Laurie Tobias, Laura Walcott, Betsy Wright, Beth Zisman.

And here are some names of campers coming through the Westfield Y and/or on the Westfield bus:

Jim Annese, Henry Blum, Mark Bodycombe, DAvid Brower, Mark Chodosh, Eric Edelson, Al Filreis (3 sessions), Dick and Donn Fishbein, Larry and Randy Fridkis, Norm Gurfinkel (lived in Fanwood), Donald Glass, Barry Glickman, Michael Green, Thomas Harms (3 sessions), Michael Hart, Kenneth Hoffman, Gary and Larry Kaplan, Ellen Alina, Nancy and Ruth Barnett, LIsa Blumental, Carol Bresky, Nancy Chodosh, Jody Davies (later Jody Davies Ketcham), Sue Ettelman, Liane Filreis, Pam Fish, Carol Glick, Jill and Lori Glickman, Jane Goldman, Elise Gottlieb, Cathy and Barbara Hale, Ellen Hart, Carol Hayes, Peggy Hope, and Martha Earl (all 4 sessions).

outdoorsy guy

Blast from the past this afternoon. Bill Clarke (at left in the photo) showed up here. Bill Clarke! Bill's first summer was as a Lenape camper in cabin 18 - Bud Cox's cabin. (Bill remembers Bud as a fanatic about winning the camp-wide cabin clean-up competition. The winners, some readers of this blog may recall, won a watermelon.) That must have been '65 or '66, when Bud was Lenape VC. Later Bill moved up the counseling ranks and eventually was our "Nature" director. Although born and raised in Manhattan Bill was one of our real outdoorsy guys. He was here through the early to mid 70s and then moved on. He now works in Albany for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (the DEC). He was here today to bring his nephew to camp for the fourth session.

Bill wandered around looking for Bud Cox to say hello--and eventually found Bud. But in the dining hall the little reunion featured in the above photo consists of Bill, Paul Brown, and Marie Hess. Paul, Halbe Brown's brother and the twin of Paula, has lived in Grahamsville for many years, where he works also for the government - on water quality. Paul came over from Camp Fitch when brother Halbe did. In '71 he was the CIT Director (for the boys) along with his twin sister Paula who was CIT Director for the girls. I should note that Paul was my CIT Director.

Tom Two Arrows

Here's a photo of Tom Two Arrows dancing in the dining hall in the early '60s. Tom used to come up to Frost Valley to teach and perform for father-son "Indian Guide" groups who were spending fall and spring weekends at camp. I remember Tom still doing this in the early 1970s - I'm guessing he was still at it in '73, possibly '74. This photo is courtesy of Jim Wilkes who had been searching for it for a long while.

Bill Starmer remembers: "Tom made a leather case for my 12-gauge shotgun, complete with bead work. To this day, the case hangs in the liviing room of my house in Las Vegas. It has actually been displayed in every house I have owned since '69 To heavy for the gun to live in it, so it is now home to a bow made by another Indian friend who lived in Michigan."

our Long Islanders

In the 1960s there emerged a core group of Wawayanda folks coming to camp from Long Island - Woodmere, Great Neck, etc. I'd guess that the L.I. contingent peaked in the early to mid 1970s. This group brought us a number of families whose devotion to Frost Valley continues to this day, four decades later. Among the core families were the Chandlers, the Nathansons and the Tilleses and a bit later the Diamonds. Ken Nathanson, who with his gang recently spent the weekend at camp, sent this recent photo and also this caption:

Most in this photo have been coming to camp during the winter for many years. Actually, the Chandler's and the Nathanson's were coming up to Frost Valley in the winter since the early 60's with the Ricciardis [Tom, Ellie, and Pat Ricciardi).

Front: Sam Nathanson, current camper; Ken Nathanson, '69-'77. Second Row: Aaron Chandler-worth; Bradley Nathanson; Alex Arrick, current camper; Graham Arrick, current camper; Cindy Chandler-Guy Back Row: Kathy Nathanson; Casey Chandler-Alexander,'94-'04; (behind Casey) Steve Guy; Micah; Maho; Cathy Chandler,'63-'72; Linda Arrick; Remy Bernstein, camper & CIT '07; Martin Arrick; Dan Arrick, camper - CIT '07; Lindsay Chandler-Alexander,'92-'02; Chris Lane,'78-'04.

I guess one can say this is a mini Allen Lane reunion. Missing from Allen Lane crew that went to Frost Valley are: David Chandler, Mark Nathanson, Peter Tilles & his daughters Amanda and Olivia, Adam Diamond, Cindy Diamond, and Kim Diamond.

At left you see just the summer camp crew: top row: Casey Chandler- Alexander,'94-'04; Cathy Chandler,'63-'72; Chris Lane,'78-'04; Lindsay Chandler- Alexander,'92-'02; Remy Bernstein, camper -CIT '07; Dan Arrick, camper - CIT '07. Bottom row: Sam Nathanson, current camper; Alex Arrick, current camper; Graham Arrick, current camper; Ken Nathanson, '69-'77.