Camp Echo Quarterly Alumni E-News May 9, 2005 Welcome to all our new subscribers! Our last issue was dated March 18, 2005. Contents -------- "7th Heaven" Episode TONIGHT has a Special Camp Echo Connection "Echo in the Round" - Double CD Set Jobs at Camp Camp Echo Annual Campaign Alumni Website Adult Alumni Weekend at Echo Family Camp and Adult Weekends Join the "Echo Spirit Team" Rob Johnston, Property Manager Extraordinaire! Alumni Notes - Tracy Alden - Marie Soisson Bartoletti - Alison and Justin Bresler - Louise Ballard Clark - Chris Coker and Peter Frankel - Joe DeLapp - Shane Dubow - Sura Dubow Lennon - Karen and Neil Featherstone - Andy Hammerman - Val Hansen and Steve Weimer - David Klemm - Abbie Murray Magrane - Cameron Carver Maneese - Samantha Moore - Zoli Nep - Donna Dillman Newlin - Jane Zera Rogers - Didi Dick Salvatierra - Vince Schreck - Gail Silverstein - Allison Borg Singleton - Leah Sokolofski - Greg Soos Song of the Month: GET YOUR ELBOWS OFF THE TABLE "7th Heaven" Episode TONIGHT has a Special Camp Echo Connection --------------------------------------------------------------- Echo alum Joe DeLapp wrote me recently about the following: "I was recently named to the Board at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital founded by Danny Thomas and now guided by his daughter Marlo. Tonight, May 9 at 8:00 pm EST on the WB, an idea, offered by yours truly and another St. Jude board member, will come to fruition on an episode of the '7th Heaven' WB TV series. Brenda Hampton, the Creator and Executive Producer of the WB series, '7th Heaven' has written, shot and will air a special episode entitled "Leaps of Faith" that incorporates a storyline with a family with two young members stricken with Sickle Cell Anemia (SCD) and the progress St. Jude has made with a limited cure for SCD, which strikes one of every 375 African-American newborns. '7th Heaven' will be in its 10th season next year, the longest running family show in the history of TV, (surpassing the Walton's). St. Jude is very close to a broadscale, breakthrough cure for SCD. Cures to date have occurred with those through bone marrow transplants with very closely matched marrows (usually a family member), which limits the procedure as the match must be nearly identical. However, due to breakthroughs St. Jude has made with other transplant treatments, they are very close to perfecting this procedure with similar bone marrows, not as closely matched, which would open the SCD cure for many more people." "Echo in the Round" - Double CD Set ------------------------------------ The "Echo in the Round" CD set is on sale now! The price is $25; proceeds go to the "Send a Kid to Camp" Fund. Read all about the CD and the "Send a Kid to Camp" Fund, and see pictures from the rehearsal and the event, on the Camp Echo website at http://www.ymcacampecho.org/MusicCD Jobs at Camp ------------ We're looking for Health Officers (RN or higher) for certain weeks between June 25 and July 23. If you are interested, or if you know of someone who might be, email Katie Trippi . We're also looking for a Town Run Driver for certain weeks between June 19 and July 15. Camp Echo Annual Campaign ------------------------- Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has responded to our Camp Echo Annual Campaign appeal! To have your donation counted in the current fiscal year, send it before June 30th. Alumni Website -------------- Our Alumni website is up and running! Look yourself up with "Index by Name" and look for your peers with "Lists by Year." Click here for the site: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/alumni.html Use "Submit My Info" to send us updates and changes. You can email any other member of the list whose name appears as an underlined hyperlink. Their email address is not revealed unless they choose to reply to your message. Adult Alumni Weekend at Echo ---------------------------- Adult (21 years old or older) Alumni are invited to our Adult Alumni Weekend, May 13-15, 2005. Details are on the flyer located at: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/AAWRegForm2005.pdf Family Camp and Adult Weekends ------------------------------ Family Camp is a terrific time for alumni to return to Echo. You can return as a staff member or as a participating family. To apply for staff: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/apply.html To sign up for camp: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/register.html Week 1 (August 14-20) is full. Join us for Memorial Day Weekend, Week 2 (August 21-27), or Labor Day Weekend. To bring back those memories, check out our gallery of family camp photos, thanks to Mike Kelly, Photographer. To see the gallery: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/familyweek.html Alumni are also welcome at our Adult Weekends in September: Women's Wellness, Needlecraft, and Scrapbooking. Click here for info: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/adults.html Join the "Echo Spirit Team" -------------------------- We're looking for volunteers to help at the Echo bus departures and arrivals in Evanston this summer. Give us an hour or two on a Friday or Saturday afternoon, or a Sunday morning. Mingle with the parents and campers and talk about your experience at camp. Help with the distribution of bus passes and loading/unloading luggage. To join the "Echo Spirit Team" hit reply and let me know you can help. Rob Johnston, Property Manager Extraordinaire! --------------------------------------------- Many of you know that Rob Johnston has been at Camp Echo a long time. But do you know how long? This is Rob's 25th year at Echo. In honor of a quarter-century of dedicated service to Camp Echo, Peter Frankel and Tom Fischl asked many of the long-time adult work weekend participants to take up a collection that Rob can use for something fun and relaxing, like a vacation or travel plans. Last Saturday night, the work weekend group made the presentation, and Rob was honored with a standing ovation as well. We're thankful to Rob for all he does for camp. Thanks, too, to Peter and Tom for coordinating the effort to recognize Rob in this special way. Alumni Notes (compiled by Katie Trippi, Echo Alumni Contact) ------------ The alumni elf has spent this month trying to track down addresses for folks who have fallen off our radar. In so doing, I have had many interesting and memory filled conversations and e-mails. -- Tracy Alden wrote, "I wore my 1973 Camp Echo TP Club shirt (purple in color) on 3-21-05 in support of "international Camp Echo Day." It was a tight fit! It's been buried in the bottom of a drawer for years and Monday was a good excuse to take it out, reflect upon some great memories, and feel scratchy from the fit. Here are some pictures of it on a hanger." http://www.ymcacampecho.org/temporary/Shirt_Front.jpg http://www.ymcacampecho.org/temporary/Shirt_Back.jpg -- Marie Soisson Bartoletti was on the Echo staff in 1979 and 1981. Marie and her husband live in Pennsylvania but it doesn't sound like she spends much time there. Marie is a marathon runner and is actually making a living through sponsorships running in marathons in every state this year. She has 15 states left to go and will finish on December 11, 2005 in the Honolulu marathon! Marie won a nation-wide contest and was featured on a Wheaties box not too long ago and last summer ran as a pace setter for a marathon in Sydney, Austrailia. Marie will be in Chicago in early October running in the Chicago marathon. She would love to catch up with her Echo friends while she is here so we will try to make that happen. Stay tuned to the Echo Website for more information. Here are some pictures of Marie and Marie on the Wheaties box: http://www.eisenhowermarathon.com/2005_articles/Bartoletti_feature.htm http://www.wheatiesenergycrunch.com/wec/winners/grand/index.html -- Alison and Justin Bressler are living in Denver with their three children: Eleanor (7), Max (5) and baby Charlie (9 mos). They wrote, "We've got a nice little Evanston/Echo enclave out here, certainly enough for a family camp cabin or two ... Chummy Gosch, Karin Ahern, Scott and Laura Mitchell to name a few." You can get in touch with any or all of these folks through the Camp Echo Website Alumni tab. -- Louise Ballard Clark updated her own information on the website and wrote, "Bill Geiger took our 8th grade class from Haven Jr. High up to camp for a long weekend in October of 1974 with Bob Tarkington. Mary Kleschen was one of my counselors in June of 1976 when I was an Outpost camper. Both of my brothers Charlie and Turpin Ballard were on the Echo staff in the late 70's and I was actually the Assistant Wrangler for the summer of 1979." Great to hear from you, Louise! We hope you will stop by camp soon and see how much we have expanded our horse programming. -- Chris Coker and Peter Frankel recently visited Vietnam on a YMCA sponsored-trip. Chris is working for the Houston YMCA and he invited Peter to join him. Peter sent a couple photos from the trip, one of which is now in the "around the world" section of the Echo website. http://www.YMCACampEcho.org/around_the_world.html Peter has posted more pictures from the adventure at: home.comcast.net/~peterfrankel/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html -- Joe DeLapp wrote, "Great newsletter! I will be looking into Family Camp this year and Alumni Weekend. I have had an extraordinary year this year and have thoughts of going to Camp Echo to tie together 52 years of life (as I listen to my Camp Echo CD --I asked for and received from my sweet wife and alum of Echo for Christmas). All of us who grew up in Evanston (and the North Shore) are so very fortunate that we were able to benefit from the type of environment and people that work within this diverse and integrated community. Evanston has outlets of the "Y" and Camp Echo, Northwestern U, the lake, all that nearby Chicago offers and more. I am working on my schedule so that I can "wake up in the morning at dear old Camp Echo".... (at least once this year!) -- Shane Dubow and his sister, Sura Dubow Lennon, have bought a two-flat house in Logan Square and are living upstairs and downstairs with their respective spouses, Sunny and Patrick. Sura and Patrick are expecting a visit from the stork soon. Tracking down Sura became a passion for the alumni elf when her childhood neighbor and best friend, Abbie Murray Magrane updated her own information on the Echo Alumni website and wondered where Sura might be. More news about Abbie later in this newsletter. -- Karen and Neil Featherstone have just returned to Fremont after wintering in Florida. Karen brought news of Pete Seyl who has retired and built a home in the desert in New Mexico. Pete made a trip to Washington to visit one of their daughters and stopped by Canon City, Colorado to visit with Don Belveal. Pete and Don were both original members of the DBBelveal and the Smokey Mountain Boys guitar and singing group. Karen and the alumni elf are beginning to plan for a reunion to take place at Echo in the next year or so for all the Featherstone Era staff and campers. If you would like to be included in our planning please contact Karen Featherstone or Katie Trippi through the Camp Echo website. -- Andy Hammerman wrote with news that his Black Sheep Inn in Ecuador was named a finalist for the "Tourism for Tomorrow" award from the World Tourism & Travel Council: http://www.tourismfortomorrow.com/Judging/finalists.htm -- Val Hansen and Steve Weimer have recently moved from Evanston to Walnut Creek, CA where Steve is working as a newspaper man. Val is planning on visiting Dear Old Camp Echo during Family Camp week and sharing a cabin with Sally Donohue Courtney and her family. Val's kids, Ged and Sophie and Gabe (a.k.a. Chester) are looking forward to spending time with Grampa and Grandma in Fremont, but they really can't wait to get back to camp. Must be in their genes! Unfortunately, Daddy Steve will not be able to make the trip East due to the fact that there is no such thing as summer vacation from the newspaper. -- David Klemm had fallen off of our database, luckily I still had an e-mail address, but wasn't sure he was the correct David Klemm. He proved that he had been that camper when he replied to my e-mail with these words: "Yes, I was a camper at Camp Echo in the late 50's. I can prove it: 'I want to wake up in the morning at dear old Camp Echo ...' Proof enough! And now he is back in our fold. -- Abbie Murray Magrane was a camper in the late 70's and wrote an email after receiving a fund raising appeal for the Camp Echo Annual Campaign. She wrote, "How surprised was I to receive a letter from the crew at Camp Echo? I am so glad you all found me, and yes the minute I saw 'I wanna wake up in the morning ...' I began to sing out loud. I was a camper for quite a few years, I think beginning when I was 9 in 1979 and continuing at least 5 years. My best friend at the time was Sura Dubow, any idea what happened to her? It was crazy looking up all the names from when I was at camp. The memories did come flooding back. Now that I am a mom with 2 kids, Campbell (4) and Quinn (1), I think we'll try and make it to family camp as soon as we are sure they are old enough to enjoy it. I am so excited at the prospect. Although we live in Utah, my memories of Camp Echo and McGaw YMCA are numerous, and not easily forgotten. Thanks for the trip down memory lane, and now that I have updated my information with you, I'll be sure to keep in touch." -- Cameron Carver Maneese wrote, "Greetings from Wooster, Ohio. I did take to heart the International Camp Echo Day of March 21, 2005, and while it has taken me longer than I had hoped I will be emailing you two pictures of Echo T's being worn in Wooster at our Motion for Body and Soul class. I grabbed some Echo T's and had fellow classmates and the instructor don them for class. Everyone has the Echo Spirit whether they went to Echo or not. Hope things are coming together for the summer. Have a good one." Pictures of Cammie and her friends in Echo wear can be seen on the Echo website at: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/temporary/MotionForBodyNSoul1.jpg http://www.ymcacampecho.org/temporary/MotionForBodyNSoul2.jpg -- Samantha Moore was a camper at Echo from 1994 thru 1998 when she went on the Georgian Bay Sea Kayak trip. She wrote: "Echo was such a great influence on my life. I still remember all of my counselors who made camp such a great growing experience for me. I always felt when I came home from camp that I had gotten a little closer to the person I was going to grow up to be. I still look back and think of all the great times and great friends I made at Camp Echo." -- Zoli Nep, Echo staff member in 2000, 2001 and 2003 celebrated a birthday on the 25th of April. He responded to my birthday greeting with the following: "What a nice surprise! Thank you for the kind words, it really made my day. Yeah, I'm still in London eyeball-deep in work, I'll be promoted to team leader in 2 weeks and it means a lot more work. No other job can beat camp, but I'm enjoying what I'm doing at the moment. I miss you guys and camp a lot and I'd l ove to go back but it is not possible this year as I'm still settling in here. I'm still here with Ildi, my girlfriend and my twin brother cme over as well and is living with us. We're gonna move to our new house (we're in a condo flat at the moment) this weekend and I pretty psyched up about having an actual house with a garden. Living in the States is till my big plan and getting a UK passport will make this come true a lot easier in the near future. So for right now I am just taking a little sidetrack for the benefit of my dream. I hope everything is OK with all my camp friends. Please send my best regards to Mighty Mr. Johnston as well. Much love, Zoli" -- Donna Dillman Newlin, Girls Camp camper 1971­1975, Family Camp camper 1977­1979 and Echo staff member 1980­1983 writes: "Those years created some of my most special memories in a life crammed full of special memories. After high school, I went on to attend a YMCA college and have worked in the field of outdoor recreation ever since. I am married with two teenage step-sons who love outdoor adventure as much as I do. I work as a manager at a ski area during the wither months and run our local Sheriff's Search and Rescue Team. I would love to hear from some of my old camp friends." (Use the alumni tab to write to Donna!) -- Jane Zera Rogers and Tim Rogers sent along pictures of their newborn son, Colin Michael Rogers. You can see them at: http://www.ymcacampecho.org/temporary/Colin%20Michael%20Rogers.jpg http://www.ymcacampecho.org/temporary/Tim%20and%20Colin.jpg http://www.ymcacampecho.org/temporary/Tim%20Jane%20and%20Colin.jpg -- Didi Dick Salvatierra has been busy letting all her Echo friends know about the website and the Echo in the Round CD that is available for purchase. Didi recently updated her Echo alumni record and wrote, "Wow! So happy to have found this site! Echo was such a big part of my youth! Every summer brought new challenges, friendships, adventures and memories. I still cherish the many friends I have because of Echo. So glad it is going strong and the Echo Spirit lives on for future generations." Didi followed up with an email in March. She wrote,"How nice you are back at the Y ... I did a stint there myself back in 1974-75 working as the secretary in the PE Department for Ken Mulsoff and Terry Cordes. Christie Pollock, Judi Wolf, Carolyn Morby and Zenol Moore were all in the Women's Department so it was a grand old time. My Echo years are truly my childhood memories ... I was a camper from 1960- 68. I think, and was an AC for two years and then a senior counselor for a couple of years including the year I did Outpost with Christie!! The Best!!! I also ran the craft shop and trading post for one summer in 1974 after I was married to Rafe. The friends I have maintained over the years are Echo friends, mainly Christie and Marci Potter Jasek. They were both in my wedding and Paula Strout Ashcraft from Salt Lake City played and sang at our ceremony. We have a picture of a whole bunch of Echo folks at the reception which is really a hoot!! Polly O'Brien Toan, Hope Thompson Haberer, Anne Johnson Gilford, etc. My kids had the opportunity to go to Church Camp at Echo one year. We were living in Cincinnati at the time and Christie's church in Fremont put it on. Not exactly the Echo Experience but they got to be 'there' which was cool. I learned so much about life at Echo, values that have shaped me as a person, I think and for that I am very grateful. So glad my mom let me go year after year. When I tell friends how much the YMCA in Evanston and Camp Echo was a part of my life they are really surprised. Now I am a full time fiber artist and quiltmaker. I lecture/teach for quilting guilds and quilt shops around the region. I also do commission stitching for others and am currently working on a commission piece for an ad agency here in Baltimore. I feel so fortunate to be able to do this full time. Our kids are grown and on their own, pretty much. Tom is almost 27 and in graduate school in Dayton, Ohio at Wright State University. He is finishing his masters in Electrical Engineering. Emily will be 24 in May and she is a Graphic Designer here in Bel Air for URS Corporation. She's hoping to move back to New England eventually. She went to Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and has lots of friends and a boy friend there. Rafe, is an IT Analyst for Bttelle Corp. They are contracted to the Army and he is working on the demilitarization of hazardous materiel at the Aberdeen Proving Ground which is here in our county. There you have it!" -- Vince Schreck, on the Echo staff in 1985 and 86 recently updated his information. He wrote that he was one of the very few people from Fremont who worked on the Echo Staff. He is currently the assistant director of online learning at Marylhurst University in Portland, Oregon. Vince is married to Holly Beckwith, a Naturopathic Doctor. They lived in Durango, Colorado (and LOVED IT!) for about 6 years. Vince is trying to get a job back in Colorado; they'd like to move back there. Vince's folks still live in Fremont; Vince and Holly hope to visit Echo soon with their 18-month-old son, Rhys. -- Gail Silverstein was a camper from 1986-1988 and on staff from 1989 thru 1994. Gail wrote, "Every summer I end up with the feeling that I should be somewhere I am not: Camp Echo! While I try to still sing songs to help me get to that place again, it doesn't fill that void I feel. Camp represents a place where I feel the depth of what in means to be alive." Hope you'll come by for a visit soon, Gail. -- Allison Borg Singleton was a camper in the late 80's. She wrote, "I can't remember the years at all, but I know one of the years at main camp I was in Dugdale Lodge and all of the years I was in the same cabin or at Outpost with Sarah Whitman, Sarah Lloyd-Still Laing, Kim Heinz, and Lorrie Sex." -- Leah Sokolofski was on the staff in 1998 as a Main Camp Senior Counselor and Nature Area Head. She recently updated her contact information and wrote, "I'm currently working as an environmental educator (official title: Teacher in Residence) at a teaching farm called Slide Ranch www.slideranch.org in the San Francisco area. We have a variety of students and community members that participate in programs to learn about natural and agricultural environments. I use some of the same games and songs that I learned at Echo. Hope Echo is still going strong and getting ready for a fantastic summer." Song of the Month: GET YOUR ELBOWS OFF THE TABLE ------------------------------------------------ Get your elbows off the table, Get your elbows off the table, We have seen you do it twice And it isn't very nice Get your elbows off the table, Kiss the Moose! (On the Lips!) Kiss the Moose! (On the Lips!) etc. (Try explaining this to your boss when you are caught singing it.) Show The Spirit! -- Rob Grierson Camp Echo Director rg@mcgawymca.org