The Council Room

[ghirst]

I have a clear recollection being told that Chaiman and Madame Chiang Kai Chek (Chiang was President of the Republic of China 1948 to 1975, thanks to Wikipedia) had a summer home on the west-facing shore of Wolfeboro Neck, the entrance to which would have been somewhere across the road from Camp.
We were never permitted to cross the road (and of course I never did...)but I always wondered if this was true. Again, David Bentley most likely will know the answer. I don't believe I could have invented this revelation despite my advanced years.

Mike- how do I get rid of the balance of an old message about David Bunting which appears below. That was part of one of my first postings but it persists. I can't seem to delete it.


Grant Hirst
Eliot, Maine
Wyanoke 1946-1955

[Mike Freeland]

In case you missed it over in Bob Kennington's "Boats" thread, Dave Bentley posted the following fascinating response to the Chiang Kai Chek question (my comments follow):

"Grant - you are correct. Madame Chang did indeed have a place on the outside of Wolfeboro Neck, accessed via the road directly across from the dirt road into the Red Roof area. Through the passage of time this, too, became a housing area, with several very big and generous homes on the water and a lot on the interior. During her ownership she spent time their, even visiting my grandmother at her little cottage next to Red Roof. I do not believe Mr. Madame ever spent time there at this home. Many people, mostly celebrities and movie types ( I heard that somehow she was related, through marriage, to Debra Pagent), used the property when she was not there, but there were always "caretakers" (pronounced a-r-m-e-d g-u-a-r-d-s) on the property. Many Wyanoke canoe trips around the Neck veered into the cove in front of her home but kept a respectful distance and kept on paddling. Her majestic, symetric, brick home was torn down and in its approximate place a real McMansion was built by Nolan Archibald, CEO, Black & Decker tools."

I remember very well paddling by that place. It was palatial and even to an 11-yr-old, really impressive. We were told that it was owned by Madame Chiang Kai Chek, and I remember thinking "Who the hell is that? Must have a lot of dough." Dave's right -- we did keep a respectful distance (maybe because of the, um, caretakers the councilors knew of but we didn't). I do remember being told that we weren't to mess around over there.

The fact is that the other side of Wolfeboro Neck might as well have been the other side of the world to me as a kid. It took so long to paddle around the Neck that it wasn't the same chunk of land that it was from the other side. Wolfeboro Neck was Wyanoke, and the airport. That was it. If you couldn't see it from Forest Road, it wasn't on the Neck. That was just the truth.

I can't imagine tearing a place like that down. Maybe it'd fallen into disrepair or was too expensive to heat in the summer.
_________________
'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

[ghirst]

As usual, David Bentley comes through with the recollections to fill in the gaps in mine.
New to me was that his Grandmother (whom I assume to have been Mrs. Walter Bentley) lived for a time down at Red Top.
When I first started at Wyanoke in 1946 I cannot recall if Walter Bentley was still on the scene or not. I recall his and BMB's faces in the Wyanoke catalog but I cannot recall if I ever met Walter. I seem to recall having a sense of awe and perhaps even reverence for Walter as the presumptive founder of a place where my heart will remain for as long as I live.
Am I correct in recalling that Mr. & Mrs. Bert Vaughn lived for the summer on premises and that he was in charge of music? I recall there was also a Mr. Robert Vaughn as well, perhaps no relation to the former?
When my parents came to visit, which I recall was not at all as often as I would have liked, I would wait at the main gate and listen for my dog, Jill, who would start to go crazy well before the Carry Beach, and would bark all the way up the hill with much of her hanging out the car window.
There were days (or weeks?) when various tents would get the job of sweeping the lodge and arranging the rockers on the deck before reveille. This would be followed by running down the path to the wharf and swimming bare-butt and there were times this was none too warm at that hour!

[David Bentley]

Walter Bentley passed away in January of 1945, so Brad was in charge starting with the 1945 summer. However, when Walter was alive, and before he became seriously ill, he and Harriet (wife) lived in a building named Pinehurst and it was the original building on the Camp property when the property was actually a cattle form. As my grandfather's health deteriorated, he moved into the small cottage next to what we all know as Midget Beach. Now, for Grant's sake, I must tell you that the Midgets used to swim at the Carry Beach. Camp had a large swim raft on our side of the beach area, and some benches and hooks sort of "in the woods" on our side. The Midgets would walk down their path, go past the Pinehurst cottage, out the driveway, and swim at the Carry. The story goes, so I am told, that in 1949 when I was a first year midget, my grandmother thought that swimming at the Carry was unsafe for her grandson, so she mentioned to Dad (told him) to put a beach "over there" so the midgets wouldn't have to travel on the public road to go swimming. So, with the help of a few local contractor types, and without all the constraints of red tape, the Midget Beach came into being.

Prior to my father becoming the Director, he had been a tent counciilor, but he was soon to marry, and Red Roof was built to house him and his wife, and eventually me, and then my brother. My grandmother continued living in Pinehurst, and the cottage near Midget Beach became known as Pine Cone and was used primarily as storage. Eventually, in 1967, Sherry and I moved into it, and eventually Tracey. Allison was born after Camp closed.

Mr and Mrs. Burt Vaughn were faculty members at Brewster Academy, a local private preparatory. During the summer, Burt was a resident councilor in the senior camp. He was, indeed, in charge of music.

Robert Vaughan was one of three brothers, sons of Irving and Celia Vaughan, who operated the Camp Store and many other functions at Camp. Irving was the Assistant Director and Celia did numerous functions. The two families, besides spelling their names differently, were not related. Robert and Russell were fraternal twins, several years younger than you, Grant, and Richard was their older brother, a couple of years younger than us. Now that I re-read your post, maybe there was another Robert Vaughan more in your age group, or slightly younger. I really do not know. Somebody---HELP

You guys on this site test my feeble memory at time, but I love it !!

Seems hard to believe that the Summer is quickly getting over, and schools will be starting. My granddaughter will be in Grade 2 here in Wolfeboro.
_________________
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

[Jim Culleton]

Great history Dave regarding the Midgets swimming at Carry Beach. I did not know that was the case before Pine Cone (Midget) Beach was carved out! I always thought that Pine Cone Beach was there when Winnipesaukee was formed! Grandmothers always have such great wisdom and I'm glad that she talked your dad into building Pine Cone Beach. That's a bit of a walk from CabinTown to the Carry Beach and back.

David Vaughan, son of Mr. & Mrs. Burtis Vaughan, was in my cabin in '64 and he also attended in '65. He was one of the youngest in Camp at the time so I'm sure David is a different Vaughan than the one you are thinking of Grant. We'll have to scour the Rosters that Mike included in the "Photos" section.

Just as an aside, it was probably last week that "Echoe Taps" and "Jazz Reveille" would have been played signaling the end of another great Wyanoke season, in addition to the Farewell Banquet. Great memories!

I have always wondered how Phil and the kitchen staff got the Farewell Banquet food from the kitchen down to Boyden Chapel? Not a huge distance but yet a feat in and of itself lugging all that stuff!
_________________
'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

[ghirst]

Thanks again to David for filling in some more of the gaps. My first year was in 1946 and so the question on Walter is resolved.
Red Roof Red Roof Red Roof!! I keep wanting to call it Red Top.
I don't recall ever knowing that the Midgets swam at the Carry Beach and I have no recollection of a Pine Cone Beach at all. If the latter came about in 1949, it's probable I had become a Junior by then and never went there. I don't recall being in Cabintown more than two summers.
I do recall the names Irving and Celia Vaughn but I have probably confused them with Mr. & Mrs. Burtis Vaughn. I seem to recall that one couple of Vaughns resided in a separate dwelling which might have been on the Senior Camp side of Boyden Chapel somewhere. I have no recollection of a Robert Vaughn who would have been near to my age. I had pictured him to have been an adult in those years and it is likely the Robert Vaughn of camp store fame that I remember.
I certainly do recall Echo Taps and Jazz Reveille but I did not recall that they signalled anything in particular. I recall thinking that the bugler would get in trouble for his variation on Reveille.
I don't know that even today, I could easily bring myself to go down the road to Red Roof, Pine Cone or Pinehurst. While I don't have a specific recollection of any such warnings, I have to believe that BMB ("Bambi" as we affectionately called him when we felt he was very far away) instilled in all of us that the compound was OFF LIMITS. That message is with me still!!!
I recall the camp had one or more of those old "woodie" station wagons in my early days and I recall that Edna had a black lab by name Tarbaby which she occasionally had in the car with her. In fact, I got in trouble once for visiting with Tarbaby while he was in the car. I believe he may have done some damage to the back seat in his excitement and I recall that both she and BMB were quite upset with me- with good justification.
I recall standing out in the center of Senior Camp in the evening in a swarm of mosquitos, holding a lantern in each hand- straight out from my sides. In fact I may have done that more than once as punishment for some misdeed or other. If my arms started to drop, I would get yelled at.

[Mike Freeland]

Wow, Dave you're really coming up with some great history. I was never aware that the Carry was used by the Midgets either, or that Pine Cone Beach was constructed. I LOVE that stuff. Keep it coming.

When I started going through the rosters to develop my database, and ran into "Burtis F. Vaughan, Jr.", I thought that I remembered even from when I was a Midget, that his last name was spelled "Vaughn". It's consistently misspelled in the rosters as "Vaughan" all the way from 1947 through '58, his last summer, so I swallowed my recollection and entered his name as "Vaughan". I'll go back and change that. Thanks for clearing that up. I feel better now.

Speaking of the database, I show no other Robert Vaughan, or Vaughn, than Robert H., of Irving and Celia provenance, having ever set foot on the Wyanoke property. Therefore there isn't one.

The Vaughans (then later the Foxes) lived in Hilltop, just to the left of the clearing below Boyden Chapel which gave a view of the lake from its veranda. You passed the cabin going to the wharf from the Senior Camp.

You're right Grant and Jim, about Echo Taps Jazz Reveille. Echo Taps was a tradition on the last night of camp (and, I think, at the end of the first session), played by 3 buglers, one each stationed at the Senior, Junior and Midget sections. It was really moving and bittersweet to hear, knowing that the next day was to break the spell of the summer.

Jazz Reveille, however, was NOT a "traditional" tradition, and was always met with a stern look and talking-to on the corner of the veranda before breakfast. I remember it being played when I was a kid back in the 50s, and then I became a participant in the later years, providing the trombone part (we had some really talented guys with brass instruments who could improvise a great dixieland rendition of reveille - no way could we rehearse it -- that'd tip our hand). No amount of stern looks and admonitions about the ill effects of "eleventh hour hysteria" disuaded us from what we saw as an absolute necessity. It was our last act of defiance for the summer (yep, we sure were a defiant crowd, we musicians -- in trouble all summer for missed beats and embouchure transgressions).

Grant, you must've been talking after Taps to have received such treatment. Lucky you weren't singing after Taps. That carried a death penalty.
_________________
'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

[Jim Culleton]

[Jim Culleton]

[David Bentley]

Well, since 1949 (my first summer as a camper) I have been wrong about the spelling of Burt Vaughn's (sic) name. It is, indeed, spelled 'Vaughan', and I apologize to all Vaughans on both sides of the family for making this mistake.
_________________
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]

That's amazing. I've been under the same misconception for 50 years. I bet I got it from you, Dave. I guess it's back to the ol' database and change it back. It's no sweat, making the change, but I'm glad to have that straightened out.

I don't remember Burt's wife, but I certainly remember Burt and his long Brylcreem-slicked-back hair. His last summer was '58, officially, but I'm pretty sure he was a regular "guest" for events and music thereafter, right?
_________________
'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

[David Bentley]

Burt's wife was Virginia, a quiet, educated lady. Burt was head master at Brewster for many years, then, when the Board wanted him to be only an administrator, not an administrator, plus teacher, plus dorm parent, plus coach, plus club advisor, plus, plus, plus, he retired from Brewster and he and Virginia moved to Hampton, NH, where they both joined the local school system and he and she went on to distinguished careers at that high school as teachers, (Virginia was a librarian), coach, and club advisor. Brewster Academy honored the Vaughans by naming a dormitory after them, and before he left, the Academy joined the National Honor Society and named it the Vaughan Chapter, and my Dad (BMB) was the guest speaker at the inaugural convocation.

So, both Vaughan families go way back with the Bentley family.
_________________
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

[Bob Kennington]

I see that Peter Roundy joined today. H-e-l-l-o-o-o Peter! We should meet in Wolfeboro every fifty years or so.

As a group, Peter, me, and the rest of J-7 all hiked out to The Lakes Region Airpark. We found shade under the wing of a Republic SeaBee amphibian aircraft, where a group photo was taken by me—which I still have.

J-7 had another Vaughn camper, but that could have been his first name—and I could be mistaken altogether.

The Really Big News came four years later, when I attended Wolfeboro's Brewster Academy and found the aforementioned Burt Vaughan as an active administrator!

Was it Burtus Vaughan?

We'd start every Brewster morning with The Pledge, hearing Burt's invocation, singing a hymn, which was followed by announcements.

The announcements sometimes included a local advertisement. I remember responding to a call to cut firewood at Dr. Adam's house on Sewell Road. I liked cutting firewood, using techniques learned at Wyanoke.

As it turned out, I mostly just mowed the huge lawn with a 2-cycle LawnBoy mower. There was one part of the lawn that was so incredibly steep that a 4-cycle would have put all the oil against the carburetor and stalled—or worse. As it was, you couldn't walk upright there anyway.

I have Dr. Adam's telephone number around here somewhere. I think is was 12—but it might have been 21. Dr. Jim Bovaird's telephone number was 6—a lot easier number to remember—with no numbers to transpose!

Sure would help today!

("Dr. Jim", as he was known to everybody, also appeared on his car's license plate).

Now, where was I?

Oh yes:

Burt Vaughan's choice of hymns was right out of the Camp Wyanoke songbook!


_________________
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]

[Mike Freeland]

Bob, the only Vaughn (first name) ever at Wyanoke since 1942 was Cadet Vaughn Dille (1969, 1970), who made a legend of himself in only two years. Cool guy.

And, the only Vaughans in attendance were Burtis and wife Va., and Irving and Celia and their progeny.

The phone in the Midget Dining Hall! It was in a box at the corner with a door on the outside so one could get it without having to run around the corner into the dining hall to answer it, possibly inadvertently ringing the bell. I forgot that it was a cradle-type phone with only a label at the center of what should have been a dial. When I was a kid, I wondered how the hell you used one of those things. I do remember picking one up one time. Finding that someone was already on it (the operator) scared the hell out of me. We had dial phones even in Cornwall Pa. then. You didn't mess with the phone in the Midget Dining Hall. Period. You know what the penalty was.

"Jenny, get me Dr. Jim..."

Dr. Bovaird. I remember him too, though not by looks. I couldn't look him in the eye when he was having a look at a rash I'd developed when I was 12 or so and that was the last thong I wanted anyone to know about. . Those were the days, huh, when you called the doctor and he was there. "Sure, bring him in", and he'd set the arm and cast it. Still had time for cocktails and nine at the club later in the day.
_________________
'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