The Council Room

[Mike Freeland]

Hey Tom, I think you're right. Didn't we "HI LEW" it for a while and start to break it up when he finally flew over? Did he do that more than once (I mean on different days)? I forgot about the no-show.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Tom Rawson]

I only remember one occasion. I was at camp 63, 64 (Midget), 66 (Jr), and 67 (Sr). I seem to remember it was one of my later years. What I remember is BMB explaining what we were doing and why. Then I remember we went out to the baseball field and got into formation. After awhile of no Lew, we disbanded. This all must be put through the 40-year-memory-lapse filter, so it's possible Lew made it that day, but I think he was a no-show on that particular occasion.

Of course it's possible there were multiple occasions that I don't remember, or perhaps Lew actually made it in a year I wasn't there.

[David Bentley]

Yes, 1967 was the year Lew made his now legendary flyover, a subject which was not spoken of aloud for several years for fear the FAA or some other government agency would swoop down and abduct my Dad as being a party to this somewhat "personal flying mission" by Lew. When I was in Vietnam 1966 - 1967, my parents were in frequent contact with the Duntons, who lived in nearby Melrose, MA. During that same time frame Lew was serving one of his 4 tours of duty in Vietnam as a naval aviator. Through a round-robin exchange of letters involving me, Lew, and both sets of parents, Lew and I managed to meet each other in Siagon to have a meal together. This was no small correspondence feat when you consider the logistics involved - Lew was on a ship, I was in a tent, our respective parents were where they were, but it wasn't in either of those places, I was lowly enlisted, Lew was on officer, etc, etc, etc. However, it worked, and we had a meal neither of us chose to remember (from a food content standard), but which I will never forget on a personal level.

Jim Dunton was KIA in December 1964, and, is listed on the 1st plaque of names in the Vietnam wall. He was a 1LT, advisor type, with the Army. This seems like too short a mention of Jim, but all I can add is that he was a giant of a personality, a thorough red-white-blue American, and one of the finest individuals I have had the pleasure of knowing, along with Lew.

Although I was back in this country by the Summer of 1967, I was just married and living in Texas (as if a year in Vietnam hadn't been enough). I remember talking with Dad about this flyover after it occured, and, quite honestly, neither of us could finish a sentence. My parents had talked with his parents, and they told my parents that Lew wanted to fly over Wyanoke as a gesture to the memory of his brother who had died in Vietnam and as a thank you for the fact that I had made it home all in one piece. So he did.

Apparently, he didn't exactly explain to the powers that were at whatever base he took off from the details of his mission, although is soon became abundantly clear what his flight plan included. From what I understand, the phone rang constantly at the Lakes Region Airport with questions about "what was that". Ralph Horn called my Dad and my Dad told him he 'might' know something about it, and would talk to him 'sometime' about it. Who knows what transpired after that. Both Ralph Horn and my Dad are dead, and tragically, very tragically, so is Lew Dunton.

This event is a Wyanoke legend with great sticking power, both because of it's actual nature, and because it happened during a time when so many experienced it at an age that they could understand and remember what was happening.

Thanks for bringing it up.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997

[Mike Freeland]

Very nice post Dave. I remember rumblings of the phone ringing off the hook over at the Horns, but except for the flyover itself, I don't remember too many details of its aftermath. Thanks for filling us all in. I'm really glad I was able to get the whole thing on film, however poorly.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[Peter Friedrichs]

Dave, thanks for the moving details behind that story. I don't remember lining up for the "Hi Lew," but I do remember him making two separate passes over the ball field, complete with a barrel roll as a "good-bye" gesture after the second pass. If it was 1967, I was a Midget and I'd have no reason to be out on the parade ground unless it was for an organized activity, so it must have been to line up for the "Hi Lew."

But I also remember a second "low pass" during another summer, where a jet flew once over the ball field and then came screaming down Winter Harbor at what seemed like just feet above the water. Is this just a fantasy of mine, or does anyone else remember it? I think it was the year I was either a senior or a JA, so that would have been 1970 or 72.

Ahhh, a mind is such a precious thing to lose!

Peter
_________________
Peter
'66-67 C-1 (Peter Woods); '68-69 J-1 (Bob Vaughan); '70 S-1 (Garth Nelson); '72 JA-1 (Dan Mannis)

[Mike Freeland]

Hi again Peter,

Speaking of Jeff, here's a screen grab from the DVD:

.

The next picture is from the same segment of film a few seconds later. The identities of these two kids has been plaguing me since I put the DVD together, and maybe Jeff could help me with them. That goes, of course, for anyone else who might have an idea too. Anyway, I'm looking for the kid with the blonde hair, hand to chest, and the kid flexing his muscles behind him. SO familiar and I just can't come up with the names. Here 'tis:

.

I think this is about 1970. Jeeze, 37 years ago just about to the day.

I guess I'm a tad off-topic here. Oh well.
Mike
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[DavidAyars]

Not sure, but I have a fairly strong guess on the guy flexing muscles: Philip Brown, C-1, 1970 [he of the absconded-then-returned wharf sign], looking to me like a younger version of Junior PB in my tent in 1973. This guy kinda looks like a young Junior camper though. DaveB, do you have an email address for Phil to check this?

Look at the councilor behind him... looks dark haired (with facial hair?), maybe dark skinned, Exeter shirt... all that's a lead on the campers. Get a positive match on one of the four subjects and nail the year, you home in sharply on the other three consulting the rosters, because most or all four of these guys were likely in the same section if not tent/cabin.

Where was this shot taken? I can't place the location... Looks like the Jr.-Sr. ballfield, maybe with a soccer goal, or the baseball backstop behind them (but wasn't that dark green?), but what are those vertical poles behind these guys?

Sometimes grab shots from videos go darker or show color shifts, especially in the background, which can be misleading.
_________________
Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[Mike Freeland]

Actually, these pics are substantially brightened, to highlight the people. That was indeed on the ball field, and I'm pretty sure that was a soccer team. The poles behind the question mark kids (Kids! jesus they're pushin' 50 now) are the corner of the backstop of the senior tennis court close to the entrance gates.

Hmmm. Phil Brown. Hmmm. I can get a shot of the councilor, but I didn't recognize him when I looked at the clip. I'm pretty sure that it is 1970 (but then again, after 37 years...)

Dave, you have the DVD, the clip's in chapter 19 at 0:47:50 (in the production software. Add maybe 10 seconds to account for the menu). It's just after the purging of the bees in the Senior FRP. See what you think.
_________________
'56-C-9 C. Mosher '57-C-9 Bill Feaster
'58-J-14 H. Peavy '59-J-11 G. Wood, C. Duncan
'60-S-8 R. Leavitt, D. Hemphill '61-S-1 E. Slocum
'62-JA-1 H. Dunbar '63-C-2 (JC)
'64-C-5, (JC) Councilor
'65-C-9 '66 - '72-J-8
'73-JA1 '75-J-6

[DavidAyars]

I've spent some time pondering this, looking at the clips, and especially studying the rosters, particularly 1970's roster.

I think it helps, when trying to ID someone on the film, to pin down the date for sure by looking at footage around the clip in question and comparing the names of people we do remember with the camp rosters to make sure everybody was there the year in question. If that checks out, then look at boys standing nearby the mystery guest, figuring that they were likely section and maybe even tentmates. One thing that bugged me watching this clip and looking at adjacent footage was a nearby clip showing several Senior boys sitting on tent steps including one identified on the DVD and who I also remembered as "Jimmy Williams"... but Jimmy Williams doesn't appear on the 1970 roster in the Senior camp. So was this clip really from 1970 as the DVD said? That one took awhile before I finally remembered that Jimmy Williams legally changed his name to Jimmy Reynolds during his time at Wyanoke. JR was in the Senior camp, in Pat's tent, in 1970. Everyone else in the Senior camp clips preceding the soccer clips checks out as being in the Senior camp in 1970. In the next clip after the soccer clip with the two boys in question, you see a councilor who I believe I recognize as Junior camp councilor Marcus Liddle, a Scotsman and soccer player who was only at Wyanoke in 1970. So I do agree: that section of film is definitely from 1970.

Were these boys Midget camp members? One thing that made me question that was what would a Midget soccer team be doing on the Junior-Senior ballfield? (Maybe they needed the goals.) You've already identified Jeff Friedrichs who is in the same clip, and brother Peter confirmed it, and I recognize him, too, and Jeff was indeed a Midget in 1970. And if that is Phil Brown in 1970, the roster shows he was a Midget then, and probably 8 years old given that the rosters show he became a Junior in 1972. Looking at the rest of the clip, I spotted one other boy who looked very familiar to me... the one with the dark glasses. I had to think about that for awhile, and I had to look at the 1972 roster, when Phil Brown was in my tent, and then I remembered: Doug Robertson, same tent group as Phil and me in 1972. Doug was also in the Midget camp in 1970.

I can see on the DVD that the councilor behind the two boys in the grab shot did not have facial hair. He may or may not have dark skin-- not sure. I don't recognize him, either. The 1970 Midget camp councilors we can rule out, of course: Don Prutzman, Walter Scheirer, and Bruce Hamilton. That leaves Alain-Georges Muller, George Otieno, and Mark Chrusz, who were there only in 1970 and whom I do not remember and any of whom could be the guy on the DVD, as far as I know-- Alain-Georges was Phil Brown's councilor, and George Otieno was a Kenyan, dark-skinned. Michael Kelleher was also a Midget camp councilor that year (and I remember Mike looking differently than this councilor on the DVD, but I could be wrong).

So now I'm even a little more confident that Mr. Muscles was indeed Phil Brown. Jeff, Phil and Doug were all in different cabins in 1970, so the blond guy could have been in any cabin. I don't recognize or remember Mr. Blond, but you can narrow it down to the names of the Midgets in 1970:
http://www.wyanoke.com/gallery/Rosters/1970_G?full=1
There are maybe 30 boys it could be. I can rule out Scott Eveleth, Jim Painton*, Wilson Beebe, Doug Robertson, Ron Torlone, Bill Dodge, Jeff Lamb, Will Fownes, Jeff Friedrichs. I remember Brian O'Connor (brother or cousin of Justin) as similarly having dark hair. Half the remaining names are familiar to me, but I don't have a face to go with the name. Chris Stigum and Robert Sjostrom I vaguely remember as being blond-- again, I could be wrong there.

Since he looks very familiar to you, could Mr. Blond have been a 1970 Midget who was in your tent in a later summer, most likely 1972? Donald Hawes fits that bill. Or could he have been a mountain-trip frequent flyer once he reached the Junior camp?

*Now I see Jim Painton in this same clip, four boys to the left of Mr. Blond, if you don't count boys moving in between them as the camera pans right-- Jim has his arms and clenched fists raised as if he's saying, "Yesss!".
_________________
Camper: J-8 1965 (Kevin Ryan), J-8 1966 (Mike Freeland), S-6 1967 (Russ Hatch), S-3 1968 (Jeremy Cripps), and JA-2 1969 (Dan Mannis).
JC: J-2 1970 (Bill Bettison) and J-3 1971 (Gene Comella). Councilor 1972, J-5 1973, and JA-1 1974 & 1975

[Jeff G]

Hi All:

I was in C-1 for my August 1970 JA rotation. Eric Aldrich (Lexington neighbor) was also in the cabin. I'll see if he has any thoughts on who this CYTBI (camper yet to be ID'd) might be.

Jimmy Painton...wonder what the heck he's doing tonight.




Jeff G.

[n24005]

Hi All,

Jeff Friedrichs here - Peter told me about the web site a month or two ago and I am just getting around to checking it out..

I would vote that mr blond is Don Hawes.... mr muscle is certainly Phil Brown.. I saw him off and on around Wolfeboro until the early 80s.

And who could not recognize the Exeter t-shirt at Dave Tucker?!?!?

Thanks for the memories - I'll make some more replies as I read along..

Cheers,
Jeff

PS - anyone remember a JA Jeremy Duncan from C-9 - 1970 - I tried to Google him, but could not find anything...

[DavidAyars]

Uh, yo, Mike... what do you think? Two votes now. Could they be Don and Phil?

Welcome home, Jeff.

[Bob Kennington]

This matchbook cover was posted at the www.winnipesaukee.com/forums site. Anyone recall it?



Front-striking matchbook covers were phased out starting in 1965, so that just leaves Wolfeboro's three-digit phone numbers (540 and 420) as clues.

So who can place a date on these matches?

How about no later than 1959½?
_________________
Gordon B. (Father) Wyanoke ~1929-1937
Midget C-1 (1952, 53) (Belden, Edwards)
Junior J-7 (1954, 55) (Scheirer)
1967-1971 Military-Naval Security Group
Sister: Winnemont 1955-56

Blue: there's another color?

[Jim Culleton]

Hi Bob

I'm not sure when Wolfeboro made the switch to rotary direct dial phones however local calls made pre-1965 had to be made via a live operator, giving her the appropriate 3 digit number. Perhaps the Wolfeboro area did not switch to rotary phones until maybe '68 or '69?

I'm thinking the matches could be from just about anytime Wolfeboro used 3 digit phone numbers up thru 1965? Nice bit of memorabilia!
_________________
'56 - J-9 J. Moulton
'57 - J-11 J. Moulton
'58 - J-4 E. Web Dann, S. Hood
'59 - S-6 P. Leavitt
'60 - S-2 F. Avantaggio
'61 - JA-1 RK Irons
'62 - C-9 JC with P. Freeland
'63 - C-1 JC with S. Borger
'64 - C-6 Councilor

[David Bentley]

Using Google, it looks like Mercury Match Corporation, Zanesville, Ohio, went out of business in 1955.
_________________
C-1 49 J-7 52 S-3 55 J-10 58
C-7 50 J-7 53 S-2 56 J-8 59
C-8 51 J-4 54 S-7 57 (JA) J-8 60 - 64
1965 - 1968 Military service
Pine Cone 68 - 75 (with wife,Sherry,
and daughter Tracey)
Wolfeboro - full-time since 1997