Memories-New
Hi Bette
I can't believe the reunion is less than two weeks away. I am very excited! I have so many memories but here are a few: Being Fruma Sarah in Fiddler on the Roof and watching Connie Kosak almost fall out of her chair laughing so hard while I was singing, any meal in the dining room with all the Quiet Please... dedicated to...I loved that, sneaking out in the middle of the night, going on raids, having my birthday in camp for 6 years. I loved that! Getting care packages from my dad. He sent the best stuff and the camp had no rules about what was allowed back then. The music constantly playing from the HQ shack. Mud sliding when it rained and washing our hair in the rain. Having the biggest crush on Ricky Greenberg and always wanting to know what color his "other Hair" was!
See you Soon
Love xoxo
Melanie
Wow. OK, Quiet Please...this is dedicated to Camp Ta-go-la:
3 scoops of chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup
Listening to the theme from "Lawrence of Arabia" being played on the piano in the dining room
Watching the waiters play basketball (did I see Bill Bradley or am I imagining that?)
The archery court (for all things archery...and not)
The Grey Team Redskins (go Woodsie!)
The dimples and sweetness of Cheryl Bentley, my Super Senior roommate in the guest house
Steak on visiting day
Learning that Marilyn Monroe died while I was standing at the flagpole in August, 1962
Chocolate pudding with dollops of whipped cream (there seems to be a food theme emerging here...)
Ricki Bressler and Michaele Cohen, my wonderful friends who showed me love, laughter and the five towns
Sylvia Tucker, to whom I owe a thank you as she is probably the reason for my ending up at Ta-go-la
Sneaking out of camp, sitting in a field with a few of us promising to reunite in that same spot in 20 years - JoEllen Chwatt, Nancy Rheingold, Marianne Gold and others previously mentioned...
We're about 20 years late and I can't be there with you, but Ta-go-la (you ulte-shmate) you are in my heart,
Janice Pober
All my memories are special. But I especially like the musicals,
directed by Sylvia Fain. And of course Color War!
Have a great time. Sorry to miss it.
Iris Prager
I remember going to Forestburg (always good for a laugh).It was so
moldy, I can still smell it..and Ronnie Klein fell asleep in a large
armchair in the lobby and we almost left her there........
I also remember going on a Raid one nite...and in the dark mist...I hear
"wait for me" My baby sister Carol and her bunk..had the same plans...
I also remember saving my ANGORA Sweaters for Socials, and then trading
them back & forth with my bunkmates.
See you Soon.....Randi Hendler
One of my favorite / funny memories, ( besides stealing ice cream from the delivery truck and stuffing ourselves) was when we went bowling. We all thought the bowling shoes we cool so we took them. (Hhmmm, I'm beginning to notice a theme here) The next day the owners of the bowling alley came to camp to retrieve their shoes. We all denied having them and Sharon Schindlers were at the foot of her bed and as they were talking to us, Sharon kicks the shoes further under her bed. They saw her and nailed us and of course, we were grounded!
I will leave out the time we almost set our bunk on fire.-Shelley Blaustein-Finkelstein
I was in Bunk 3 my second summer (1962) and I remember misbehaving terribly throughout the summer. The punishment of being "docked" from Friday Night services was a huge incentive and when that was unsuccessful, I was threatened with missing an activity and being sent to the Greenberg's house. The problem with that was the Greenberg's had a TV and I remember spending many mornings watching a small black and white TV instead of swimming.
When summer was over, my Mom (who worked in the camp office) was asked to come back to camp the next summer with my sister (who was 7 and in Bunk 2) but it was suggested that they look into Camp Roosevelt for me. It was the end of my sleep away camp career.
That same summer, the night before visiting day a skunk died under Bunk 3. The odor was horrific and we had to give the parents noseplugs before they came into our bunk!
Robin Schneider Weissbratten
robinhsw@aol.com
Getting chased out of the kitchen by Artie the chef with a knife in his hand.
We never knew if he meant it or not but he never hurt anyone (that I know of).
Jack Miller
I remember all the fantastic bunkmates and friends I made throughout the years. I had the best counselor, you, Bette that allowed us to have the type of fun that allows for memories of camp for a lifetime. My bunkmates all remember when you started dating Lenny. What an event!
I remember all the color war songs we wrote for sing and the inter camp games we always won. But mostly I remember the socials and plays we all took part in. What a great part of childhood.
Janet Leff Goldstein
Bette Jane,
This isn't quite fair as I have reached the stage of life where
I wander in the backyard from spot to spot wondering why I went to
each spot....so as far as memory goes...
Nevertheless...some Tagola memories...
a.Going down the path at night after evening activities to the
field by the basketball court with blankets was a wished for and
sometimes achieved happening. I do remember that there was a girl
named Beverly who was going with Stu Weiner and she brought an alarm
clock down there and it would go off just in time for everyone to make
curfew...
b. There was a counselor when I was a waiter who played basketball for
L.I.U. and he would take me down the court and helped me with
my game...I was somewhat fearful then about driving to the basket
and he cured me of that by continually knocking me to the ground as I drove
and convinced me that I did not need hospitalization and would be
okay...
c. The socials where the girls were lined up on one side and the
boys on the other....One time I asked a girl to dance and she declined
and Forbes Lapp came over and was nasty to the girl about her refusal...
d. My brother Pete was a camper when I was a waiter and he broke his
arm in his bunk during some horseplay. He was a good singer and played
a lead opposite Vivian Epstein in Oklahoma.
e. A friend of mine from college was a waiter at the Laurels across
the road and he would bring steaks back to his room when I visited.
There was a rule that he was not to mingle socially with the guests
and he completely ignored that one...
f. Walking down a country road on our day off...Jeff Starr, Barry
Kent, Marty Hirsch and I...singing rock and roll songs...Life
couldn't get better than that as we were meeting our girlfriends
after...
g. I was in the same bunk as Bobby Lusthaus when we were guest
waiters...He was a master magician and would mystify all of us
with his card tricks and terrific theatrical demeanor...
h. When I was a counselor, and on O.D. we would wake some of the
kids up ever so slightly and give them a number and ask them the
next day what their number was...
i. The basketball games against other camps and all the competition
in Color War...the spirit and the effort was incredible...
Hope some of these recollections were what you had in mind...
It was a long time ago...a good time of life, where there were
friends, sports and it was that time of life when getting to be
more comfortable with the opposite sex was challenging, exciting
and rewarding at best...I always loved camps, what is not to love?
Mickey ....mgreenberg2@stny.rr.com
Hi Betty Jane -
There are too many - Color War of 1974 !!! We had the best songs !! In fact, every color war - those inspections !!! bouncing a quarter on our beds !!!!!!!!
When Huck-a -poo shirts were being sold out of a bunk in "guest camp" !!!
The ice cream stand at the bottom of the hill outside the gates !!
"Quiet please... dedicated to......." at every meal !!!
When we were "Seniors" tucked away in those bunks off to the side in the back !!
I'm sure I'll think of more
Oh yeah, tearing the cartilage in my knee practicing for group Sing and having to go home over night to go to the doctor and coming back on crutches (ok, bad memory, but a memory)
Susan Hershfield Mingelgreen
I remember sneaking out of camp one day to go that candy store down the road. I can't recall the name of it now because I am old but I am sure you will know it. I was sitting at the counter enjoying my chocolate ice cream soda and in walked Shirley Greenberg. I WAS CAUGHT. But not before I could finish my soda. What was the name of that little place??? Looking forward to being enlightened with all your memories and everyone else. By the way, Cheryl tells me that Alan Woods is coming. I would love to see him and see if he remembers me. I used to hang out with him when I was out of camp (probably when we were 19 or 20).
Helen Einbinder
Hi Bette Jane,
One of my favorite memories of Tagola is hitting a home-run into the tennis courts at a softball game on Visiting Day. Also, eating chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup in the bunk at rest-time. Looking forward to the reunion,
Carol Linchitz
ONE OF MY FAVORITE MEMORIES IN TAGOLA WAS THE COLOR WAR BASKETBALL GAME. IT WAS THE BLUE LEGIONNAIRES AGAINST THE GREY ARABIANS. OUR TEAM WAS THE BLUE LEGIONNAIRES AND WE WERE THE
UNDERDOGS. I CAN'T REMEMBER THE STARTING FIVE FOR OUR TEAM, BUT THE ONE PERSON THAT STANDS OUT IN MY MIND WAS MIKE STEINHAUSER. HE HELPED ME TO HAVE ONE OF THE BEST GAMES IN MY BASKETBALL CAREER. MIKE WAS ALL OVER THE COURT, PASSING , STEALING THE
BALL, AND SCORING POINTS. WE WENT ON TO WIN THAT GAME AGAINST A HEAVILY FAVORED TEAM AND IT HELPED US TO GO ON AND WIN COLOR WAR THAT YEAR.
I AM SORRY TO SAY THAT MIKE PASSED AWAY JUST BEFORE THIS REUNION. HE WILL BE MISSED!!
JOEL SLAMOWITZ
Obviously tons of memories but some of my favorites are: 1- Waiter for CIT girls with its flirting & fringe benefits. 2- Raiding girls camp over & over again with all its many fringe benefits. 3- Saving the best memory for last was helping convince my shy introverted counselor at the time, someone by the name of Lenny Weisenthal to ask my girlfriend's gorgeous sexy counselor named Bette Jane Fishman on a date. I think I even loaned Lenny my blanket & flashlight that night. Thank you for occupying all his time and attention & allowing us to continue raiding girls camp.
Luv you guys JEFF SHAPS
Re: Memories, of course Color Wars, Group Sing &Jelly Doughnuts
Sylvia Fain and those dances, Kissing our boyfriends good night at the gate, sneaking out of camp around the back fence and sneaking into the Laurels during rest hour ( does any one know where Janet Leff is?), tipping over the benches on main campus, " Quiet Please, dedicated to .....", stealing the bowling shoes from Kiamesha Lanes, Ellen Parker in Bye Bye Birdie ( The best ever !!!), hiding so we did not have to go to swim, smoking cigarettes in the back of the bunk.
We were such good kids, weren't we???
XO,
Robin Fladell
Robba, honey! Did you ever strike a gazillion chords! You just did captured so much of what we were doing there for so many years.
While reading your wonderful thoughts, a few jumped into my head -
We didn't just tip those park benches over, we carried a few off the main campus onto girls' campus and into the bunk. ..Almost! We got caught and yelled at every time we tried.
Parker made the whole Bye Bye Birdie thing! And then the next summer, playing Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, and having Parker's Yente with me in so much of it is one of my most favorite memories.
Now,.. ..I remember Dudley Doright, our most feared Bimmy, lurking (probably just doing his job) around the bunk with a Kotex box fashionably on his head. ..I remember getting ready for socials.. ..putting on our false eyelashes and white lipstick when we were 14...
..rainy days.. ..playing Jax on the floor,.. writing letters home - ..or not! ..Planning a raid..
Did anyone else keep a tube of toothpaste under their pillow for a fast fix in case the boys came at night..?
Does anyone remember the dreaded fear we had of Orly, the Amazon we had to face at Camp Sequoia? I can see her like she's sitting in my living room right now. OY. She still scares me!
Bug juice. ..Sorry. That just jumped out. Sort of like a tic.
And now I'm thinking about the best, best, most side-splitting, wonderfully uncontrollable laughter that erupted almost every night only seconds after "lights out." We laughed until we cried. We laughed with our legs kicking in the air. We stopped when we were yelled at. And then we laughed some more.
I've laughed through life, you guys, and I remember that laughter being among the greatest.
THANK YOU, GIRLS!
I LOVE YOU ALL! x x x x x x's - Jana
Tomorrow I'm going out and buying a bag of bimmy dust for my kitchen floor.
HOW DO I SUMMARIZE 10 YEARS OF MY LIFE INTO A FEW SENTENCES? I REMEMBER MY COUNSELOR, LENNY WEISENTHAL BORROWING MY BLANKET EVERY NIGHT TO GO MAKE-OUT WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND, WHO WENT BY THE NAME OF BETTE WEISENTHAL. LENNY WAS ALWAYS THOUGHTFUL ENOUGH TO RETURN IT IN THE MORNING (USUALLY A BIT DAMP!!).......I REMEMBER MY VERY GOOD FRIEND STEVIE KAUFMAN MAKING A "RIM SHOT" FROM THE RAFTERS DIRECTLY INTO THE TOILET!!!...HE HAD REAL TALENT BECAUSE WE BOTH GREW UP AT THE FOREST PARK COOP AND WE WERE VERY GOOD FRIENDS FOR YEARS. OUR FIRST YEAR AT TAGOLA, OUR MOTHERS TOLD US THAT WE HAD TO HAVE CREW CUTS TO GO TO CAMP!!..WE WERE THE ONLY TWO CAMPERS TO HAVE CREW CUT HAIRCUTS WHEN WE ARRIVED AT CAMP!!...MY BUDDY STEVE VICTOR PUTTING A GLASS IN HIS MOUTH DAILY!!...RUNNING SUICIDES FOR OUR EXCELLENT COACH MIKE TOHN ....WE RAN RATHER FAST BECAUSE AFTER THE FIRST "HEAT" ALAN HYMOWITZ FINISHED LAST...MIKE TOHN ASKED HIM TO TAKE OFF HIS GLASSES AND MIKE SLAPPED HIM RIGHT ACROSS THE FACE FOR FINISHING LAST!!...ME AND VIC NEVER RAN SOOO FAST AFTER THAT!!...BY THE WAY, OUR WAITER TEAM WENT 10 AND 1 THAT SUMMER, WE EVEN DEFEATED ERNIE GRUNFELD AT SEQUOIA!!!....MEETING MARC GROSSBERG, GAIL GERSH, PAUL SCHLACHTER, ROBIN FLAYDELL AND OF COURSE MY GIRLFRIEND EACH SUMMER, JANE SILVERMAN. ...I REMEMBER WALKING INTO A BUNK , I WAS A WAITER AND THESE LITTLE BOYS ATTACKED ME WITH MARBLES IN THEIR SOCKS AND IT HURT!!...THEY WERE TRAINED BY NONE OTHER THAN ANDRE FLAYDELL!!.....WATCHING THE BUNK BURN DOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND THE KIDS IN MY BUCK THOUGHT IT WAS A COLORWAR BREAK....THAT WAS A FEW DAYS BEFORE VISITING DAY, BY VISITING DAY, THE BUNK WAS GONE AND ALL YOU SAW WAS A VEGETABLE GARDEN!!....WHEN I WAS A COLORWAR GENERAL OF THE BLUE WARLOCKS, I TAUGHT MY LONG DISTANCE RUNNER IN THE APACHE RELAY TO RUN A SHORT CUT WHICH WAS TOTALLY LEGAL....THE JUDGE (PHIL KOSACK) TOLD HIM HE COULDN'T RUN THE WAY I SHOWED HIM AND WE LOST THE APACHE BY SECONDS!!!..IT TOOK LENNY WEISENTHAL AND ALAN WOODS TO PULL ME OFF OF KILLING PHIL!!!...AND I WOUND UP LOSING COLORWAR BY 3 POINTS!!...THANKS PHIL!!!...I REMEMBER HY OZER, LOVED HIM AS MY HEAD COUNSELOR. IRA WEISENTHAL WAS OUR COUNSELOR AND LENNY WAS OUR GROUP LEADER....WE WERE BIGGER AND STRONGER THAN IRA, SO IRA BECAME A BIG CAMPER AND LENNY HAD MORE PROBLEMS WITH IRA THEN WITH US!!...I REMEMBER I WAS SO SKINNY THAT I HAD TO GO TO THE CANTEEN EVERY REST HOUR FOR A MALTED BECAUSE MY MOTHER WOULD CALL TO MAKE SURE I WAS SHOWING UP!!..MY COUSIN FREDDY MET HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE, ELAINE AT TAGOLA AND WE ALL REMEMBER THEM WAVING GOODBYE, AND WAVING AND WAVING AND WAVING!!!.....I REMEMBER HAVING 103 FEVER AND BREAKING OUT OF THE INFIRMARY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT BY CLIMBING THROUGH THE WINDOW....THEY CAME TO MY BUNK TO GET ME IN THE MORNING!!...I NEVER WENT BACK TO A CAMP INFIRMARY FOR THE NEXT 35 YEARS!!.....I REMEMBER ONE OF THE BIALISTOCK BROTHERS PUTTING LIGHTER FLUID ON HIS HANDS FOR ROPE BURN!!! HOW SICK WAS THAT????...MURRAY SIROTKIN WAS MY CAMPER WHEN I WAS A WAITER COUNSELOR......MANY YEARS LATER I VIDEOTAPED HIS SON'S BAR MITZVAH!!! LIFE IS STRANGE!!
I WAS A COLORWAR CAPTAIN EVERY YEAR AND EACH YEAR I WOULD GO AGAINST STEVE VICTOR....30 YEARS LATER, VIC AND I WERE TEACHING IN THE SAME SCHOOL TELLING CAMP STORIES....THERE ARE SO MANY MEMORIES THAT I COULD WRITE A BOOK, BUT TAGOLA DEFINED MY YOUTH AND THE PEOPLE I MET THERE, LIKE MARK PUPPY KIRSCHNER AND THE FINE SISTERS, ELLEN PARKER AND BROTHERS, JANET LEFF,ETC WILL LIVE ON IN MY MEMORIES FOREVER. I WENT BACK TO TAGOLA A FEW YEARS AGO AND WALKED AROUND. IT WAS WEIRD HOW THE MEMORIES OF THE OLYMPIC POOL, THE CONCRETE INFIELD AND THE BASKETBALL COURT I USED TO DUNK ON WERE ALL STILL THERE!!!...I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER TAGOLA BECAUSE OF ALL OF YOU HERE TODAY...LONG LIVE THE BLUE AND GREY!!....I LOVE YOU ALL.....RICKY "ROOTS" GREENBERG
Memories of Tagola
Diane Kaplan Schiller
I spent two summers at Camp Tagola...1953 and 1956. I was overweight, not athletic, and homesick....great attributes to become and all around camper. On reflecting back to camp, many bittersweet memories enter my mind's eye.
I met Harriet Kirshenbaum in 1956 at the bus stop going up to camp. She was very hip and confident. She was saying good-bye to her gorgeous boyfriend...the spitting image of Elvis Presley. Boy was I impressed!! A girl who can have a boyfriend like that became my instant heroine.
One day, outside our bunk which was the Guest House, Harriet was looking at me and announced that I needed to get rid of my misshapen eyebrow s. I hadn't mastered that skill nor did I ever have any thoughts about it. Harriet whipped out her tweezers and attacked the unsightly hair. They looked great and I felt glamourous. When Shirley Greenberg got word of the eyebrow incident, she became extremely agitated and immediately marched me to the phone and called my mother. My mother assured her not to fret and she was just fine with my new entre into the world of glamour.
I fondly remember my friendship with Helen Greenberg. She was a very pretty-offbeat girl. Helen loved to sing show tunes and in 1956 "My Fair Lady" was THE show. I so enjoyed listening to her interpretations of the score. She would entertain me endlessly and so wanted to be a star on Broadway.
My friend would take me to her parent's home on campus. There the housekeeper would serve us blueberries, freshly picked, with mountains of sour cream. I felt like a VIP.
Helen was always kind, sensitive and good-hearted. She unfortunately was a very misunderstood girl.
I so look forward to the reunion and reminiscing about that time in my life.
One of my favorite memories of Tagola was when the entire girls' camp
played a practical joke on our head counselor, Carol Bloomgarten. I
don't know whose brainstorm it was but it was extremely organized and a
great adventure. We woke up before dawn and every camper and counselor
on girl's campus quietly snuck through the back gate near the athletic
fields and walked silently to the boys basketball court where we waited
for reveille. After a while when Carol didn't hear any sounds of life
coming from the campus, she started to go into the bunks one by one.
When the youngest girls were not there, she thought they must have
gotten up early and their counselors took them for a walk. But after
finding no one in any of the bunks, she panicked and called the boys
head counselor, (who was in on the joke), telling him that the entire
girls camp was missing. He agreed to walk the camp with her to try to
find the girls before calling the police. He walked her to the boy's
basketball court where we were waiting and applauding when she arrived.
Her reaction was a mixture of relief that we were OK and that she hadn't
lost her mind and appreciation of the joke and that we were able to pull
it off. She was a good sport about the whole thing.
Bonnie Chesin
i thought of three memories... #1: was when i was young and you told me to ask my waiter for "sanitary napkins" and i did; i think i got docked and you and your friends thought it was a riot. can't remember what year though. #2: cynthia newman and i having to sing the entire song "Here we sit writing letter after letter to the boys at home who are really so much better than the boys at camp who are really pretty shitty, so take us back to the boys in the city" to Sylvia Tucker and Shirley Greenberg...we were inters. #3 When I played Snow White and Susan Lieppe was the Wicked Witch. I ate the apple and fell down with my legs to the audiance and the hoop under my skirt went right up in the air....showing my underwear to the entire camp.
Susan Fishman
My favorite memories of Camp Tagola have to be the friendships that were made and have endured all these years. Who could forget that summer in the guest house and "skating", sneaking out and keeping Selwyn Kozak up all night with our antics.
Judy Goldstein Zohn
My husband, Herby used to play a lot of practical jokes on the adult staff in camp. He really drove the women crazy, summer after summer, with his antics. Finally, they got even!
Apparently, Herby had developed pneumonia from all the overnight sleep outs he did as the nature counselor. He was taking a few days off to recover and went to the infirmary, see Dr Robert Ohebshalom, the camp doctor. The doctor said that Herb did not seem to be improving quickly enough, and he decided to change his medication. He gave him a new pill.
Well, after talking the new pill, Herby came into our room in a complete frenzy and quite hysterical. He said that he is now much sicker than before as he was "peeing bright red." We ran back to the infirmary, where after seeing Herby's panic, they admitted that they had prescribed some kind of a special pill which contains red food dye to make you "pee" red.
They sure got him back but good!!!
Linda Teicher
Bunk 19 + First Love = The Best Summer of My Life
Color War, 1969 - Laughing to the point of delirium with Susie (Fishman) late at night as we were coming up with the lyrics for the March. Trying to teach the kids the Alma Mater which was very difficult (and sounded really bad) until the night of the sing when, it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard!
The smell of the dining room on cold mountain mornings....Phillip Kosak, the best waiter ever, and thank you so much for the "Quiet Please, Dedicated to..." memory. I had completely forgotten all about that! What fun! But how embarrassing sometimes!
Kyra Kosak
Memories of Camp Tagola start in 1948.......my first year of camp......i was eight years old and was the only Kirstein at camp that year.........let alone what was happening in the world .........these were the years of the polio epidemic........the camp was quarantined for the safety of campers and counselors........the only one that went into town was aunt shirleys brother Jack......he brought all the essentials and of course the daily mail....When i search my memory i realize how modern and head of times Camp Tagola was........olympic swimming pool.clean safe and free of germs with the modern sanitary system.......plumbing in each bunk,electricity,and a daily cleaning service (for the princesses and princes)
I had the pleasure of knowing all my New York cousins.........Stanley and Leatrice Goldberg (Baron),Norman,Harold,Helen,and their respective spouses that i adored.....and many more ..........as i reminisce i realize the camp was also the Catskill Family Resort besides a camp.....
I am so sad i can`t attend and dance down memory lane.......my bunkmates........my days as counselor and the darling campers........Thank you Bette Jane for doing this........regards to your wonderful family ....your parents were such fine menshes.......
Please send my regards to the Frankel family......fine memories they should have of their brilliant father and mother.....i can close my eyes and see them today....
Hope this is the best weekend for everyone that attends...La Shana Tova to all.
Roberta Kirstein Grosinger
Bloomfield Hills,Michigan
I was only there as a young child so these memories may seem tame--
I remember when Mel Finer was running the camp and he came to my bunk every night to read us a bedtime story. I remember "hat night" when the freshman girls dressed up as Miss Universe and held the sashes of the brim of the "hat". I was Miss Israel and we sang "It's a Small World". I really enjoyed all the attention of being a child of a staff member!
Ellen Teicher Arkush
Hi Bette, Lots of things to write. I remember in 1969 going to watch the waiters play basketball. Mike Tohn was the coach. Of course Rick was on the team as well as Marc Grossberg, Vic, Hymie and I am not sure who else. We went to Camp Sequoia. I remember Mike telling us that we had a great team but they had one player that was awesome. He said if we stop him we could win the game. THe player was Ernie Grunfeld...........We won. As we all know he went onto be part of the Ernie and Bernie show (I think in Indiana) and onto become the General Manager of the Knicks....And as they say, the rest was history. I also remember being Lieutenant of the Blue Argonauts........Great time.........The girls I had at tagola were fantastic. Randi Madiefsky, Shelly Applebaum, etc. We did our sing with a 50's theme. I have great pictures of that. I always called Bette to go over my sing songs. I am still good friends with Robin Davidson Angel Ehrlich.............Oh what fun times at camp....
Debbie Strang Greenberg
Message: I have such wonderful memories of camp- the hot chocolate on cold mornings, the onion rolls, the musty smell of the Fallsburg theatre, sneaking out to the hotels, evacuating the entire camp as a practical joke, being the worst bunk on campus and having to make amends; I started camp in 62 I think, in that house for sophomores- it was actually heated. But my best memories are of the friendships made as I traveled around the camp with my friends and our psydeumom; Barbara Benowitz as our head counselor Color War was always my favorite- it was nice after almost 10 years to end with being a Lieutenant. And of course we all got our preparations for life at camp What wonderful memories.I look forward to reminiscing on Saturday.
Elise Rosenberg Roberts
Since you've asked about memories, one of the special times that comes to
mind is the closing of camp, (or maybe color war, I'm not sure) but we were
all at the pool at night, with some candle lit "boats" floating, singing a
farewell song, in a classical melody, sometime in the early '50's:
Wind swept breeze, reveals the evening trees
With moon glow, & our hearts know,
That our love will never cease.
Love,
Vicki (Trugman) Schwartz
I am getting very excited about Saturday. It will be a lot of fun.
I have so many fond memories of camp. It's where I wrote songs and skits
for the first time, where I loved to play "newcomb" with that red rubber
ball and loved punching that tetherball! I visited the camp on the
Thursday leading up to Labor Day weekend. My husband and I were headed
to the Finger Lakes region. On Route 17 we took the exit for Monticello
and I led the way to camp. The gate was opened so we drove right in. The
camp is there, it looked just alright, but it will never be the same
beautiful, pristine camp that my great-Aunt and Uncle founded. You
remember how all the stones around the campus were painted white? That
was oh so pretty! I was pointing out to Oscar (my husband) how it used
to be. Thank G-d for memories.
One more thing to say before I sign off for now. I "smell camp" every
now and then. I'll step outside before going to work in the morning or
I'll step out onto the patio on a Saturday morning when the fresh
morning dew is present, and I'll smell camp. Doesn't happen all the
time, but there's that certain sweet morning smell that will always
remind of camp, and that feeling is something I will always treasure.
See you on Saturday!
Love,
Lisa Goldberg
I started camp at 8 and ended the summer before my freshman year in college. I loved every minute of camp and especially the friends I made and the memories I kept. I can remember each winter there were the long distance calls between Long Island and Brooklyn with Irv Becker, Nan Richland, and so many others. Sneaking behind the bunks to smoke felt like a very grown up thing to do. Fortunately I shed that habit 10 years later. Two life long friends have remained in my life, Lois Goodman and Linda Lipkins. Bunk raids, sneaking out of camp, going down to the baseball field with someone special, boating on Sackett Lake, calls from home, color war, being a CIT and then a counselor are just some of the things that come to mind. My entire childhood was defined by my life during the summer at Camp TaGoLa.
I'd like to thank Bette Jane for her incredible passion and devotion to Camp TaGoLa and working non stop this past year so we could again have a successful reunion. Without her, we would never have seen each other so many times during the last 25 years. Looking forward to seeing everyone on the 20th.
Barbara Goldstein Glasser
Sad News: Sorry to advise you that Carol Singer Etkin passed away from Cancer on Sept 19, 2010.She fought a good fight for 9 months but in the end it was to no avail.