How did my parents learn about Camp Adventure?

Since mom and dad aren’t here to ask, I will assume they saw something in the newspaper. It all started when I went to a riding camp in Schaefferstown, PA in 1963. At age 15 I did not want to go to Germany for a month with my mom and later my dad. So, I went to Horse Happy Farm for a month. Now, fast forward to the spring of 1964. Having enjoyed camp, the previous summer I asked to go again. That is when dad found Camp Adventure.  

He made an appointment for “Mr. Heller” to come to our home to talk about camp and their riding program. Unfortunately, when Mr. Heller arrived at our home, he was greeted by a grumpy teenager who was in the front yard doing a most hated job: digging dandelions! Our yard was almost more yellow than green. And that, my friend is how this adventure started.

                                                                        Building Lifetime Memories at this place so aptly named: Camp Adventure


My first summer I was a CIT, the second summer, 1965 a Jr. Counselor and finally to the exalted height of COUNSELOR in 1966 and 1967. I didn’t work the summer of 1968 as I was in summer school to make-up a class or two after losing 6 weeks +/- from having major abdominal surgery. In 1969 I returned for one last summer as Senior Counselor. What a summer that turned out to be. More on that later. 

  My first summer I met Cordell Kelly and we became close friends and worked at camp for what seems like year-round for several years. We worked with Tony building the fence along Waesche Rd. We learned a lot about building fences. Picture Tony, Cordell and me working on the chain gang, I mean fence line together. Tony, the consummate joker that he is made the work most enjoyable.  

How great it was getting the fence job completed. Then Tony told us, oh by the way we needed to creosote the whole thing. It wasn’t the “application” of the creosote that was, let’s say less than pleasant, it was the fumes of the creosote that damn near killed us. We had to wait till warmer weather to do that job which only made the fumes even worse. But Mission Accomplished! We got all of that fence creosoted before the start of summer camp. 

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed working at camp summers, falls, winters and springs. I worked in the fall and spring riding programs the entire time I worked at camp. I went to college in Richmond, VA and I would come home on week-ends to work at camp. Tony used to pick on me all the time. At first, I thought he just wasn’t happy with what I was doing. But I took it all in fun and later learned that if he didn’t like me, he would have just let me be. It is so nice to be appreciated!  

During the years that I was there we had a great working group of riding instructors and counselors. Some of those that I worked with were Cordell, Bob Naftal, Bob Meyers, Mary Jane Meyers, Sharon Bigelow, John Brannock, Bob Bradshaw and his wife. I know there were many others unfortunately, I just can’t remember them all. In addition to working in the riding program during the fall and spring I was also a counselor for the Junior Boys. Working as a counselor I accomplished many things but the two that stand out for me was consistently winning Honor Cabin and keeping the campers’ attention during our rest hour in my cabin by telling ghost stories. It was those ghost stories that sort of got spread around the entire camp. They were so good that even kids in the girls’ cabins had to be given the secret remedy to ward off the ghosts during the night. 


                                                                                                                     The Hermit


Talking about ghost stories I took the junior boys out into the woods near where the senior girls had built some forts a few years earlier. Now these forts were tumbling down in disrepair. I told the boys about an old hermit that lived out in the woods in these forts. They learned that he raided the gardens of neighboring homes for food and that he wasn’t very friendly.

 I told the boys that if they wore their shoes on the wrong feet, pulled out their pants pockets and wore their t-shirts inside out and backward they would be safe if we ran into the hermit. We started our trek out to the woods from the bathhouse. 

 There is a swale at the edge of the woods. I had a junior counselor with me as I has 15 or so boys on this adventure. When we got to the edge of the woods. I told the boys that the junior counselor, Paul Randall, was going to go in ahead of us to see if the hermit was there. Meanwhile, I told the boys they had to be very quiet and that we would have to do an army crawl along the edge of the woods until we got to a certain point then we would have to wait for Paul. While crawling along that swale we came upon a pile of bones where, I think a horse had died. I told the boys they were dinosaur bones. Needless to say, those bones were cleaned up and taken home as souvenirs. As we waited a dark cloud covered the sun causing it to get somewhat dark. Just at that time several crows came flying out of the woods going caw, caw, caw followed by a screaming Paul. He told them that the hermit tried to get him. At that point the boys turned and ran at a dead run back to the bathhouse. We finished the story of the hermit telling them that he only ventured out a night and so they would be safe during the day as he was really a ghost. In order to maintain calm in the cabin at night I told them they were absolutely safe in the cabin even though there were two screened doors and two big screened windows.  I ASSURED the boys that no ghost could EVER enter the cabin because it had to count every tiny square in the screen before it could pass through to enter the cabin. THAT would NEVER happen as it would take so long and that the sun would come up well before a ghost could complete its count. A ghost can’t be out in the sunlight or it will burn up and never be seen again. So, with too many squares to count the ghosts had to return to its shelter before the sun came up and thus never get into the cabin. My boys slept well at night KNOWING no ghost could get into the cabin. 

There are two neat memories I have related to that adventure. On a parent’s Sunday a parent came out to pick-up their second son who had attended camp that week. The week before they got their younger son, one of my junior boys who had won many Honor Cabin patches. Tony came and found me and told me that the boy’s parents wanted to see me. As it turned out their son had taken his “dinosaur bone” home and made mom & dad hang it on the wall in his bedroom. 

My second memory hits a little closer to home…Tony & Sally’s home. During the fall after that summer Tony’s son Timmy woke up in the middle of the night saying the hermit was at his window counting the holes in the screen. I know Tony wasn’t too happy.

When our riding instructor group arrived at camp that following Saturday I went into the main house and into the kitchen where Tony & Sally and kids were eating breakfast. First, Tony said I’m gonna kill you! Then he related the story about Timmy. I’m standing by the table and Tony asks me to pour some milk into his cereal bowl. As I’m pouring, he says that’s enough and quickly pulls his bowl away before I could stop pouring. Like I said, the consummate joker!                           

The Junior Boys

I don’t know why Tony assigned the junior boys to me as their counselor. I’m glad he did as I absolutely loved working with those little guys. We did all kinds of neat things together. When we moved from one activity to another, we moved in a two-person buddy line with me at the head of the line whistling the whole time. I think Sally called me the Pied Piper. It was my successful way of herding cats. We played games together and the boys learned about getting along with each other and making new friends. 

I especially enjoyed taking them to the riding ring and to swim lessons. It is so cool to watch a kid who starts off being afraid of the horses and the water to seeing him grow past those fears. Learning to swim is a life skill and I worked hard with Marla, the swim instructor teaching those boys to swim and not be afraid of the water. Putting their face in the water in order to learn to breathe while swimming was THE most difficult task. But once they conquered that fear learning to swim came quickly.  

  At The Pool with Marla

Now that we are at the pool there was a swim instructor, Marla, who was…. I guess you could say…gullible. During the counselor orientation Cordell and I were using the diving board when suddenly we heard a crack! We inspected the board and determined it wasn’t safe for further use. Cordell and I got off a couple of more dives before taking it down. Tony ordered a new board but it took several weeks to arrive. Every time the chlorine truck would arrive Marla would ask if the new board was on the truck. One day Cordell told Marla the board had arrived and he put it away until he could get it put up. She asked where it was and he told her it was in the pump room. She had to go look. Unable to find it she asked Cordell where he put it. He told her it was in the vacuum hose and out of sight for now. You know, Marla went right into the pump room and picked-up the vacuum hose and looked before she realized she had been had. She was a good sport about it though.  


  Chicago for the American Camping Association's Convention


Tony attended the ACA convention in Chicago. He took John Brannock, Cordell and me with him. It was an interesting trip. John sat in the front seat with Tony and Cordell and I were in the back seat. Cordell was sitting behind Tony. Well into the drive the consummate joker was at it again. He let his head fall forward as if asleep. Cordell being the conscientious one in the back seat leaped up and over Tony’s shoulder to grab the wheel. That was enough to make Tony realize this was not a good situation and grabbed the wheel away from Cordell. Like I say, you gotta have fun!  

Tour Guide

One of my springtime responsibilities was showing families around the camp and explaining the various activities. I showed them the buildings, bathhouse, pool, cabins and dining hall. When I was finished, I turned the family over to Tony to close the sale. I believe this is an activity that drew me out as a person and getting comfortable talking with people. There are people in my Lions Club that would say it worked all too well. I am the kind of person who will talk anytime with anyone, anywhere. Thanks, Tony, for giving me this opportunity. Point of interest: In high school I had to take the Kuder Preference Test in 12th grade. It was meant to help you with possible career choices. My top three results were a salesman, army officer or mortician. Go figure. I can see the first two. But mortician!? Not a snowball’s chance…


Riding Program During the Fall and Spring


I came to camp with a background of riding and working with horses at a local stable in my Kemp Mill neighborhood. Riding lessons were given on Saturdays and Sundays and consisted of an hour of barn class instruction and an hour on horseback in the riding rings. I worked both in the ring and teaching the barn classes. This was the beginning of my near year-round employment at camp. The first students would arrive around 9 am. The instructors would arrive around 7am. 


We had to round-up the horses from wherever they were. And sometimes that took a while as we had to get them from a neighboring farm. I remember Bob Meyers putting a halter and lead rope on Cracker Jack. He was about as far away from the barn as he could be – well beyond the front lake. He jumped up on Cracker and was going to ride him back. All we could hear going across the field was – Whoa! Whoa! Whoa Cracker!! Cracker knew what he wanted and where to find it and didn’t stop until he got back to the barn. He knew he was going to get fed grain.  

All of the horses were fed and tacked in standing stalls. I wasn’t too thrilled about walking in behind the horse to feed them. Several of them were not shy about kicking out. Bob Naftal walked in behind Cocoa and was kicked out into the aisle where he stumbled into another stall and was promptly kicked back into the aisle. Only after he got up and realized he wasn’t hurt he was able to see the humor in all of it. 

I was walking back to my cabin one night at about 11pm and had to walk past the barnyard and through the field where the horses were. Out of the clear blue Dickens charged me and bit me on the shoulder. Knowing that horses are carriers of tetanus, I went up to the main house to tell Tony. I think he was already in bed. He told me to go to Suburban Hospital for a tetanus shot.  
The ER doc knew he was supposed to quarantine animals that bit people. He was not sure about this one as he never had anyone present with a horse bite. The next day someone from the health department or some agency came out and told Tony to quarantine Dickens. Lucky Dickens spent the next 14 days on lost time from riding lessons and confined to his box stall. I guess my presence in the dark of the night spooked him and he reacted. Another lesson learned. Talk out loud as you walk past animals at night. At least they’ll know you are there.  

  Fast Forward to 1969  

This was a good year at camp. The incident with Marla at the pool happened this year. As Senior Counselor I assisted with the new counselor orientation. During that time, we were playing keep away in the pool. Of course, people took the game very seriously and one counselor, Lorrie Winkler tried to get the ball away from me and came down across my chest and stomach with what had to be a newly sharpened finger nail. We still laugh about it today.


Well as it turned out Lorrie and I became close friends…very close friends. You see we got married in 1971 and have lived a great life together. We started off by sitting in the dining hall in the evenings with the other counselors playing card games and just talking. It wasn’t too long into camp before Sally would come out to tell everyone to go to bed. After a few of Sally’s visits, we moved our conversations to the trampoline. When she didn’t see us in the dining hall, she would come looking for us and we just sat quietly until she went back into the house. Sooner or later, she was bound to find us which she did. Now this called for a drastic move on our part. We moved to the roof of the loafing shed in the barn yard. She would come looking but never found us right up to the end of camp. We could hear her standing at the fence saying I know you’re here somewhere. I can hear you talking. It wasn’t until MANY years later on a visit in Wilmington, NC did we tell her where we were. For Sally, another mystery solved.  

Tony always tried to bring some kind of instruction to many of the projects and programs at camp. In July 1969 the world witnessed the first man landing and walking on the moon. Tony brought his tv out of the house and set it up in the dining hall and the entire camp staff and campers were there to watch this historic event.

What Camp Adventure Did for Me

In the fall of 1969 Lorrie went off to the University of Delaware to study nursing and I back to my last year at VCU in Richmond. We continued our relationship and when I wasn’t either working at camp or in the movie theatres I would go to Delaware for a week-end. Her brother lived in a dorm at the university so I always had a place to stay.  

We got married in June of 1971. I arrived in Delaware in April of 1971 to begin a new job with the Security force at the university. We lived in university housing and life was good. Within a year into my new job, I had been promoted to Corporal and sent off to the Delaware State Policy Academy for training. Five months later I got a job offer that put me in a real quandary. I was offered the opportunity to set-up and run a summer camp for disadvantaged youth by the Loch Raven Kiwanis Club. 

This was something I went to school for and wanted to do so badly. It did hurt to leave the university after all they had done for me but this was an opportunity I could not pass on.  I relocated to a 75-acre farm with an Olympic size pool and was to set up a day camp program. I moved into an old farmhouse built in 1917. The farm was an old run-down dairy farm. We turned it into a red and white old McDonald’s farm. The short of it we had three staff members, one summer of camp and lost the whole project to zoning battles in court.  

The neighborhood witch who fought us tooth and nail lived just down the road and around the corner in the old two-story brick colonial with a tree lined driveway. One night, Lorrie, Cordell and I went to pay our final “moving” respects, Those BIG old oak trees that were on either side of her long driveway were adorned with long white streamers that lasted a LONG time before they were all gone. I have many fond memories of living there for exactly two years.  

Our Life Back in Wheaton & Chevy Chase 

•In 1974 We bought our first house in Wheaton in 1974
•In October 1974 I joined Washington Gas Light Company and Lorrie began working at Suburban Hospital in both Labor and Delivery and later in Ambulatory
   Surgery
•Lorrie sang in the church choir and I in a barbershop chorus
•In 1983 our first daughter – Kristin – was born and named after Kristin Heller
•In 1985 our second daughter – Sarah – was born 
•In 1989 we built our 2nd home on an acre abutting Rock Creek Park just across from the National Audubon Society
•Both girls were Girl Scouts and on our local swim club swim team as well as the BCC swim team. Lorrie and I both were swim officials and Lorrie was a scout 
  leader. Since we had a van, I would take the scouts to wherever they were going. I became a registered girl scout ONLY for the insurance coverage.
•We had a swim meet on one of our wedding anniversaries. After the meet the kids surprised us with cake and ice cream to celebrate with us. Now how many
  parents get that kind of treat from the kids?  
•In 2007 I retired from Washington Gas Light Company and began planning our final chapter for WV  

 2009 We Move to Almost Heaven – West Virginia

•In 2009 we moved to WV and split 28 acres with Lorrie’s brother and his wife.
•In 2009 Sarah & Jacob were married at Capon Springs & Farms; an old springs resort dating back to the early 1800’s
•In 2010 we built our current home in Capon Springs, WV 
•In 2010 we joined our church, Lions Club, Ruritan Club and later helped to establish Capon Valley Neighbor to Neighbor.
•I am the Treasurer of all but the Lions Club and Lorrie is the Secretary of all.
•In 2015 Sarah and her family purchased the 20-acre homestead adjacent to us. It is great having them all right here with us. They have two boys and Jacob
    brought 4 kids into their family.  
•In 2016 Kristin & Travis were married at a colonial home in Prince Georges County. Kristin and Travis have a little girl.
•Today I am the Chair of the WV Multiple District Lions International Youth Camps & Exchange program.  
•Since 2013 we have hosted, in our home, 8 students from around the world
•I am responsible for identifying WV students to travel abroad on a paid scholarship, for arranging their travel program, identifying host families for students from
  abroad with whom they will stay for 4-6 weeks.  
•Lorrie and another lady from our Lions Club have been running a weekly Story Time program for young children. They are in their 9th consecutive year of the
  program. Every child takes home the book read that day and it is theirs to keep.  In Lions our motto is: We Serve and I think that started for me at least and
  probably Lorrie through our beginnings at Camp Adventure. There is truth in the old adage It is better to give than receive. Well, we have received so much joy, 
  friendship and love over all of the years we have been active in our communities. God has blessed us abundantly.  

And Now you know the rest of the story

Thank You Tony & Sally!!








I know, it's a terrible picture but I wanted the one                               with the camp T-shirt