The Council Room

Robert Vaughan · Ass't Director Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 46

Going way back, which I do, but not quite this far back, you'll recall that Joseph Kennedy went to Wyanoke in the 1920's and was the subject of a Life Magazine spread.

Also, little known, Dr Kinsey of the famous report was a councilor in 1919 or something like that.

Mike Freeland · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:10 am Post subject:

Wow, I wasn't aware of either of those guys. And don't forget Dean Hamer, my JC in '68, has made a name for himself in genetics research.
Does that make two LIFE mag Wyanoke spreads? (I have the '52 (Aug. 4) edition of LIFE here in my pile of other stuff, and just realized that I never got those pix reposted after the crash, thanks for the reminder.) Was there another LIFE spread earlier?

As maybe you know, my Who-Was-at-Wyanoke database goes back only to 1940 (or at least it will when I get the rest of what I have, entered.) At the '05 reunion, Dave Bentley brought over all of the dining hall rosters, right back to the beginning, and Doug Wilkins and I took digital pictures of them only back to 1940. I don't know why I quit shooting at that point, but I did, dammit. All of what I shot is posted in the galleries here. Some of them, especially '42 and '41, banner years for enrollment it seems, are woefully ill-focused and difficult to transcribe so my data entry has slowed down. Even so, I've entered nearly 10,000 names, tent assignments and home towns. There seems to to be a lot of Winchester entries in the home town field. Hmmm. Groveland shows up a lot too, at least to a point.

Well, Grant Hirst has taken up the standard. I sent him the computer program I wrote and its attached database, and at some point, he hopes to get together with Dave and re-shoot the unreadable ones and then get the rest of the rosters committed to digits. Grant's just coming off some slow times and hopes to get the ball rolling after the first of the year. I have to say that I'm more than grateful to have another who feels that this isn't an empty endeavor. Thanks Grant. And by the way, the rosters are all in a huge portfolio, like the ones used by artists for their larger canvasses, and no longer framed. Digital pictures will retain their colors (sepia at this point, I guess), better than photocopy (the new scanners are great for the smaller stuff though).

What I'm getting at is that at some point, with Dave and Grant's help, we'll have a list of everyone who was ever at Wyanoke, and it'll be really easy to look some of these famous guys up. I also hope to publish the database here on the site to make it available to all who give a hoot.

I seem to recall that way in the back of the Senior Dining Hall were framed photos of entire camp populations, all 35 of them, with their names hand-written as a caption, going back to the earliest Precambrian Wyanoke days.

Why do I care about this, I hear you asking.

Ill tell you. I dont know.

Excuse the quote.

Hey RoV, remember the swinging vine and treehouse in that big pine tree just down from the Lower Jr. Pines at the head of the path to the wharf? You and I were in J-14 with Kevin Connor and Norman Mears then. That didn't last long. Too dangerous (the tree house, not J-14)
_________________
'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

Robert Vaughan · Ass't Director Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 46

Hi Mike,

That's going to be a great database when completed.

With school and all I haven't revisited the site in a while. I do remember the swing and tree house. Was that rope swing to get you across the cesspool?

Norman Mears was from Gainesville (FL or GA ?) as I recall. Skinny, straight black hair. I must have a picture of him here somewhere. I'm not recalling Kevin Connor, however.

J-14 and J-15 were from some burgeoning days for Wyanoke.

Bob

David Bentley · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 2:49 pm Post subject:

Hi, RoV, I think I can describe Kevin Connor, and I certainly do not mean any negatives in this description, but Kevin had tight curly blond hair, was average height, and a little more than average weight.
_________________
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

Mike Freeland · Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2007 6:20 pm Post subject:

Hi Bob,

Good to see you back! I just posted a picture on page 5 of my personal gallery, of J-14, 1958. Kevin Connor is to the right of Harry. Winchester kid -- was in Garth's class. I think you'll remember him when you see him. Seems to me that Orville Fennell had a nickname which fit him better than Orville. Remember that?

Yeah, we had to tear down the tree house, and somebody told us to stop swinging on the vine. Poor little kids can't even have no fun no more.

There was another big vine back of the infirmary that I swung on once, and it broke free when I was at max height. I landed flat on my back and couldn't inhale for what seemed a couple of days. I was cautious of those vines from then on.

No rope swing across the cesspool. We were kept at a safe distance by a nearly impenetrable barricade of 1x2s held securely to some black birch saplings with finishing brads, if you recall. It was under constant maintenance for some reason.

EDIT: That's not J-14, '58. It's J-11, '59. Councilor's Clark Duncan. I'll change the caption.
_________________
'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

DavidAyars · Founder W. H. Bentley Joined: 01 Mar 2006 Posts: 263

Chris Gill · Posted: Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:23 am Post subject: Bob Arnot article

There was a nice small article in the Christmas Day New York Times business section written by Bob Arnot. I guess he now goes by Dr. Danger.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/business/25flier.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
_________________
1965-1975
C7,C8,J8,S4,S3

Robert Vaughan · Ass't Director Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 46

Thanks Mike for posting the picture. Now that I see Kevin it's like it was yesterday. You certainly outstripped us all height-wise.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Bob

Mike Freeland · Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2007 5:00 pm Post subject:

Hi Bob. Yeah I noticed that too. I don't remember being aware of being that much taller when I was that age. Don't you love the sneakers?
_________________
'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

Tom Shirley · Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:39 pm Post subject:

Jim Culleton · Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:33 pm Post subject: Kennedy's

Nice follow-up Tom! Very interesting reading. Thanks for the time and effort in finding this info.
_________________
'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

Dana Russian · Posted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 6:08 pm Post subject:

I noticed that Bob Bigelow, still a Winchester resident, was at Wyanoke at the same time as me (at least 1969). Bob played in the NBA, and travels around the country as a lecturer on kid's sports. He wrote a fine book on the subject and was a terrific coach for my son when he was younger.