The Council Room

[Mike Freeland]

Jim Culleton and I have been idly chatting about the people at Wyanoke we always called "Mr.", rather than their first names. I thought I'd bring it to the forums. Maybe liven things up a bit.

Mr. Bentley was obvious. No one, especially campers, would ever consider using "Brad". I wonder the consequences of some Midget walking by and saying "'morning Brad, 'sup?". And of course there were the Vaughans (Mr. and Mrs.), referred to as such also because of their stations. I told Jim that Mr. Vaughan looked so authoratative all the time because he always had a clipboard and was always checking someting with his pencil, that that alone was enough for me to stick with Mr. The thought of calling him "Irv" was, if anything, a distant one.

But there was Mr Scheirer, Mr. Risser, Mr. Irons, Mr. (then Dr.) Fox, "Dowaktah Fowahx" in Massachusettsese. Everett Slocum was Mr. Slocum to some, but "Sloc" to his tent charges, as I recall.

Any others you can remember? B. Reed Henderson was "Pop", and even Henry Knowlton, High School coach to many Wyanokers back in Winchestah, went by "Henny". Must've been tough to quit back in school.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Alec Stansell]

I THINK I called Bob Dickerman, "Mr. Dickerman". I might be wrong, but I certainly can't imagine having called called him "Bob". Alec
_________________
72: C-4 (Bob Chase)
73: J-4 (Bob Vaughan)
74: J-4 (Bob Vaughan)
75: S-2 (Jim Yetter)
BLUE

[Tom Shirley]

Bob Dickerman was "Coach" to me. Don't remember calling him "Mister".
_________________
J-1 1970, Marc Liddle from Scotland
J-1 1971, Bob Vaughn
S-3 1972, Steve McDavitt
S-2 1973, Charlie Thomas
JA-2 1974, Dan Mannis
JA-1 1975, Dave Ayers

Proud to be Gray

[Mike Freeland]

I just remembered: Ted Berard was always Mr. Berrard. He was from Athol Mathachuthetth.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[David Bentley]

This is a great topic, one not soley pertaining to Camp, but to any organization which you might move upwardly through eventually becoming a staff member.

Clearly, MR. Irons was always MR. Irons, although most everyone in his relative peer group called him Dick.

In the case of my Dad, several of the men who were "senior" type councilors called him Brad, but, I agree, to most he was MR Bentley. However, Ricky Friend, an age contemporary of mine. and a midget with me, always called him Brad. This was undoubtedly due to the quite friendly relationship between the two families on a 12 month basis. Ricky was probably the ONLY 7 yr old to call BMB Brad.

Personally, I grew up knowing almost all of the councilors as MR to start, and, through time, came to call many of them by their actual first name. The 'trigger' to set off this change is different from person to person. I was a JC to MR Fox, and it seemed more natural to call him Bob, although, at the same time I was refering to MR Irons, Sloc, MR. Berard, and, of course, MR. Risser. However, MR Taylor was 'Cap', and other councilors seemed to be called MR in front of campers, but some other term of endearment in front of each other. I think most of us will remember the admonishment by my Dad about nicknames: A nickname is permissible as long as it doesn't criticize or embarrass a person. a camper wearing glasses should NEVER be nicknamed "Foureyes", nor should a slightly heavy boy be nicknamed "Pudge".

Even to this day, I refer to certain people as MR or MRS. Steve Hood's (now deceased) mother will always be MRS Hood, and, except for Steve and his Dad, no one knew her any longer than I did.

Name calling is usually a sign of respect for someone or their station. When I exited the Army and entered UNH, I was older than most of my teachers, however, I refered to most of them as Professor, Doctor, or Mr/Mrs. If, as happened from time to time, I was talking with them privately, or socially, I sometimes slipped into a less formal mode to which no one ever objected. In the classroom I reverted to the more formal address.

I would imagine corporate America, government, and other highly stratified organizations experience this same phenomenom. I would also imagine that some enterprising young graduate students have spent endless hours analyzing this topic as food for their own dissertations toward higher education - and look, for free, and in the blink of an eye, we will solve the problem right here on wyanoke.com, thanks to Mike, or would that be MR Mike.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[Chris Gill]

Weren't Junior Counselors referred to by their first initial and Counselors referred to as Mr. on the daily activity board?
_________________
1965-1975
C7,C8,J8,S4,S3

[David Bentley]

Chris is absolutely correct; I think the differentiation was a matter of organizational simplicity more than any indication of "rank", or whatever.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997