Mail Call! And 'Care' Packages from home! Ah, Summer Camp!

[hausser]

I seem to remember mail being distributed on the back steps to the dining room prior to lunch. I also remeber how important it was to receive mail from home (as it still is!) but I also remember how I dreaded lying on my bunk on Sunday afternoon, trying to come up with material for the mandatory weekly letter home.

I also remember getting "Care" packages, that if the contents weren't immediately eaten, everything would eventually be stolen. Did we refer to them as "Care" packages in those days? Are they still refered to as "Care" packages?

 

[Marc]

Wow! Hadn't thought of that. I can't remember what we called them. But I remember them!

Was it Tosebo where there was an A&W rootbeer stand we stopped at in or near town and brought rootbeer back and (secretly) kept it under the cabins and it went bad and we drank it a day later and got sick?

 

[hausser]

I seem to have a vague recollection of having Root Beer in 1958, but am not clear on the matter. I would think that I spent every cent received each week at the Onekema Drug Store or the hardware store across the street. I seem to remember purchasing the "big ticket" item first, then possibly comic books, and ending with penny candy (still available in those days!)

 

[Strong Bow]

Root Beer came from Skip Sage, who would bring it back to you at midnight. Now you had to decide if you could drink a quart of suds or save some hidden behind the cabin for morning. It came in a tall cone shaped container and I remember a quart costing 26 cents in 1960. The A&W stand was in Parkdale just before you got to Manistee until about 1980 when it moved into Manistee. Saturday's allowance went to Vern's Drug Store, then the Dairy Delight. If you were really brave and quick, you might also try "real food" at The Dog House (gone but not forgotten)

 

[Marc]

I remember a fella saving some Root Beer under a cabin and about 2 days later drank it. Got sick as I remember. I don't remember the dog stand, off hand. I was 10 years old that year. My memories are intermittent. A lot of the e-mails and the talk here - not to mention the pictures - have really brought back a lot of memories. I about died when that picture of the 'class' of 1960 came thru - there I was.

How old were you in 1960? Was it your first year? How many years did you go there?

 

[Strong Bow]

1960 was my first year too and I had my 11th birthday on the last day of camp. Attended again in 61, 64, and 65, and then worked there in 67. Been going up there every summer since then. Our summer home is 100 yards west of the Boathouse.
Dave

 

[Marc]

Wow! You really spent some time there!

 

[Murdoch Campbell]

Root Beer

Yes, it was Skip Sage who introduced us to A&W root beer. It was the best! On the 4th. of July we would be driven into Manistee on the military transport to see the fireworks. Afterwards the truck would stop at the A&W and we'd buy root beer in the cone containers we could later use as megaphones. It usually turned to syrup after a few days.

 

[Steve Buckingham]

Your recollection are the same as mine. The other group of counselors went for the hard cider. Fred Eilber, Kim Sebly, Howard Jackson? spent more time in the Harbor Bar or Blue Slipper than at the A&W. The A&W megaphones were real "weanies" compared to the brown megaphone Skip commanded from the white bench. Skip movements were limited to oiling his body with Baby Oil, but he was perfect for the job. He always knew the location of every camp boat on the lake and could be relied on to come to the rescue in the event of a breakdown.
Does anyone remember hustling down to the waterfront for activity period hoping to get a glimpse of the kitchen girls sunbathing on the rubber raft?

 

[Strong Bow]

Ah the kitchen girls - maybe I'm prejudiced - I married one thirty years ago - also the last year Camp Tosebo had female kitchen girls. Judy and Barb Seyfried still have their family cottage right next to the Boathouse. Jean Baggleman was there a few years in the mid 60's. The Roskie girls were almost before my time - Carol was there when I started. I sure Steve remembers a lot more - most that is probably too steamy for this site. Bobby Hughes is still there. Old man Cotton finally died and sold his cottage to relatives of the Hughes' Probeck are still in their cottage. Coach took some of us to Cotton's once to watch the college All Star football game on their TV. Sue ProbeckTruitt lives up in Arcadia. I remember going to the Seyfried cottage in about 1971 for a party with my future wife and being handed a camp style flashlight I had loaned to Barb after a council fire in 1964. Still had my name on it!