Memories of Camp Shewahmegon's Fiftieth Year from Across the Pond

May 29th, 2014 by Jim Gibbons

Speaking of things I put off for far too long…

Back in late 2011, Martin Copland—whose one and only year at camp was as the Arts and Crafts instructor in 1997—sent me an email after finding this blog. Then, in early 2012, he sent me a bunch of great pictures.

And, like a jerk, I let those picture sit on my desktop for two years! My apologies, Martin!

Here’s a condensed version of Martin’s email and some photos he was kind enough to send along…

Hi there Jim,
I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I worked at Camp Shewahmegon in 1997, I think. The year of the 50th anniversary. English fella, stupid elvis type hair when I could be bothered, witty, suave… you get the picture.

I was the arts and crafts tutor, flying in from merry England to teach you pesky kids how to whittle twigs and make dream catchers and stuff—although I don’t think you spent much time in there making lanyards, probably preferring to fiddle with strips of plastic in your own time. I think you were mainly off shooting hoops or terrorizing younger campers. (In, obviously, a big brother/character building kind of way.) I sometimes got to play basketball and football (not soccer) and was quite handy at that running through the woods business Blair Witch-style, even if i say so myself… I remember one time seeing Mac Harris gazing in awe out of the corner of my eye at my ninja like stealth.

I was looking for pictures the other day of the camp on t’internet and came across your website, its nice to see you producing something about a thing which was obviously very dear to you and many others, keeping the memory alive and documenting those memories for others to share. Like Camp, its basic and simple but full of warmth. (That is a compliment but having read it back sounds really naff, do forgive me.)

It was sad to learn that the Camp had closed its doors and that Bill had recently passed away, his legacy lives on in our memories.

I went to camp as a way of getting to travel across the U.S. of A. in a relatively cheap fashion. The Camp thing was a means to an end that I could endure until the real adventure began, but Camp turned out to be a lot more than that. I was genuinely touched the first night I was there when old friends were meeting up again. There was obvious excitement about them, singing ham and eggs and such. And when the whole camp arrived, there was a genuine sense of family that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before or since. Like I said, I was touched and I’m sure you kids were touched too. (Thank you, School of Rock, for that pun!)

Any how, its all getting far too sentimental… I’ve got a stash of pictures of my brief time at the camp which I’ll send to you as soon as I get off my arse and scan them in. Some even feature a young Jim. I have to admit, it did seem weird going to your EnemyOfPeanuts.com site and seeing a big fella with a ‘tache. Not that you were a weedy kid anyway, but its odd.

Boop, boop etc…
Martin

Does ‘slotback’ mean anything to you?

The captions below are Martin’s filenames for the photos.

“’70s Beach Brent”

“Blatant corporate ad courtesy of Scott P.”

"Breakfast could get crowded Part 1" But I believe this was probably taken right before the campers piled on the bus to leave camp.

“Breakfast could get crowded Part 1”
Editor note: I believe this was probably taken right before the campers piled on the bus to leave camp. That’s Mr. Copland up front in the Tank Girl t-shirt.