“The most important thing I took from camp is the friendships I made.
How many people can say they are still friends after 60 years?
You may not see some people for years, but then when you are together you pick up where you left off.
Camp created a special bond, make new friends but keep the old.
‘One is silver and the other gold.’'”
-Kathy Migut Levine (Camp Years: 1960s-1974)
I’ll always remember evenings walking among the pines, the light breeze humming its song, the moist air…nature’s invitation to savor its simple gifts.”
-Joanna Meyer (Camp Years: 1957-1967)
I pledge my Head to clearer thinking
“I worked at the Nassau County 4H camp during the summers 1968-1972, and these were magical summers, among the best of my life.
More than 50 years later, I still count some of my fellow counselors and campers as my friends.
My time in the woods of Riverhead set me on a career path teaching children, and adults, about the natural world in which we live; working to increase their awareness of the world around us, and helping them to recognize the importance of the interrelationships that exist between all facets of our environment.
Even today, although my professional career is just now beginning to wind down, my love for the outdoors burns just as brightly as it did those many years ago.
Most importantly, I have passed these things on to my own children.
Much of this I attribute to my time at 4H Camp.
May it continue for another 100 years.”
-Jay Kaplan (Camp Years: 1968-72)
“I can’t help but laugh when I remember the time I helped Beth Robinson prepare for her yeast bread class in the Home Economics Center.
Since kneading dough can be boring, we decided to play catch with that little ball instead.
Whether because of hysterical laughter or clumsiness, more than once the dough ball fell to the floor–never to rise again. ”
-Sandy Bergold (Camp Years: 1952-1967)
My Heart to greater loyalty
“Camp was special because it existed just to make me (and all of the other campers) happy.
I appreciated making such good friends and that camp allowed me to develop a different side of myself than existed at school.
It helped me become the outgoing confident person that I am today.”
-David Malmud (Camp Years: 1985-1996)
My Hands to greater service
“I’m not so sure that this is as much a “recollection,” as it is my feelings about one of my favorite places on earth.
From my 1st cabin in Pine Tree in 1953 (which I shared with Duffy and Beth and had Jan Thornton as a counselor), until college graduation in 1966, I never missed a summer at 4-H Camp.
Summers in HS and college began with work (not all work) weekends to get camp ready to open, through the counselor’s banquet (with lots of tears) at the end of the summer.
From camper to counselor to unit leader; from capers to campfires; from chicken barbeques on visitors’ Sundays to fun evenings at Bernie’s, camp was an amazing experience!
I learned skills and made friendships at 4-H Camp that have lasted a lifetime and made me a better person.
Sending my own kids to camp was a thrill for me because they could experience what I had always been talking about.”
-Alice Kirchheimer Lambert (Camp Years: 1953-1966)
“It always makes me smile when I remember the rehearsal for the Counselor's Choir when we were practicing “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
Suddenly Eileen O’Halloran and Nancy Robinson provided musical accompaniment using pots and pans.
They always relieved tension by giving us a laugh.”
-Kathy Rathgeber (Camp Years: 1957-1966)
And my Health to better living
“I laugh when I think of the time that I was a counselor in one of the Grey Beech cabins.
I awoke to the sound of the campers squealing.
I looked up and saw several cows outside looking through the screens.
I wasn’t sure what to do. (Needless to say, the counselor handbook did not cover such a situation.)
I ran and got Lou Didget a counselor who had grown up on a farm.
She did some kind of incantation involving waving her arms and saying over and over, “Whoo girl, whoo girl.”
She then led the cows out of the cabin area and down the road back to the farm from whence they came.”
-Ginna Donovan (Camp years: 1959-1966)
“I will always remember being included in the camp parade, Pine Tree (Snow White theme).
I wound up being the 8th honorary dwarf “Smelly” since I worked on the farm!!!!
Great memories!!”
-Bill Kosina (Camp Years: 1982-83)
For my club, my community, my country, and my world
“I still have the whittling knife I used as a camper for projects.
We kept them in our possession during the two weeks and whittled and shaped cedar wood pieces to form bases for table electric lamps that we completed during the encampment.
I ended up with a nice-looking, serviceable lamp that lasted years into my adulthood.
But the knife and the memory have lasted longer.”
-Paul Brandel (Camp Years: 1965-66)