The Council Room

[Pat Freeland]

Kudos to my brother for his masterpiece. Yeah Dave Ayars and I had a hand in it but he was the inspiration for the contents and the rich variety of memories. He also singlehandedly conquered the challenges of MS Word and delivered a clean and highly readable product.
_________________
Living with wife Vicki happily retired after we moved back to Cornwall, Pa.

[David Bentley]

Those fortunate to have Vol I and Vol II of the history of Wyanoke I am sure realize what a great undertaking this project turned out to be. What started out as a casual conversation several years ago end up being a nearly-consuming labor of love involving a great many contributors, a large handful of frequent contributors, a small number of "answer men", a closely knit group of editors, and a single editor-in-chief inspiring the whole endeavor to success. As the path to fruition narrowed, there wasn't a lot of room for too many people, so Mike and Pat Freeland and Dave Ayars really carried the project across the finish line, for sure. We all owe them the biggest thanks ever.

I have read both volumes more than once, and each time I pick one up to browse a little, I find something I hadn't seen before. Some of the information is completely new to me, and some I had just plain forgotten about (too many birthdays!).

Mike mentioned something about a follow-up thread to be housed on this site. I look forward to that. Mike certainly deserves time to decompress and get his life back in order. He has spent the last several years immersed in this project, even with the near-constant help of Pat and Dave.

I know Mike isn't a fan of "Prunes", but in this project, he was the main character in "A Message to Garcia".

A simple "Thank you" seems rather under-stated, but I actually can't think of better words to express how I feel.
_________________
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

[Jim Culleton]

I agree wholeheartedly Dave! Although I am not quite through Volume II I am more than impressed! No words could express my gratitude to Mike, Pat, Dave Ayars and a host of others for their contributions and the beautiful outcome of this masterpiece.

July 4th is coming up and I am reminded of the 4th of July Track Meet 1961 up on the cinder track just below the Senior tennis courts. I was a JA at the time. Don't mean to toot my own horn but I entered the 100 Yard Dash that year and won! I have always thanked my years at Wyanoke for opening new doors to opportunity and realizing talent for me and for so many others! Hard to believe that it's been 60 years . . . . . . Where has the time gone?

I'm wondering if Mike liked the Monday nite Turkey Soup with oyster crackers? I loved it! And also the Welsh Rabbit on Saltines
(sans rabbit)!

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Culleton

C-6 Councilor 1964
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[Mike Freeland]

I do believe that you and I, Jim, were the only people on the camp property who actually LIKED the turkey soup on Mondays. Of course the legendary "Mrs. Morin's Buns" didn't hurt things. Seems to me that jello was the dessert on Mondays, to pour more sale into peoples' wounds.

Saturday dinners were the bane of my existence though - cold cuts. We band members were in whites for the parade, and they were magnets for any food that had mustard or catsup anywhere near it. We used to make dagwood sandwiches of peanut butter, jelly, potato chips and maybe a slab or two of that homogeneous bologna meat-like substance. Red bug juice to wash it all down (a complement to the mustard on my white shirt.)
_________________
'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]

Okay, you guys have opened the door for food, something that has been discussed over the years. Personally, besides the Welsh Rabbit, I happened to like stewed tomatoes, and I particularly liked the chocolate pudding with a skimmed-over surface.

On a more serious note, I remember times when my mother would talk with my father about the need to provide age-appropriate food so that younger campers would get some exposure to food generally thought to be appealing to older campers, while at the same time not overpowering the little ones with food they had never seen before (i.e., Welsh Rabbit and stewed tomatoes).

Ah, yes, Mrs. Morin and her rolls! The fact of the matter is that she learned her cooking skills from her husband, Joe, who had been a cook in the Navy. One day I was in the kitchen while he was making the rolls and I asked why he rolled two in each hand simultaneously. His answer was simple, "When you are on a ship you don't have a lot of time".

Joe, like Freddie, was a man of few words, but they were well chosen.
_________________
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

[Jim Culleton]

Overall I thought the food served at Wyanoke was well above average. Sunday dinner was superb with turkey and all the fix'ins. And of course the Chocolate Brownie ala mode to finish things off.

I was lucky enough to have been honored to serve the Bentley Table out on the veranda on two (2) occasions during my Aide year which must have been 1960. One "call to duty" tour was a week long in tenure. Once would have been enough but they must have liked my presentation to have called me back another time that summer. My fondest memory was Mrs. Bentley Senior giving me her Chocolate Brownie at those Sunday dinners! I always asked her " Are you sure you don't want it" to be polite knowing she was going to give it to me anyway!

I would have enjoyed pizza but I believe that pizza was added to the menu post 1964, my last summer? Anyway I would have asked the kitchen to add anchovies to mine! Don't think so as the kitchen is now closed!

Such great memories!
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[Mike Freeland]

Dave, I forgot about the chocolate pudding with the crusted-over top! I loved that too, and the occasional lumps. I did NOT like the stewed tomatoes (though I love them now). As I recall, they were fortified with bread, giving them a slimy mouth-feel that I just couldn't handle. I guess the flavor wasn't bad, but I just couldn't get past that mouth-feel. One of my councilors made me sit at the table until I finished my little beige bowl of stewed tomatoes. Junior camp I think. Thought I was gonna die.

And I don't think pizza hit the menu until the food services came in a few years after Phil Hodgson died.

I always felt sorry for the guys who waited on table ONE, as nobody used to call it. You had to be on your best behavior and gag back everything served to you, including stewed tomatoes.

What distinguished Mrs./Joe Morin's rolls was a light sugar glaze on the bottoms. That and the from-scratch yeast-rising bread dough made them unforgettable. I make a facsimile of them using Rhodes frozen dinner roll dough balls, butter and brown sugar. Very close, but the true versions were lost with the Morins.
_________________
'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]

In 1956 I was an Aide, and all the Aides were in either S-1 or S-2. I never got the call to wait on "Table One" (to quote a local and well-known author), but I did get the call more than once to deliver the noon meal to my grandmother in her residence (Pinehurst) which as you all know was down a long trail starting at the Junior Camp and ending at the Midget Beach, then a few more yards to her house. I also had the "deliver the noon meal to Bea Stone" gig several times. At least that was close by.

After reading Jim's post mentioning pizza, I seem to remember that it was, actually, Phil that introduced pizza to the menu. I should restate it as "pizza" because it wasn't really pizza, it was simply some kind of dough covered with canned pizza sauce, but none of the usual toppings found in pizza. I remember being in the kitchen when he explained it to my mother by saying, "There is more "pizza" in the name than there is in the product, but it is red, and the menu board says "pizza" - the campers will eat it". He was so right.

When the kitchen was taken over by a food service, things went downhill in a hurry. For some reason, the food service couldn't seen to understand that the recipes we were used to, year after year after year, worked. Because they were the food service, they felt they knew better. Sadly, for them, and financially disastrous for them, we were right.

Happy 4th of July everybody!! Stay safe.
_________________
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

[Harry Sloan]

I have to agree with Mike on the choice of dinner just before parade on Saturday evening. Being in the color guard I had a fear of mustard for a long time.
_________________
68 S-6 ( Jon Crane ) 69 S-6 ( Kent Newby ) 70 JA-2 ( Dan Mannis )

[Mike Freeland]

Someone I spoke to along the way completely forgot about the occasional Saturday night dinner of hot dogs, baked beans and canned brown bread (also with lots of mustard).

Anyone know where to get that brown bread these days?

And why the hell weren't hot dogs provided instead of hamburgers for cook-out? When they were, it was SOOOOOO much easier, and clean-up was nothing (except maybe the potato pan). That should have gone in the "Things we might have done better" section of the book.
_________________
'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]

Well, Mike, the subject of Cook Outs raises a lot of opportunity for discussion, but the specific of "Why hamburger (with its attendant clean-up problems)?" is simple, (with apologies to a quote used in another context), "The younger boys need it and the manly boys enjoy it".
_________________
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

[David Bentley]

Well, Mike, the subject of Cook Outs raises a lot of opportunity for discussion, but the specific of "Why hamburger (with its attendant clean-up problems)?" is simple, (with apologies to a quote used in another context), "The younger boys need it and the manly boys enjoy it".
_________________
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