N'burg 65 - Western Trip 5 '69

[Adrienne]

Would love to hear from former bunkmates (if I could only remember their names!)

I started in N'bg Unit 4 (3 weeks) in '65, then unit 5 (3 w) in 66, unit 5 again in 67 (this time 6 weeks) and Pioneers in '68 for 6 weeks. Then Western Trip 5, 1969. Anyone else?

Re the Western Trip, I remember we returned to Narrowsburg just as the Woodstock festival was starting. We still had access to the bus and BEGGED our counselors to take us! I shudder to think, in retrospect, what a nightmare THAT would have been given the inevitable lack of counselor supervision we would have had, and given the scene at Woodstock '69! (They could barely control us on the Western trip! They were only a few years older than we were!) Yikes! There'd have been lawsuits galore, by our parents!

Welmet, as it was, could never exist today due to insurance regulations and potential lawsuits. Most of our activities would be undoable! Can you imagine a modern camp allowing "Rangers"? (That was when they left us alone in the woods for three days to fend for ourselves with nothing but a jug of water, pack of matches, a "pot" made of an old can, and some surplus government "cheese." -- and this was the highlight of Pioneers!)

But I have to say, I really honed my "forest" skills at Welmet! I can STILL build a one-match fire! It's a great source of pride and always triggers memories of campouts on that dense, pine needle ground-cover that was so soft, you didn't need a mattress!

I still love the smell of pine needles and woodsmoke on my clothes. (For many years into my adulthood I still had my sleeping bag from camp with that yummy smell! Then it got stolen and I was so bummed out because it was the only thing I had that had that authentic WelMet smell.)

We recently bought a house in upstate NY. Much to the surprise of those who know me (and think of me as the quinessential NYC girl), I am spending a lot of time "communing with nature." Last summer I built a fire pit (lined with rocks I shlepped from the nearby stream) and this year, I'm working on a lean-to. Despite the incredible amount of physical labor these projects require, I find the process it incredibly peaceful! Once a WelMet girl, always a Wel Met Girl!!!

[jmfeld22]

Hi Adrienne - -

I was a Pioneer in '69 and was on WT#1, 1970. What tent # were you and who were some of your tent-mates?

There are plenty of people that remember those items you discussed - I am inclusive of that group.

Jay Feld

[Adrienne]

Hi Jay

That's asking alot! For me to remember my tent/bunk number!! I don't even remember any of the people who were in my bunks EVER. Can you believe that? (Except for Wendy Siegel in Unit 4 but only because she was also my best friend from home.)

On my Western Trip, my tentmates were Jane Fradkin and Laura Lesser. Jane I've seen since camp. Years later, she moved next door to my cousin in NJ. He and I share the same last name, so it took about 2 seconds of "Jewish Geography" before she figured out the connection, and he put us back in touch. Laura was from Roslyn or East Hills. I never saw her again after the trip but I'd love to find her.

Others on my trip were Steve (Buzzy) Chester who I found again a few years ago, then lost touch with. And Larry Sheer from Freeport, who I ended up going to college with, so we stayed friends for a while after camp. The only other people I remember from camp were Wes Blank (waterfront counselor), Howard (Howie) Stern (was kitchen staff in '70 or 71, the year I was a counselor) and Lou Weinstein who I didn't actually meet until after camp but who was on the western trip with Wes & Howie. I knew them all in Boston where we went to school.

I'm usually really good with names and faces -- I remember birthdays from kids I went to grade school with -- and yet, I cannot remember any one of my bunkmates or anyone else on my western trip. How pathetic is THAT??? I guess because I only spent a few weeks with these girls for just one summer -- and never saw them again -- they didn't make an impression.

[Kenfried]

I think I was on that trip. It's been so long it's hard to remember, but I think I was. So was Artie Pollack and Howie Bryerman. Jeff Tenzer was the trip director?

I also have not kept in touch with anyone in a very long time.

I hope to hear from some.

Kenny Fried

[Adrienne]

Hmmm...I don't remember any of those people but as we've already established, my memory ain't what it used to be.

However.... one of the guys on our trip...Larry Sheer was IN LOVE with Diana Ross and when we were in Detroit, he arranged a special trip for us to Motown where we met Berry Gordy Sr. I'm quite sure ours was the only WT who had this special side trip, so I guess that's the ultimate "clue" as to whether we were on the same WT!

Adrienne

[Kenfried]

I remember going to Motown and meeting Berry Gordy.

[Adrienne]

Well then I guess either a) we were on the same WT or b) your memory is as bad as mine and rather than forgetting stuff, you're remembering stuff that never happened.
(Hey, that happens at our age!!!!)

Ironically, although I don't remember any people on the trip except those previously mentioned and one of the counselors, Ed Schecter (on whom many girls had a crush) I do have very clear recollections of places we went and experiences... and even "stilll" images...

(Actually, my memory is pretty good... I can tell you the name of every kid in my 6th grade class! Just yesterday, I was in Trader Joe's and recognized a woman I worked with for just a few months, on my first job in NYC -- 25 years ago! Why do I draw such a blank with the people at WelMet???)

Anyway, some WT memories...

We saw Joan Baez in concert somewhere along the line. We went to a State Fair somewhere, too. (Maybe it was the same place we saw Joan Baez)

One night, we camped in Amarillo TX. The ground was so dry and so hard, it was like cracked cement. We couldn't even drive in our tent stakes.

I remember the feeling of awe the first time I saw the Grand Canyon. I had no idea it would look like that! I seem to recall one of the girls overestimated her stamina. She walked down too far and then couldn't get back up. They had to hire a donkey to get her back to the top.

I remember everyone wanting to have their picture taken on the "4 Corners" where the 4 states come together (NM, AZ, CO and NV???)

I remember walking through Canyon De Chelly.

I remember staying at the JCC field in Creve Couer, MO and going up in the Arch. I think we stayed at a JCC (or synagogue) ball field in Detroit, too. The counselors let us out by ourselves one night (how dumb was THAT!!!) and Laura (my tentmate) and I somehow got "farblunged". We were on a large shopping street with stores and all the "riot gates" were pulled down (this was before we had such things in NY so I'd never seen or heard of them before). Suddenly, out of nowhere, two black guys started to follow us. We (two naive white chicks from "Lawn Guyland") were terrified! They were purposely trying to f%#& with our heads and scare the crap out of us because finally they came right up to us like they were going to do us harm, yelled "BOO" and ran away laughing. We did not find it amusing!! Eventually, we saw this clean cut young man walking his dog and asked him where the JCC was and explained our situation. He was shocked they'd let us out on our own in Detoit at night!! He took us back to his parents' house which was in a very nice neighborhood behind the main drag with all the stores. Turned out they were a Jewish family -- lovely people -- and they drove us back to the JCC. (Otherwise, we'd probably still be wandering around in Detroit!)

I sure as HELL remember Jensby's Farm -- I don't think ANYONE who ever did a WT will ever forget the chicken slaughter! But I also remember playing in their grain silo...filled up about 3/4 with kernals of corn. It was like playing in giant grains of sand. They told us to remove all jewelry before going in but one of the girls didn't and lost her ring. (Prolly ended up inside a chicken or pig, years later!)

Do you have any photos from the Western Trip? I have a handful of really blurry black and white snapshots...you can barely recognize anyone or anything. God knows where they are...if I find 'em, I'll post 'em. I know there's one of Buzzy on the bus, and of the Joan Baez concert.


-a

[Kenfried]

Ed had curly dark hair. He was my living group counselor.

Also, I remember one night, I think it was Lake of the Ozarks when we were harrassed by some locals driving around and honking there horns, and yelling while we were trying to sleep.

I think I might have some pictures somewhere, I mostly took slides though. I'll look.

[Scott Engelhard]

Adrienne:
I'm in Creve Coeur right this very second!
Don't sell yourself short, sister, you've got plenty memory left in your keppy-computer!

Four Corners - Utah, NM, AZ, CO... didn't need to look at the map...

I'm glad you chimed in! Hope you find some more trip-mates... I've been hearing from a few from my Wel-Met days... traded emails with Eddie last night, Charlie today... this gift from David Fried and the others is something isn't it?

You've got a place to stay in St. Louie if you ever feel like riding up the Arch again... and that J is one of my Js...

Love Scott E.

[Adrienne]

I just reread my first posting and thought of another thing we never would be allowed to do, were we at WelMet today... who remembers co-ed sleep-outs? Now, what kind of insanity is it to send a bunch of horny teens into the woods together with barely adult supervision? In all my years, I never heard of anyone getting "into trouble" if you catch my drift, but there HAD to be screwing around going on! Some of those kids were pretty precocious!

Often there would be two boys bunks and two girls bunks out in the woods together. Of course, every week when we sat down to do our bunk schedules, the girls who had "boyfriends" always wanted to have sleepouts with their bunks. Often the counselors would be dating each other, too, so our counselor would want to have a sleepout with HER boyfriend's bunk. Thus, these 4-bunk and sometimes even 6-bunk campouts.

I was pretty naive and prudish in those days (believe me...I more than made up for it later!) and the thought that "untoward behavior" might be going on never entered my mind --- at the time. Thinking about it in retrospect, I can only imagine who was doing what! It was the 60's after all!!! The counselors were probably getting stoned out there, too!!!

I remember hearing stories about one girl on my western trip -- whose name I actually remember but who shall nevertheless remain nameless - who was doing "The Monica Lewinsky Thing" with some of the boys and possibly one of the counselors.

OK...one other memory that my sister and I still laugh about.... who remembers "peach pit rings?" As you probably recall, "Arts and Crafts" consisted of construction paper, poster paint and a few sparkles and some metal files. I don't even think we had lanyards (though I remember making them as a kid....prolly in the bungalow colony) The peach pit ring was at least "a project"

You'd wait until they served peaches in the dining room and save the pit. You'd have to let it dry out for a couple of days. Then, back at the A&C shack, you'd clamp it in a vise and file and file and file (for weeks and weeks and weeks and WEEKS) until the pit was flat and smooth and maybe 1/8" thick. Then, you'd drill a hole in the middle and with a round file, gradually make that center hole bigger and bigger until it fit on your finger. The final step was to tie a string around it and dip it in shellac to seal it but I don't think I ever actually made it to the final step. The damn thing ALWAYS cracked just before the center hole was large enough to get my finger through. In other words, after wasting hours and hours and HOURS! The frustration!!! (But hey, it kept us busy!!!!)