The Council Room

[DavidAyars]

I'm sorry to let you all know that we lost another good friend and Wyanoke legend. Dan Mannis passed away last weekend. He had been in declining health particularly with Parkinson's disease and had a rapid decline the last couple of weeks.

Dan is best remembered at camp leading the JA program and waterfront in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Outside camp several bands and many music students benefited from his leadership. Dan was such a wonderful guy and a very special mentor in my life, second only to my father. He was the epitome of the camp motto, Courage and Loyalty. I will treasure his friendship always.
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Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[David Bentley]

Sherry and I are extremely saddened to learn of the passing of Dan Mannis.

I think the post by David Ayars is exactly what needed to be expressed about Dan.

Each of us undoubtedly has a "Dan Mannis" story in our memory bank, and I will have memories of Dan forever.

His contributions to Wyanoke span Water Sports, Music, and many other areas, but, as David said, "He is best remembered at camp leading the JA program and the waterfront".

RIP Dan Mannis
_________________
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

[Robert Vaughan]

I first knew Dan as Russ' counselor in 1962 in S-4 I think. I came to know him later as a colleague at both Wyanoke and in the Hanover Public Schools, a close friend, always with great wisdom. He brought band camps to a generation of Hanover students as well as at other schools up and down the East coast.

I learned to play Hearts in his tent in 1962. Later, on OD one night in the Junior Camp, playing a spirited game of hearts, Dan came up behind me unbeknownst to me and one of the other smart guys asked whether I thought Dan's running of the waterfront was too strict. I responded that the waterfront was an area where safety was important and that if Dan had rules they were for a good reason. Just as I had rules at the rifle range.

Apparently he appreciated my answer.

He was a wonderful mentor, counselor, friend, and colleague.

[Mike Freeland]

I remember seeing Dan walking toward me across the ball field in 1961 the day I arrived at camp. He was the new guy. I was an Aide, and Dan was in S-4. Even at 25 yards away, and never having met the man, I instantly knew I liked him. No explaining that. And so it went for the next 14 years, as Wyanokers and teaching colleagues and importantly for me, musical collaborators.

Who could forget his musical logs for the day, always set to his own original tune, ("on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, is a place called Wyanoooooke...")

Among my favorite memories of Dan was the time he was scheduled to deliver a Chapel sermon, and he asked Pat and me if we could come up with a song to complement his talk on the value and responsibilities friendship. I think he might have asked us on Saturday so there wasn't much time. Pat ran off to S-4 and cooked up some words and later in the morning before Siesta, handed me a piece of paper. I grabbed my guitar, sequestered myself in the Little Guest House and came up with a tune and wrote a rough score (I woke up BMB who was napping in the back room unbeknownst to me, and none too happy).

After lunch, Pat and I, guitar in hand, went down to the waterfront and paddled out to the sr. raft where Dan was lifeguarding and auditioned it for him. We then nabbed Ray Hillyard and maybe someone else, slapped together some harmony and sang it a couple times and had it ready for the Chapel service the next day. I may well have times or sequences or personnel scrambled, but 50 years does fog up the memories.

We called it The Friendship Song. Creative song-titlers we were not.

I have a recording somewhere with Ray, recorded that same summer I think, but I can't find it. Here's the song. All the voices are mine, using now- ancient overdubbing technology of a Tandberg reel-to-reel tape deck.

http://www.wyanoke.com/thefriendshipsongmhf.mp3

This wasn't meant to be about me or Pat or the music, but about Dan's ability to inspire people to go all out to collaborate with him.

He was truly a giant among Wyanokers, and in a gentle, kind and yet powerful way.

One more: He had a picture in his wallet of an incredibly ugly woman he'd show the JAs and claim her as his girl friend. Their first reaction was to laugh, at which point Dan would pretend his feelings were really hurt. Those poor kids couldn't apologize enough until he told them it was a joke.

Maybe that's why they did stuff like this to him:



Thanks to Dave Clemens for that shot.

We'll miss you Dan. Thanks for everything. You left a lasting impression on a lot of people.
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'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