October 18, 2000 Update from your |
Canoe Lake 2000 Reunion Committee Headquarters |
| "What a wonderful party that was!
Didn't realize what a great age I had arrived at until I stood on the Ahmek sand and looked into the faces of old buddies I hadn't set eyes on for 50 years!...
There was a smattering of my 'old' campers who even have gray hair like me!" |
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"I haven't had so much fun in years.
The only problem was that it was too short.
I wish I could be a kid again for a month." |
| "I don't think I've laughed and cried so much in 48 hours in a very long time." |
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"Canoe Lake has lost none of its magic...
It was heartwarming to see how many 'campers' from the 40's, 30's and even the 20's opted to come back to celebrate the 80th year of that very special place that we all cherish so much." |
| "Hopefully Mardi [Douglas] was looking down, soaking it all up and reliving all the happiness that she shared with so many of us in what no longer seems such a distant past." |
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[From one of the fabulous Staff]:
"It was the most fun I've had in a really, really long time.
It was amazing.
I've done a lot of thinking about what exactly made it so good, and as best I can discern it was not that I had such a good time (which I figure I would have no matter what), but that the women there (the old farts [Swebbs' label for anyone her age or older] who didn't turn out to be old farts at all) had such wild and uninhibited blatant good time.
I haven't seen so much fun being had and living it up happening among a herd of people my parents' age ever before." |
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"To see so many of my campers and counselors and guides—and all in one place!" |
| "Please credit the Fires of Friendship with the improved state of my marriage!
[My wife] who had never had the pleasure of attending camp, now understands why sleeping in drafty cabins on rock hard or saggy beds, jumping into a chilly lake at the light of dawn, fighting the wind with a well executed J-stroke, struggling through the rain to line up for a shower and singing off key with smoke in your eyes, all added up to one of the richest experiences a young man could have." |
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"A highlight for me was the 20/40's luncheon and seeing Couchie—who truly looked fantastic!" |
| "Imagine anyone being thoughtful enough to put benches on the barge for all the seniors!
That was incredible!
And how did you arrange to fill the skies with clouds and soft lighting so that our wrinkles were less apparent?
It was an AWESOME party, as my grandchildren would say." |
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"What a joy to be back at camp, to reconnect with old friends, to meet others who came before and after." |
| "I left lunch on Sunday after Remember very deeply moved." |
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"Some Camp!
Some Reunion!" |
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Now What? |
Questions at the end of and since the Reunion:
When's the next Reunion?
How can we keep this spirit alive?
How can we keep in touch?
Can we get a mailing-email list?
(Hopefully, this will happen soon, Reunion finances allowing.)
Will the Alumni Website continue?
How can we find lost camp friends who weren't there? |
Answer to all these and more:
The gathering of dedicated "campers", in cities and towns wherever they may be in the world, with whatever time and talents they can offer, to design and direct networks and programs that will keep us in touch and reconnect us with the people who have shared memories of Canoe Lake. |
| Interested in being active in or have ideas about such a venture?
(Schools, fraternities, sororities, clubs, other campers—have you had experience with their methods?)
Contact us today: |
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| P.S.
Many of you have conveyed personal requests and questions.
They're not forgotten.
These, plus recognition and thanks to the legion who made the Reunion exceed the wildest of dreams, will be acknowledged as soon as we get our brains returned from Lost & Found at Camp.
But don't hesitate to prod us into action! |
| Next "Reunion":
at the official launch of the extraordinary Fires of Friendship: Eighty Years of the Taylor Statten Camps, Sunday, October 29, 3-5 p.m., Tasting Rooms Restaurant, Toronto.
See you there! |
For the record |
| A list of who was there, organized by cabin assignment. |
| A snapshot of the decades that were represented. |
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| And look where we came from! |
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