CYO Camp Field

Wee-mee-mee-oh-ah Camp Field Staffers!

Two weeks ago I sent out a quick email reminder of the up-coming reunion and asked for an informal head count of those who thought they might be attending. The response was decent — 21 staffers (with an additional 12 family members in tow). This may not sound like much yet, but the list is currently missing many people who have attended almost all of the past reunions; so I am expecting the list to at least double in size, if not triple.

The most interesting item is the number of first timers. Over a third of the initial responses were from people who will be attending their first Camp Field reunion. These first timers span the gamut from people who worked the first years of camp to people who were CITs during the last year of camp. Theresa Griener is planning to attend; she was a staffer from ‘58-’68 (for you younger kids, that’s in the days before coed staffs). Also planning to attend is Terri Zanger — she was on staff during the years I was a camper (’70-’75). Ron Webb (if I remember correctly) was a CIT in ‘82, the last year of camp. Other first timers include Armando Guzman, Joff Morgan, Mike Alderson, Chere Hair and Tony Caruso. Chere and Tony were campers. So, even if you have attended the past reunions, there is a reason to attend this one to reacquaint yourself with these first timers.

The reunion is July 11-13. I hope you marked your calendar months ago when we first announced it. Again, we are trying to make this the biggest reunion to date to mark the 25th anniversary of Fr. O’Grady’s death and the closing of Camp Field. Be sure to attend, as this may be the last reunion for a while.

I would like to continue the informal head count. If you hope to attend the reunion then simply reply to this email and say so (let me know if you are a first timer). Come on, I am expecting to hear from all you Grieners, Moklers, Crowleys, James, Menzias, Shannons, Jacobuses, Nortons, etc.. And all of you who did not have to endure working with relatives too. I have attached the staff contact information that I have collected over the years. Please send me any updates and/or additions. Also, now is the time to use this list to contact your old friends to encourage them to attend the reunion. Your help is needed; I cannot do this on my own.

I will send out another email in two weeks with more details on the reunion itself.
Best regards,
the mailing list curmudgeon

p.s. I apologize for any mistakes in names and/or years listed above.

[The following was sent out via email on April 30, 2008.]
Greetings staffers!

The big CYO Camp Field reunion to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Fr. O’Grady’s death and the closing of camp is only TEN weeks away. Here is a little reminder from Ruth Jacobus, who is our local coordinator this year:

———- Forwarded message ———-
Hello fellow Camp Field Staffers and Campers, Are you making plans for the summer? Please remember to include our Fabulous Reunion to your plans. We will be meeting once again at Tall Timber Ranch near beautiful Lake Wenatchee on July 11, 12, and 13. There will, of course, be the sing-a-long campfires that we all love so much. If you have any pictures, slides, photo albums, etc. please bring and share. There will probably be a short hike for those who are interested. And for those who have come in the recent past, there will most likely be the “River Stand and Chat”.

The cost for the weekend will break down like this: Lodging is $16.00 per night per person (whether you stay in a cabin or bring your own trailer.)
Meals Breakfast $6.00
Lunch 6.00
Dinner 8.00
Brunch 10.00
Children ages 5-10 are 1/2 price ages 0-4 free
There is no reduction for missed meals
What does this mean? For an adult for the whole weekend (Friday dinner through Sunday brunch) the total cost is $70.00. My ten year old son will cost me $51 for the whole weekend, this includes lodging.
When I first heard the price I was a little concerned that it was too expensive, but then I calculated staying in a hotel and buying meals for myself and my family and paying for entertainment. This weekend is fairly close to being a bargain! Besides, where else are you going to go to spend time with people that are this much fun?
This event doesn’t happen very often, don’t miss out!!
See you in July. Wee-mee-mee-oh-ah! Ruth (Jacobus) Piccirillo
———- End forwarded message ———-

I will be sending out email reminders more frequently now that we are getting close. I will also provide you with more details as they are formed.

Hidy-Ho there, camp staff neighbors,

Did you know that…
1) 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of Fr. O’Grady’s death.
2) 2008 marks the 25th anniversary of Camp Field’s first summer without summer camp.
3) 2008 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Model T rolling off the Ford assembly line.

To commemorate these historic events (well, the first two more than the third), we are planning a big, blow-out reunion of as many Camp Field staff members as we can gather. This is to be a reunion to top all previous reunions. If you have missed some of the previous reunions, you do not want to miss this one.

To help you plan for this reunion, we have already contacted Tall Timber to reserve a weekend next summer. At this point they cannot give us an exact date. However, we know that we will be granted the use of their facilities on the weekend of either July 12th or July 19th. Please mark these two weekends on your calendar today!! We will let you know which weekend it will be as soon as Tall Timber informs us (may not be until the end of the year).

Additional notes:

1)
A highlight of the past reunions has always been the slide show, where we get a chance to see the way we were. For this next reunion we plan on having a digital slide show. This will allow everyone a chance to have their photos included. You only need to digitize your old camp photos or slides, and then email the images to me or send me a disk. There are several ways to digitize your pictures:
a) See the photo department at your local WalMart. They have machines that will allow you to scan pictures (1 to 100 or more) and then burn them to a single CD for around $7.
b) See the photo department at your local grocery or drug store. My local store will scan pictures and cut a CD for about 20 cents per picture.
c) Contact your local Wolfe Camera store or Kinko’s. They should be able to scan both photos and slides for you. Cost unknown.
d) Mail your photos or slides to me. I have a scanner that does a good job and also performs color restoration and dust spec removal. This is free, but please limit what you send me to your 24 best pictures.

If everyone submitted a dozen (or more) of their best photos, we should have a spectacular slide show. If you have questions about digitizing photos, send me an email message.

2)
We need to track down and contact more of our camp staff friends. I am asking everyone to track down one additional camp staff friend who is currently unlisted. Google is a great tool if you have a name and a city. You can also use the Camp Field forum that is dedicated to finding people (go to http://www.campfield.org/ and follow the forum link on the right).

3)
We plan to open this reunion up to past campers as well. Some campers have found the Camp Field web site and have contacted me, and there are plenty of campers that have more summers at camp under their belt than some staff members. If you are in contact with any of these campers, feel free to forward these announcements to them.

That’s all for now. I apologize for the long message. We just wanted to announce the reunion dates as early as possible so that you do not schedule your 2008 family vacation for the same weekend (unless of course the reunion will be your family vacation!).

The 2006 staff reunion was held July 28-30 at Tall Timbers Ranch near Lake Wenatchee. Twenty six (or so) staff members attended the reunion, with various family members in tow. Visit the “Reunion 2006” forum to see what some thought about the reunion. Feel free to add your comments. We will soon be posting pictures in the gallery.

Since some have been having difficulty using the forums, here is a quick step-by-step primer:

1) start by clicking on the “Camp Field Forum” link located on the right.

2) If you have not yet registered with the site, click on the “Register” button on the top left menu bar and follow the registration process (you only need to do this once). If you have already registered, click on the “Log in” button on the top right and enter your id & password. Have the system remember you so that you get logged in automatically each time. Logging in is actually optional, but when you do it the system will remember which posts you have seen and indicate which one you have not yet read — a nice feature.

3) Next enter the forum of your choice. Forums are organized in groups. The current groups include “Staffers speak“, “Reunions“, “Nostalgia“, and “Administrivia“. If you click on one of these group names, it only hides the forums in the other groups (so clicking on “Nostalgia” really doesn’t get you anywhere). Rather, to enter a forum, click on the forum name — in this case I recommend that you click on “Reunion 2006” under the “Reunions” group.

4) Once in the “Reunion 2006” forum, you will see a group of Topics (or discussion threads). At this point, you can either start a new topic/thread on a new subject or you can read the postings in an existing topic/thread. If you want to start a new topic/thread, click the “New Topic” button on the forum page (the new topic should of course be related to the forum; i.e., if you want to start a new topic that is not about the 2006 reunion, then you would want to start it in a different forum than the “Reunion 2006″ forum). To read the postings in an existing topic/thread, simply click on the topic header. If you wish to add a posting to that thread, simply hit the “Post Reply” button (located at the top and bottom of the page) while reading that thread. Again, if what you want to say/post is on a different topic than what is being discussed in that thread, it is best to start a new topic/thread rather than replying to that existing topic/thread.

It’s as simple as that (well, it’s almost simple).

I’ve created a “Test” forum under the “Administrivia” group. Use this forum to test out how to post replies or start new topics.

Email me know if you have problems or questions.

The registration web pages for the 2006 reunion are now operational. The link is on the right, it is called “Registration 2006″ under the title “Pages”. Registration is a three step process — you are not registered until you reach the third page. You must register by Thursday, July 20.

You are also encouraged to use the new discussion forums that this web site supports. On the right, under “More” is a link to the “Camp Field Forum”. You will have to register during your first visit.

You can also try the Camp Field Gallery. I haven’t had time to test it, but it should be working. I’ll post the collection of staff photos there when I get the time.

The reunion is just a little over a month away, July 28-30. It will once again be held at Tall Timber Ranch, near Lake Wenatchee. You can arrive as early as you want on the 28th, as no one else is using the camp that Friday. In the past, we have had to be out of there by noon on Sunday. Make your travel plans accordingly.

The cost of the weekend is $64/adult, which includes lodging and five meals (Friday dinner through Sunday brunch). All you need is a sleeping bag and your personals. Children 10 and under get a discount.

We’re still working on it, but this new site features forums where people can hold discussions, and a gallery where people can post pictures. And as soon as we can get it set up, registration for the reunion will be here.

July 28 - 30, 2006

Tall Timber Ranch, Lake Wenatchee

We are still in the planning stage at this point, but at least the dates for the reunion have been set. Please mark your calendars for July 28-30, 2006. We had over 40 staffers attend the 2004 Reunion, and we hope to make this one even bigger. No more excuses from those of you who in the past have said that we set the dates too late and thus you had made other vacation plans that conflicted with the reunion dates.

We don’t have any information at this time on how much the weekend will cost, but it shouldn’t be too much more that what we paid in 2004.

Besides marking the reunion dates on your calendars, there is one other thing that you can help us with at this time: Start tracking down your old Camp Field friends and let them know about the reunion. We are particularly interested in increasing the number of attendees who were on staff during the late 60’s and early 70’s. Have them contact us (roth (at) campfield.org) so that we can add them to the email distribution list if they are not already on it. Also be sure to send me any changes in your email addresses.