The Council Room

[Jim Culleton]

David

Welcome to the Wyanoke website . . . . . glad that you found us especially if you have not seen the site before. Feel free to add any comments in the General Discussions section and any photos that you may have in the Personal Photos section.

There is a good photo of you, your Dad and the rest of us from JA-1 and JA-2 from 1961 in the Personal Photos section under the "Culleton Family Memories".

Great to have you with us! How is your brother, Alden? He was quite the tennis player at Wyanoke along with your Dad.

If you know of other Wyanoke alumni that would be interested in this great site (kudos to Mike Freeland for setting it up), please let them know!

Regards,

Jim
_________________
'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

[Robert Vaughan]

Hi David,

I read the wonderful obituary in the Boston Globe last weekend. I am sorry for your family but what a wonderful tribute.

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/cambridge/articles/2010/05/29/audrey_irons_97_longtime_volunteer_was_den_mother_at_groton/

I remember my Dad and Mom were close to your folks (although I rarely saw your Mom since she was down past the airport) and I remember your dad bringing Don Budge to Wyanoke in the early 60's as I recall. Your Dad was always such an imposing intellect even to a youngster like me at that time.

What are you three up to these days?

Bob Vaughan

[David Bentley]

I agree completely with Bob Vaughan's post, and I would like to extend condolences from Sherry and me to the Irons' family.

Wyanoke was a much better place because of Dick and Audrey Irons.
_________________
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]

As Bob said, what a wonderful tribute!

I don't believe that, in all my years at Wyanoke, I ever met Mrs. Irons. Maybe in passing, or at the Bentley's table after Sunday dinner or something, but not to say I knew her. I sense now that I missed something important there.

I do remember hearing that she spent her summers up the road toward the airport, but in my naive young years at Wyanoke, I found it hard to believe that there was actually another camp on the Neck. Where was their cannon, the bugles, the ballfield cheering? Nope, there was Wyanoke (and Madame Chiang Kai Chek's cabin so impossibly far across the neck it took an hour's paddling to even see it). And the airport, of course, but that was it.

My condolences to the Irons family.

Thanks Bob, for bringing it to our attention.
_________________
'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

[Bob Kennington]

Just dropping a note regarding "the other camp". I wondered about that phrase, then found this quote while looking up something else.

[Jim Culleton]

Bob

Thanks for the updates on the Irons'. I did not know that there was a Camp Ossipee on Wolfeboro Neck back in the day. Mr. Irons was my councilor as a JA in '61. Great councilor and role model. I always called him Mr. Irons as "Richard or Dick" was reserved for his peers. I was only 16 at the time.

As with Mike, I don't think that I had ever met Audrey. I'm sure that she visited Wyanoke.
_________________
'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

[Bob Kennington]

It turns out that Mrs. Irons is still remembered by at least one member of Camp Ossipee which is located just two-tenths of a mile from where I am presently typing.

I stopped my truck to speak with a jogger who was using a granite post for stretching.

"That post needed straightening", I said.

The gentleman appeared familiar to me, but it turned out he wasn't the man I saw swimming earlier that morning. "I'm 86, you're looking for a gentleman from [our] Camp Ossipee who is 76".

It turns out I am speaking to a John Linscot, who was employed at Camp Wyanoke in maintaining the clay tennis courts. He also has serious tennis family members, although now, I can only recall it was more about building the courts rather than playing on them.

A gripe he carries to this day was his being "docked" one-day's pay for not appearing for work on "VJ" Day. (A National Holiday). He has a few other gripes with BMB, but I'll save those (accounts of his) for another occasion.

John's mother also worked Camp Ossipee's ledgers. He remembers Mrs. Irons!

Camp Ossipee—before I forget the details—today has about 100 family members and 35 tent platforms. The Camp was established in 1876, and sits on 20 acres of Wolfeboro Neck.

Because it is still in "Old Growth" forest, it looks much bigger than just 20 acres!

That's all I have at present. I now return you to the previous grandchild-topic titled, "Birth":
http://www.wyanoke.com/newforum/viewtopic.php?p=1262#1262
_________________
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?

[DavidIrons]

I found this thread the other day by chance. This is my first post.

Belatedly, thank you, everyone, for the kind words about my mom & dad.

I was thinking about Wyanoke's camp's sailing program the other day; it's the outdoors skill I really learned to love at camp, and the one that I have used the most over the years.

That got me wondering about the wooden sailboats that campers in the '50s learned to sail on. I'd thought forever that they were called "Windabouts" but I now learn that the real name for the class is "Winabout."

There aren't many pictures of those boats on the web, though I've now found six on the Wyanoke site.

There's a lovely post about these boats on the Wooden Boat magazine web site here: http://tinyurl.com/3h8z6l6. More on sailing at Wyanoke later in a separate thread....

In answer to questions about my brothers above: Alden is retired from the State Department and living in Arlington, VA; Cliff is retired from private-school admissions and fund raising and living in Byfield, MA (currently returning from Europe with his wife Joan on board HMS Queen Mary). I'm in NYC and still working, when not sailing Beetle Cats in East Hampton....
_________________
David Irons
david@dmirons.com
about.me/DavidIrons
C-1, C-9, J-14, J-6, J-2, S-4, S-1, JA-2
(Did I really remember those correctly?)