Greetings to the Neyati diaspora from the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC!
In the interest of hastening the organization of a Camp Neyati reunion (formerly on China Lake, E. Vassalboro, Maine), I've created this blog. I am by no means an expert on these things, a friend recommended a blog to create a site on the internet so that folks who may be googling camp neyati will find this site and learn about our reunion efforts. It also will be useful for sharing the status of the planning of the reunion.
To date, we've located 21 folks. It's amazing how the memories flood back, so please dedicate a little time to think about your old camp friends, counselors, staff members and you'll be gratified by what you'll conjure up from your memory. You'll recall their interests, and combine it with a little google and you'll find folks with a little effort.
The more people who involved in organizing this effort the better (and more fun). Plus a group effort will make this event something that will satisfy all the participants. For now, we need to decide things like: location, date, and the program. I welcome all suggestions.
For even more fun, please send pictures of yourself so we can see what the ravages of time have wrought. :-)
Paul Nisson
Gaithersburg, MD
36 comments:
OMG!!! I thought I'd search on Ney-A-Ti, and lo and behold, a hit!!
Stu Flashman, now living in Oakland CA. I was at Ney-A-Ti for two years. I think it was 1961 and 1962, although I might be off a year or so.
If I can figure out how, I'll post a couple of old photos -- Mt. Khatadin trip etc.
I attended for a month or so in the early 1970's. Directors were the three Brothers True. Brad and Linda had a reunion I attended. Brad's Gottleib pool table-themed pinball machine played five balls for a nickel.
Another Brad memory... I was there to see him turn the Hobart mixer full of dehydrated spuds to full speed and dance around the kitchen.
Bob True came to my home with a slide projector, pitching the camp. Bob rented films for Saturday nights, complete with Warner Brothers cartoons. I'm 45, and one of very few my age to have seen those shorts on the glorious silver screen. We got a dollar to spend for this, which bought a bottled drink and a candy bar to keep us twitching through the show. One True brother looked like Pete Seeger, the other had a beard.
There was, at times, I feel, a dangerous lack of supervision, offering opportunities for heinous wedgies and similar BS.
I was quite overweight, and remember being rushed down Bald Pate mountain by a "counselor" with a pointed stick.
One counselor claimed to be a Vietnam veteran, though he was obviously too young, and was easily defeated at capture the flag by eight year olds.
492 cafe dot org is one of my projects. -Jeff
I was a kitchen boy and counselor at Ney-A-Ti from 1970 - 1974. It was the beginning of a long summer camp career and boarding school profession. I still credit Dot and Hustie for getting me started, along with Brad and many others. Always wondered what happened to all the people from that amazing place.
But is this blog still alive?
i thought i would try to see if i could get a hit and i couldnt believe it...my brother and i attended the camp in 1966-67 and my mother was the camp nurse...we are from winslow and it was great fun meeting people from all other the place...i learned to play eucre (sp) and i still play today....i remember the games we played hiding the water melon and lots of soccer...great memories...
I was a kitchen boy camper in 1970 - 72 days. I remember a cook named wild bill and the camp nurse with her 3 kids. I also remember a grueling mountain climb near flagstaff lake and good times at the silent woman.
also learned to play a mean game of p pong
i was a camper in the early '60s.
i think from about 1961 to 1964.
Hustie was the owner at that time. the true brotehrs were there at some time the same as i - the elder brotehr was a nerdy guy with full braces, in charge of teh archery stuff. i can't picture the younger brotehr. the nurse was
married to a huge viking-like guy -jorgensen/-son, something like that. in the school year he worked
in the phys ed. department at newton high school, Mass. i don't recall any other staff. i was in cabin 5, then cabin 6 and later was
a jc and an assistant in charge of cabin 2. i remeber a bart kornfeld, in cabin 5, from brooklyn. david and meyer hoffman from brooklyn, twins who worked in the kitchen from newton, a guy from itlaty whose dad was an american executive with an international air lines - he was a camper at first and later worked at the camp in some capacity - i saw him years lqater at camp, he was all pumped up as a body-builder. my first counselor was
john abele, he went on to outward bound in colorado. he was a student at michigan state university, he sent along a fellow student the next year as his substitute, spooch we knew him as. i cannot remember what his real
name is. i've been looking for any trace of him for years. he was my]idol, i followe him around like a puppy when i became a cmaper in his cabin 6 -he had been in cabin 5 his first year. a family freind sent their boy to neyati after i had stopped coming, a peter bloom from needham mass. i was called peter rosenfield at the time (not my legal name, the last name was
the last name of my mother's second husband). some years ago i drove up for nostalgia reasosnsto see the campsite but all traces of it were gone. evereything - even the house the woner lived in acrposs the street from the entrance to the camp. oen other camper i remember was roger pellitier, he was a rather sickly kid, brainy but complete unathletic, from montreal i think, maybe his family were orthodox jews, he was a champion ping pong player, nobody could get close to him on the table. i have very fond memories of climbing mt. khatadin,. going to reed;s state beach and turning blue in the ocean water, going into waterville for ice cream, buying hathaway shirst at dunham's of maine, sailing and competing in races in china on the lake. but most of all i remember spooch. i wish i knew what his name was. there was a nephew of the husband of the nurse who worked in the kitchen, a very handsome guy, who played wonderful banjo music. i think he ws from way out in the boonies of western massachusetts. i don't remember any cmapers with me in cabin 6, as i said, all i can remembrer is spooch, the towering presence of my summer camp life.
i had an odd experience in college.
i was in school in denver my freshman year and we were the first cohort to live in the new dorm. we had lots of meetings on my floor to get to know each other. there was one guy from brooklyn, NY, what did i know that there were 2 million people in brooklyn, i thought it must have been like newton or brookline. i asked this guy, andy, if he kew a bart kornfield, he was quite flabbergasted when i said the name.
how did i know bart? they were both
students at brooklyn friends. so i told andy that i had been in summer camp with bart, up in maine, on china lake. andy couldn't believe it. did i know what an amazing three degrees of difference this was? his brothers
david and meyer hoffman had been at neyati. well it was my turn to be flabbergatsted. meyer hoffman? my favorite all time camper, the best boy that ever was at camp. i had been the driving force to get him the best dcamper award. he was the most adorable kid - i don't know how to describe him. he was just this great, fearless kid,
kind, sweet, thoughtful, he must have been 10 years old. his older brother david was an asshole - always complaining about the physcial plant of the camp - it wasn't posh enpough for him too scruffy. decidedd not to come back to denver in his sophmore year.
years later i was living in tokyo and got a phone call from meyer
hoffman. he was with the hotshots from revlon doing something in tokyo and his brother qandy had given him my telephone number, would i like to meet and show him around, amybe show him an interesting palce to eat?
so i met him in roppongi. i only remembered a 10 year old boy. but he came up to me and said he wqas meyer and i got hysterical. he was
towering over me and handsome and an adult and of course he was but it was such a shock to see him as he wqs now and to comapre himn with as i knew him as a kid. we talked a little about neyati, it had not made much of an impression on him, but he admitted he still had his best camper award and it was proiminently displayed in his condo in new york
i don't remeber all the details of what happened and why, but somehow
my cabin 5 was at war with the counselors and we had barracaded ourselves inside the cabin. smart - how were we going to get out, right? i seem to rfemember wet toilet paper being thrown at us -and water pistols and hoses squirting water through the chinks and openings in the storm covers over the windows. waht precipitated this rebellion, i don't know, maybe it was a kind of
ritualized event that occurred every year. i seem to feel that this kind of thing was supposed to happen only with cabin 6 but somehwo our year we were the alpha
cabin and 6 was filled with wimpy
cowards. i guess that 6 took part in trashing the outside of our cabin in jealousy of our bravado.
we all knew who was going to ahve to clean up once everything was over. i remeber suggesting that we stick the counselors clothes in the crannies whre the water was coming in. i warned the peoiple outside that we were ging to do this but i think they didn't really believe us. i got my counselors sport coat and madras pants from his wardrobe, his shirts, his polo shirts, his prized izod rene coty shirts, his shoes even and stuffed them in the holes whre i could the pother campers ran and got spooch's clothes and shoved them in the cracks. we held out for hours and hours and finally mr. jessup, the wqerfront chief told us to cut the shit and come out and they wouldn't punsih us. buit when the two counselors swa waht we had doen to theri clothing they howled in rage and promised revenge, which never really came. we were
triumphnant, we had showed up the shotty older cabin 6ers and we had a week of awful clean up of dreid toilet paper and mud off the surface of the outside of the cabin. it was worth it.
anoither summer i was an assistant counselore for cabin 2. i took my duties extremely seriously and I loved the yoinger kids i had responsibility for. all my natural leadership abilites came out that summer. i had initiated an all camp
athletic round of competitons. the usual thing was for the best athletic guys to show their stuff and all teh weklings and younger klids had crappy positions in the outfield or behind the lines or were redundant in captue the flag games. god did i love that game. all over the camp property we roamed for hours. i got the campers to organize in groups to
compete where we treid to match all thea ges and sizes and strengths and weaknesses. i was never a real team player and hated all the traditional athletics like basketball and baseball, but i thrived in this group-effort kind of thing. we evened out our groups and it wqa by group effort taht we vied with each other. i encouraged all teh weaker and yonger campers and we all pulled together to make each other's teams strong. one event i particulary rememnber was a spontaneous event. it had rained a lot and the hillside in front of the lower cabins was sopping. i guess imust have slipped earlier and realized that the hill made a perfect mudslide and we got boxes and cut them up and used them as sleds to slide down teh hill. we were all filthy with mud but it ws gloriusly fun. the staff stood at the top of the hill and cheered us on and all the lower camp had teams where we slid down the hill in the mud and rushing water. waht could a boy dreqam of better than mud, water, sliding and cheers. god it was perfection.
My years at Camp Neyati were very special ones. Well at least until my final year. The camp was still owned by Dot and Hustie during my years there. I have fond memories of grilled cheese and tomato soup, Sunday donuts. The waterfront, canoe trips. But that last year in cabin 6. I cannot have been the only one to have gotten back massages from Bob True. Well they started off as back maassages but then he turned me over and fondled me in ways that were inappropriate and when he was finished he would spread the resulting fluids over my stomach. My biggest disappointment is that I said nothing, leaving him free to assault and abuse other innocent boys. Oh, being on the archery team was terrific, too.
Wheeloftime, you are not the only one. He continued to do this to other people, and continued to teach. He is now, in fact, trying to get a job teaching in our town. We would be grateful if you would email us...we need your help, anonymously if you need to keep it that way, but we need your help.
You can reach us at cityofwindows (at) gmail (dot) com. I'm so sorry you went through this, too.
Another summer and my thoughts turned to my days at Camp Ney-a-ti. I was there 1959-1963 and was a JC in 1966 So I googled the name and found this blog!
Peter, I don't remember you but I was there at the same time. Spooch, Bob Esperti, was someone I idolized too.
One time my cabin went on a mountain camping trip to Saddleback Mtn. Coming down, the trail had been broken up by construction in the
ski area. We became hopelessly lost and had to hike back up the mountain and spent the night in the ranger's cabin. It was quite the experience.
Ney-a-ti was a wonderful experience for me so it's with deep sadness that I learn about Bob True. Bob was so interesting to me. Loved music, especially Gilbert and Sullivan and Rock and Roll. He was a very unique person. Nothing surprises me anymore, but I'm shocked to see this information.
Peter, I believe the nurse's husband was named George. He used to yell "Yabbadabbadoo" all the time. To get my Sr. Lifesaver's badge, I had to do an open water rescue with him as the panicked victim. He almost drowned me but I held on and brought him to the beach!
When I lived in Denver I met a women who used spend summers at the little resort camp around the point. She told me they called us the Jewish Boys Camp. Probably not far off the mark!
to paul greengross: were you a newton boy? i graduated newton h.s. '65
i would have been known as peter rosenfield at the time i was a camper. mr. gessup and his pregnant wife - the 'nurse' - jessup was in phys.ed. dept. at newton h.s.
i was first in cabin 5 john abell was the counselor, then spooch was in cabin five then in cabin six, i was a jc for the youngest kids in cabin 2. bob true was not a counselor for older boys during my years - i think he was in cabin 3 or 4.
to paul greengross: i later went to undergrad studeies at the university of denver (class of '69)
john abel from cabin five was a counselor for outward bound colorado - i think he was one of the first people to work for them in colorado.
to stu flashman: are you a newton boy? did you live
in a two-family behind sacred heart college? did your family own kakas furs on newbury street? if you
are do you remember in a late night powwow in cabin 5 you showed all of us how you could hold a grass stem in the hole of your penis and we were all duly impressed.
Just came back to the blog and saw the subsequent
Peter
Yes we lived in Waban during those years. I lived on Beethoven Ave and went to the Beethoven Elementary School now named Frank Zervis for my principal during those years. We moved to Mamaroneck NY in '63. I'm not completly sure but I think we go into a fight when I was a JC. If it was you, you kicked my ass! I think I had it coming. Anyway good to see your posts. I remember John Abell's name but not the face. Bart Kornfeld and Hoffmans and Stu were all there with me. I was kind of a sad sack. Overweight with low self esteem. Spooch really helped me. He was from Michigan. Went to MSU. He brought a friend with him one summer. Big galoot, played lineman for MSU. Think his name was Don..
Nostalgia has a compelling quality.
I Googles Neyati and saw this. I was surprised that there are comments from people, about my age. I am 68, high school class of '64 and college '68, so I am probably among the oldest.
Here are some quick memories: Maybe more will be stimulated as people respond.
I believe I was a camper for 2 years probably around 57, 58. My name is Bob Franklin, I was from Jamaica Plain. I had a best friend at the time who was there with me, Roy Shapiro. Roy, I think became a professor at Harvard Business School and I became a lawyer.
My memories are very scarce and I am concerned about mixing them up with a prior 2 year camp experience at Berkshire Boys Camp in East Otis, MA. I think I can keep them straight.
What made me think of Neyati is a very interesting moment of connection. I just went to the refrigerator and had a very cold glass of highly diluted lemonade, mostly water. Often when I have a cold drink like that - and the colder the better - I think of a remarkable moment of experience at Neyati with a counselor who went by the nickname "Toro". He was the woodsman counsellor. You know, hiking in the forest, building cabins, lean tos stuff like that.
One day in the forest somewhere near camp he stopped and dug a shallow hole - or maybe it was there covered with ferns. The hole had water in it. He said, bend down carefully and with just your lips gently drink the water without stirring up the silt on the bottom of the whole. I may have been 9 years old. I'll never forget it. In the middle of the forest on a hot summer day, the water was as cold as ice, pure and delicious. He explained it was running off a nearby hillside and onto the forest floor just below the surface. that was 60 years ago.
Anyone remember "Toro". Must have picked up his name from the machinery.
The other memory I had was because I was interested in sailing. In fact, year 2 of my camp experience, I was permitted to bring my boat up to camp and keep it at the water front. It was a small sailing pram and fit in the back of our 1955 Ford stationwagon (Beachwagon, as it was called then). It probably hung out the back and I can't imagine why we were not all asphixiated. In a cabin, just up the hill from the waterfront someone was building a Sailfish from a kit, which is the only way you could get it pre 1960. This was the very beginning of the Sailfish craze. They were all kits from somewhere in Connecticut. Oh yeah, Waterbiury. You would get a box of parts and put it together, if you had the knowledge and skill to do so. These where the plat form lateen sail "boards" that were followed a decade later by the popular sailfish in fiberglass with a small cockpit for your legs. Someone was building one at Neyati. I remember that clearly. Alcort was the company that made the Sailfish early on. Later on a little bigger Sunfish.
Does the name John Rosicki rink any king of a bell. He may have been my counselor at the earlier camp, I think. I wish I could remember some other names. When I read the posts the name Hustie rang true. Not much else, I can recall. I sort of recall the dining room. I recall that everyone had heavy footlockers at the ends of their beds. None of that goes on any more.
That's about as far as I can get for now. Do I recall the camp was situated on a road and the camp owned the property on both sides? The other side was where the woods things went on.
There was a tennis court, I have a picture of my mother playing there.
Wow. Its a long long time ago.
Now I remember. Hustie had a pipe glued permanently to his lips. Rights?
Bob Franklin
robertmfranklin@gmail.com
now, Brookline, MA
Maybe I am the oldest. 68. Anyone older?
Bob Franklin
Browne and Nichols School, Cambridge 1964
Georgetown Univ. 1968
Columbia Law School 1972
Downhill from there.
robertmfranklin@gmail.com
I was a camper/kitchen helper for 3 years at Camp Ney-A-Ti, 1956, 1957 and 1958. Lived in Newtonville and that how I met Hustie. I cannot remember cabin numbers but recall the cabins were down at bottom of hill. In between was the ball field. One counselor I remember was Jack Radcliff from Gloucester, MA.
I may be the oldest to post on here, 74. Moved to Virginia in 1964 to take my first full time job as a radio-TV news reporter. Been in VA ever since and now live in Yorktown. Retire from the broadcast news business 11 years ago. I now am a FEMA reservist doing media relations work from time to time when there is a disaster declaration.
When in Maine about 14 years ago we drove down the road which led to the camp but could see no traces of where it used to be.
Nathan (Nate) Custer
Anybody else molested by Bob True? Do you think his brother Peter knew his older brother was a pedophile?
Anybody else molested by Bob True? Do you think his brother Peter knew his older brother was a pedophile?
Anybody else molested by Bob True? Do you think his brother Peter knew his older brother was a pedophile?
Wow!
My wife just left for Beijing with her crew team to row and take part in a cultural exchange with a chinese rowing club. I told a riding friend in Maine and he suggested we ride to China.... Maine. And... on a whim I googled Camp Ney-a-ti. I was a camper for 4 or 5 summers between about 1961 and 1965. My two younger brothers were also campers at Ney-a-ti. I remember many names in the above posts but really haven't thought much about it in years.
I was completely into nature stuff. Catching frogs, snakes, turtles, bugs, etc. I was pretty useless in team sports but was one of the archery team that beat our arch rival.... whose name I can't remember. We practiced all the time.
Ney-a-ti was heaven for me. I could never pay attention at school. Knot tying, fishing, building camp fires, building a lean-to, overnight hiking trips, Katahdin, Reed State Park, Ney-at-ti olympics. Oh, Spike Pantos out kicked me at the very end of the two mile run up the run and back, 500 sit ups, pull-ups. Arts and craft stuff. I still have the salt and pepper shakers I made.
Wild car rides to hiking trips with campers stuffed in the back of station wagons screeching around corners. How did we live through it?
Ping pong. The pole with a ball attached with a rope on top to smash around. I was good at that even though very small for my age.
Who was the counselor who played Scott Joplin? And, the counselor who was a top US sprinter who almost made it to the olympics. He was a chain smoker.
Bug juice and a dessert we called chinese eyeballs. I'm probably politically incorrect on this.. sorry.
The best... capture the flag. Hours and hours.
I do sort of remember Bob True but luckily never heard about the accusations above.
We have a cabin in Maine about 80 miles from China ME. I feel at home in Maine.
Henry Finch
FLATTOP!
FLATTOP!
FLATTOP!
Let's see. I remember Artie Treffrey, a counselor. And trips in the Travelling Hog Trough, a mid-sixties VW bus, to Mt. Katahdin and a magical place I'll never forget, Screw Auger Falls.
And a few campers. Richard Westelman and the worst person I ever met in my life, Kevin Lenk, the accordion player and biggest azzhole ever.
I have a box of old photos and in going through them came across one that has a sign on a building that reads CAMP NEY-A-TI. It's hard to make it out, but I think that's what it says.
My aunt, an adult, is standing on a dock. Someone in a rowboat must be taking the picture from the water. I had thought perhaps this was a picture of a family outing or vacation, but in reading the comments it seems like it was a camp for kids. My family hailed from Bangor, so it seems likely that this is the same camp as mentioned on this blog, unless the name is a common one and I'm in the wrong blog!
Is there any way to upload a photo so I could ask those whose memories haven't totally failed them (as mine almost has!), whether this is the same place and get some info about it?
Thanks,
Jim Cassidy
Hey Everyone. Let's keep this blog going. Check it from time to time and add memories as you can. I'd LOVE to hear about your memories of one of the most beautiful places and the most wonderful people on earth.
My Uncle Warren and Aunt Dottie owned Camp Nay-A-Ti. I have many momentos and memories I'd love to share with you. I'll post again soon.
I am Bill Thomas from Winslow maine: in 1967 my mom was camp nurse. She is 87 and still doing well. My brother and I went to camp that year as participants and remember calling for "cookie" at meals and playing some keep away game with a watermelon. And of course water tests so we could sail...great memories
I also was molested by Bob True in the summer of 75.
Add me to the list of Bob True attempted molestations. He's a sick $#@% and should not be around young children. I actually grew up in Exeter where he taught Jr. High. I went up to Neyati one spring to help do clean up for the upcoming summer. He tried to molest me with the old back massage trick but I was able to fend him off. I do regret not saying anything to my Mother because she would of had that fucker arrested and made sure his little boy encounters never happened again. So if he is trying to get a job around children, I'm happy to help prevent that from happening. This would have been in 1976-77 and am sorry for anyone who had to go through his sick massage habit after that time. I now live in Colorado and can be easily reached at todstf@aol.com. Keep this sick $#@% away from young boys
I have amazing memories of the 2 years I attended in the mid 60s. One of my cabin counselors was Earl Stein (Army Vet) who ran the rifle range. I ended up on the rifle team because of him. Facilities were mediocre but that never prevented me from having a great time. I pitched on the camp baseball team and was really interested in sports. Played a lot of ping-pong and was introduced to tetherball. Fond memories of the owners, Hustie and Dot. Warrent Huston came to our house and showed slides, etc. of the camp. I believe the camp assistant director was George Jessup, a tall well built individual. I believe his wife worked at the camp also. Later my father got him a job as the director of Clearbrook Swim Club in Framingham. One of my jock friends was Dave Patton (I think that was his last name). I hadn't seen him in years and then ended up playing against him in varsity soccer. He played for Wellsley while I played for Framingham North. Sorry to hear about the kind of person Bob True is. The 2 summers I spent at camp were the best summers of my life. My correct email is art@awarep.com
Add me to the list of campers molested by Bob True. May you burn in hell, Bob.
He molested me in 1968, when I was 9 years old. It's distressing to learn from this blog that he was still at it until at least 1975. I know of three other campers he victimized while I was there. Wasn't anyone at the camp smart enough to realize what that pervert was up to?
I remember being a loner kid at Neyati, a camp that discouraged that.
I remember getting to do copper enameling, in a little studio under the front porch of the main lodge, and gimp weaving, and knock hockey, and the rifle range. Oh, do I remember the rifle range. They'd let us get the guns in the main lodge, and walk them across the main road and through the wood to the rifle range where we got to smell gunpowder and compete for NRA shooting achievement awards. And there were award ceremonies. With awards for stinkiest feet and ugliest hair.
And Saturday night skit nights that were somehow tear-inducingly hilarious.
And there were dances with the girls from the girls camp across the lake. One memorably was at the Main Lodge, where counselors had completely set up a Sunfish sailboat right in the middle of the main hall. Wow. It was spectacular and beautiful.
I wonder if the Main Lodge still exists?
I remember cabin vs. cabin fights with goop, a mixture of toilet paper, water, toothpaste, shaving cream, and probably other unmentionable ingredients, and having it thrown from one cabin at another.
I remember Flat Top, a kind of capture-the-flag game with a white board with the words FLAT TOP painted on it that led to strange, late-night raids and hysteria when one side attacked the other at 3AM.
I remember hours spent fishing China Lake for sunfish from shore, and occasionally, when I could, from a rowboat.
I remember learning to sail in a gorgeous yellow Sunfish.
I remember halfway, elaborate steeplechase obstacle games where the whole camp was divided in two and every facility in the camp was used to see which half was "better." Someone had to pitch, catch, shoot guns and bow and arrows, race a sailboat, catch a fish or a frog, run a relay, climb a tree, or meet whatever madcap challenges the counselors thought up.
I am deeply saddened to hear of the evils of Bob True, who I only vaguely remember.
I do remember his brother Peter as being a kind and generous man.
I remember being at camp and wanting desperately to be home.
I remember being home and wanting desperately to be on the rifle range at camp.
~ Rich Binell
Hope somebody else remember some of this stuff.
Anybody?
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