By Greg Schatten
TIMBERLIFE is one of the most unique camp
newspapers in the country. It is one of the few that allows campers
to write articles themselves. TIMBERLIFE is also one of the few that
is not dittoed or mimeographed, but actually printed
professionally.
During the winter of 1974-75, Fred Bierman called Harold with the
interesting idea of starting a camp newspaper. At first, H.H. was
skeptical about the proposal because of the potential cost. But he
said that he would check into it anyhow. Harold called around to many
printing companies, but could not find one that met his budget.
Eventually, he contacted Lakeland High School and found that they had
a printing press which was on loan from the government. Harold was
able to talk Lakeland into printing the paper at a reasonable cost.
So, in the summer of 1975, TIMBERLIFE was born.
Fred Bierman, the creator and first editor of TIMBERLIFE had previous
experience in newspaper production. Fred was one of the editors of
the school paper at Stanford University. His experience in the field
helped him set the original format for TIMBERLIFE.
Campers, and sometimes even counselors, wrote articles, stories, and
puzzles for the first issues; and continue to do so now. All of the
pictures in TIMBERLIFE, have been shot and printed by the camp photo
department; formerly headed by Eric Rogers, and now by Steve
Grotz.
After the first summer, Fred Bierman relinquished the editorial
chores to his assistant editor, Jeff Heller. At the same time, Harold
found a printer that was less expensive and quicker than Lakeland.
Ahlbourn Printers became the printers of TIMBERLIFE in 1976, and have
been ever since. Bob Gassel has taken over as editor, and is now in
his second year of heading up the newspaper. Bob’s associate
editor this summer is Jim Salinsky, who will probably take over the
paper in time.
TIMBERLIFE is published once each session. Issues of the first
TIMBERLIFE; from July, 1975, are becoming more rare as time goes on.
So, if you have one of these valuable, hold on to them.
TIMBERLIFE provides a new and unique experience that not many other
camps offer. Camp Timberlane surely grows and prospers from it. We at
TIMBERLIFE would like to thank all the campers & counselors who
contributed material to help make this paper possible. See you all
next summer!