Dear Campers and Parents,

Saturday morning, Aug. 17th, approached us with a rapidity that was frightening....Can you that camp was almost over--- I didn’t want to think about it, but the moment had come...both Vance Liebman and myself each set our alarm clocks for 5:00 A.M. and when the alarms went off, we each awoke and at 5:15 A.M. we began the process of awakening boys that were leaving on the 7:33 A.M. flight from Rhinelander to either Chicago or Milwaukee. As we approached some of the staff members who were going to wake up their boys, we were greeted by groans, a loving kiss from one counselor, and a missed fist from anther staff member. Finally, the campers were awakened, we fed them breakfast, put them aboard the buss that was to take them to the airport and as I boarded the bus to bid them farewell, there was complete silence...This was it-- the boys were going home, and each of us got a lump in our throats and finally I said “Goodbye” hurriedly and I patted most of the boys on the shoulder, and soon the bus whisked them away until next summer.

The previous afternoon, we had given out all awards, packed them in the boys footlockers, and then trucked all the foot lockers to the Rhinelander Airport to insure that the trunks would be put aboard the planes and arrive in your Airport. The duffels of the early departure boys were also sent to Rhinelander. At 7:30 A.M. the rest of the camp was awakened, and the boys brought all the rest of their luggage to the departure areas and we then ate breakfast. now came the momentous job of cleaning up our cabins, the camp grounds and leaving for our various departure areas. Something different was also going to occur. On Sunday, 155 girls from various parts of the country-- some of the finest gymnasts were coming to Timberlane to open up a one week program offering $25,000 worth of gymnastic equipment and qualified gymnastic counselors in a program that was designed to offer a complete series of gymnastic activities and blended with camp activities such as skiing, riding, riflery, sailing, canoeing, swimming, archery, radio, tennis and other things. So, the boys worked hard to get the cabins cleaned up, and then the Milwaukee contingent departed on a chartered bus. At 10:30 A.M. our second group left for Rhinelander, and finally we had only the Indianapolis contingent left. Everyone sort of stared at each other---how small we had grown...The gymnastic staff arrived and were introduced to our staff members who were remaining--we would be having 43 of our own staff remain at camp....and finally, it was time for the Indianapolis boys to leave for the Airport--my kitchen girls started to cry, everyone hugged one another, and the time we had all dreaded finally occurred as the bus drove out of camp to the airport with our boys. They were gone---and it was such an eerie unbelievable silence all around us. I called the staff together and told them that there was still a lot of work to do, but that they could have the evening off once the work was done...

Reports from our staff in Chicago indicated that all boys were making their plane connections in Chicago but we received a jolt from Rhinelander when we were informed that under a special regulation, they were weighing all luggage going out of the airport, and any luggage that weighted over 70 lbs would be shipped via air freight collect... Some of you were most upset when you had to pay for the overweight luggage--- I have contacted Mr. Palm of North Central and am trying to have them rescind the handling of this luggage, but if you’ve ever dealt with an airline, it is a difficult task to override a directive.... Where I felt badly was when some of you felt as if it was my fault....I can only say that we sent your luggage to the airport and from then on the air lines handle it-- we are not allowed to make any decisions on what happens to luggage from then on. If any rebate comes back I promise that I’ll inform you immediately, but it doesn’t look too good.

What a wonderful we had before camp was over. On Sunday, we had sent a group of campers to the annual Kawaga Sailing meets -it was assumed that we really went to pick up some sailing tips--- and as some of the sleek sailboats were placed in the water, it looked like bad news for us...The meet started off with heavy gust winds, and we had one of our boats in fourth place at the halfway point...But then things started to go our way as many of the boats ran into trouble with the stiff wind--- the favorite began to flounder as it suffered a busted rudder, and we moved up to third place...Hope sprang up amongst the crew members of our boat, and they really went to work, and soon we were number two and we were sure thrilled with the prospect of a 2nd place finish in this prestigious meet. And then it happened--the boat ahead of us miscalculated a buoy in the water and scraped into it-- they were thrown off by the mishap and veered left out of position---Mike Cohen, our leader changed the tack of his course, took advantage of their mistake, and into the lead we went with our Timberlane banner waving in the breeze, and it was 1st place for the boys all the rest of the way...When they came back to camp with the horns blowing, I knew that something had happened and with smiles a mile wide on their face-- the key sailors of the winning craft, Fred Heller, and Jim Goldstein were greeted with hurrahs and bravos and we had accomplished a first for Timberlane-- CHAMPS OF THE KAWAGA ANNUAL SAILING MEET FOR 1974.....( Hats off to all the boys that participated in the event.) It was malterino night for all the boys in the meet....

Monday was a big track and field meet, and records fell by the score as our boys worked hard all afternoon to make the meet a success. At night we held a special treasure hunt, and it was lots of fun for all the boys...Now, we had our big Pow Wow Day coming up--- the boys had to prepare late into the evening on Monday to get the tribes ready, and at 7:30 A.M. Tuesday Morning, counselors and campers riding bareback on the horses, stormed into the cabin area and all the boys were awakened with screaming voices, war whoops, and lots of bells ringing...Breakfast was a shambles as tribes came to the center of the eating area had cheered and sang songs for their teams. We then had them get together for final tribal meetings...Finally, the boys put on war paint, and each tribe entered the arena to put on songs and cheers in the hope of convincing the judges that they were the best tribe. The introductions were fabulous and finally the Indian leg wrestling. Each boy in camp competes in the leg wrestling in his age bracket and an upset occurred immediately....Danny Aron, of Indianapolis, had been plagued with a knee problem all summer and for many months prior to the beginning of camp-- he wasn’t even rated as a contender in this contest, but in a mighty effort, he hammered home a win for the Intermediate Division and the day was on its way. The events are great ones, and includes such things as sitting on a plank over a canoe, and trying to paddle, chopping logs, fire building, soap carving and a multitude of events, and by the time the day was through, the Mighty Navajo had won the day. At night we ate steak sandwiches that were very delicious. That night we made barbecued chicken and it sure tasted good after a full day on land and water. That night was our last social and it was held with Camp Pinemere---many of our boys are now accomplished dancers and expert talkers, and heart breakers...Thursday was final testing and the place was buzzing with activity as boys were trying wrap up all their tests. At night we held a capture the flag and the blues won and had a big celebration before they went to bed.

On Friday, they boys packed, yet kept on with their activities, and when dinner was over we had a short free period, and then we all tromped out to our campfire site and had probably our finest campfire of the year. We sang all the old songs and brought on Jeff Sable who did his beautiful rendition of “FIDDLER ON THE ROOF,” at the campfire. The camp was enthralled and the background of the campfire against the image of Jeff as his head was was waving during the song just made the program something special. The key log ceremony itself took over an hour and by 10:00 P.M. we just finished the campfire. Then we went to the lodge and picked up a candle mounted on a dish and we walked with the lighted candle to the lake-front and placed the little ships on the water and watched as they floated away out into the lake. What a beautiful and sad sight to know that camp was now really over....And finally the boys went to bed and now they’re gone--- and I can’t stand it...

In their places we have 155 pretty little and some mighty big girl gymnasts-- and what’s really scary is that when you tell them to do something, they always do it--- the dining room is too quiet-- and they love doing the same activities, and they keep asking me about you boys and what you did at camp and if some of you guys were cute...I told them how masterful you all were and how handsome each of you were, and how good some of you were in this sport or that one...They kind of envy the life you had out here and many of them have asked me if this could be a girl’s camp...No- it couldn’t --I just miss each of you too much to ever change our camp...

And now it’s over--- and I’m going to begin to hibernate-- I have so many plans for next summer. I am purchasing crash pads and other mats plus a mini-trampoline for our gymnastic program--- I have learned so much in these past few days. We’ll probably get a new motor for one of our boats, and it’s new tramp bed time for four of our tramps...We’re going to build a new section for our kitchen and set up a bake shop for more baking...We plan to build a giant kiln for our pottery program and to come up with three more potter’s wheels, and I’m sure that before camp rolls around, we’ll have many new and exciting things for camp....Now-I need your help---You are my recruiting force...It is through the wonderful experiences that your boys have had at camp that will prompt you to talk up our camp... I’d appreciate the names and addresses and telephone numbers of any prospective families from any city in the U.S.A. In about one month I’ll send you a lead sheet and would appreciate any help you might give. The dates tentatively for next summer are Monday June 23rd to Saturday Aug. 16th, with the break in session being Sunday, July 20th, Put these dates on your calendar....Visiting Weekends, are Friday and Saturday, July 11th and 12th, and Friday and Saturday, Aug. 8th and 9th.

And to some I’ll be sending out your spending money accounts and a wrapup of your son’s activities while at camp. If there are any errors on the spending money report, just let me know and we’ll see what the problem is. For those who got stuck on the air line trunk deal, I’m sorry, but I have no control, although I am working with them now to see what can be done about it...To all of you, as previously mentioned, it’s that time of year when I have to go back to teaching school and I’ll have a big five days before I begin, so I’ll kind of hibernate for a month and you won’t hear from me-- that doesn’t mean that I’m in any kind of trouble -- only that I’m very tired right now. I’ll begin to put the 1974 camp film together, and I’ve got great footage to look at. Sooooo start recruiting for me how...I need your help and again, what a wonderful year, campwise and funwise--- we all loved it and I’ll see you at the reunions starting at the end of October----look for the bulletins notifying you of the reunions, and we’ll see all of you in 1975.

Best Regards,
HH