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Camp Hinds Rec Hall - 1928
I Remember
By Matt Randall - September 2007

I remember the sound of the bugle at seven am on crisp June mornings.
I remember the snap of the flags as the Commissioners posted them high for the day.
I remember the clatter of  breakfast dishes and the chatter boys.
I remember the banging of hammers, splashing of swimmers, and the cracking of rifle fire.
I remember the smell of the sweet, warm summer air and the blanket of stars to comfort me at night.
I remember older campers - dads, leaders, and visitors - passing down the wisdom of their years.
I remember past staff photos - holding me to my oath, law, and obligations.
I remember the thunder of the cannon announcing the close of day over Panther Pond.
I remember the ping of pipes in the showers - a warning of scorching water approaching.
I remember the 'Skipper Patrick' rock, The Block House, the Waterfront Tower, and 'Sketch Craft.'
I remember my 'Second Homes' - Pershing, Condo 2, Androscoggin, Skid Ridge, and Pine Tree.
I remember song and dance in the Ring Dining Hall.
I remember pounding rough-hewn plaques to an ancient building.
I remember flickering flames, boys in drag, and staff singing 'On My Honor' at evening campfire.
I remember weekends at Little Sebago and a Pope on the dock.
I remember lifting boats, trimming tents, and cleaning latrines.
I remember messages on the walls of cabins - memories of my 'Brothers in Arms.'
I remember hacking through the brush to a put up a boardwalk, 
and explaining how a motorboat prop got destroyed.
I remember buried treasure on the 75th anniversary.
I remember a sea of white sashes with red arrows on Thursdays.
I remember Mike's house, cribbage at the Training Center, and vacations in the Florida Keys.
I remember staff parties - Greek, Mexican, and Carribbean.
I remember 'Harry Kakelegion,' 'the Scotsman,' and a Tee-A-Ta circle.
I remember The Indian Box, the Kaddywumpus, and the 'Staff Jump.'
I remember Jimmy Buffett and AC/DC wake-up calls, 
and telephoned feedback from the residents of the lake.
I remember laughing kids, grateful leaders, and accomplished staffs.
I remember what a Shax is.
I remember friends.
I remember mentors and guides.
I remember saying 'Welcome on board,' and 'See you next year.'
I remember seeing William Hinds and hoping I did him proud.
I remember, and I return to these fond times in my mind.
Submitted by Marty Kadel

Getting up early to play the scratchy Revilee record (till Dean figured out a way to computerize them) ... Mike Cook, Larry Roy, and Brian Dumont doing a great 'Blue Moon' doo-wop set at campfires ... never being found in a staff hunt ... Steak dinners with staff waiters in tuxedos serving 'vin de bug' and Jeff Violette playing the keyboards for mood music ... leaning on the terrarium rail with young scouts just in awe ... the Alfred E Neuman Award ... Doing the Order of the Oar with Glen Gisel & Bruce Rueger (no, there wasn’t a hint of abuse) ... slush puppies with gummie worms ... the partridge that used to perch on the rifle range target line and lived to tell the story ... Dean singing 'Gary Owen' and Bruce singing 'If I were Not a Boy Scout' ... the indian on the rock during retreat ... kids getting back from swamp romps (they told me no one would sign up for them!) ... 3 million parents eating bbq chicken, macaroni salad, & cherry tarts ... a certain half asleep staff member arriving to breakfast without his pants ... being a buddy at free swim to the kid who nobody wanted to buddy up with ... Webelos Week when Scott Valcourt played an alien with a light bulb head and the kids really thought we had been invaded ... watching adults looking for their plaque & now doing it myself ... staff swims under the lights ... 'polite, polite, polite, courteous,  courteous, courteous, please, please, please, thank you, thank you, thank you' (staff will remember) ... Indoor campfires on rainy nights ... doing Sam Magee a zillion times ... the 'chipmunk from hell' who ate a whole case of atomic fire balls in the trading post ... spending time with homesick kids ... night motorboat rides (camp directors break rules, too) ... international Staff, especially Keith Nixon and Allen Dennis ... ”This is My Camp” buttons ... Some bad stuff too, like having to fire a few staff members and kids getting injured ... the cry of the loons ... the feeling of being the only one left in camp when summer is over ... after 3 days of rain, arriving at breakfast to find a staff member fishing in a rowboat on a huge mud puddle in front of the dining hall ... rabbit furs ... 'Are You Psyched?' ... Staff sings after the campfire ... sticks on fire ... so much more!!!!!
Little kown fact:

When looking at the 1963 staff photo I remembered that it was the year when we tore down Yale latrine!  I'm sure that Dirk Van Hook was part of the crew smashing it to pieces with sledgehammers and axes. I drove the truck hauling away the fragments.

~ Frank Maguire

 
 
Keith Nixon from the UK was our International Camp Staff member in 1986.  Click on his photo to read his story about his trip to Camp Hinds.
From Arthur Berry - Transcribed from a talk given at the Order of the Arrow Banquet on December 6, 2008
Arthur was a camper in 1941 and 1943, then on Camp Hinds staff 1944-1946.

I remember that as a camper we were always warned not to go further out of camp than the blockhouse unless we were going to the ball field with our leaders.  I remember when the campsites were still close to the waterfront.

When I was on staff I was the bugler and had to watch the time all of the time - and play the correct bugle calls throughout the day.  I missed one day when I went out in a canoe with a girl from Camp Kokatosi (now Kingsley Pines) and my clock (not a watch) fell in the lake, the WWII cardboard parts were ruined so I couldn't tell what time it was!

During the summer of 1944 the staff began to notice that Percy Dunne (the Scout Executive) was wearing a white sash with red arrow when in uniform; soon George Anderson, the waterfront director  and Dr. Nickles (senior camp director) were also wearing them. We all wondered what was going on.

Then one evening at retreat the camp watched an Indian chief in a canoe come around Chipmunk Point and up to the swimming area.  The chief got out of his canoe, strode up to the assembled camp and walked up and down the lines of troops and staff.  When he came to certain boys he firmly tapped down on their shoulder – 1, 1-2 – and walked on.

After the ceremony those who had been tapped were instructed to meet that night to begin their ordeal.

We were led out of camp into the woods, and one by one we were told where to spend the night.  I was told to “go straight into the woods for twenty-five paces and sleep on that spot.”  The spot turned out to be a stump, so that’s where I slept.

The next morning the boys were brought back to camp, where we spent the day in complete silence on camp service jobs of various kinds, with no food, only water to sustain us.  That evening we were given a feast, followed by the induction ceremony into the Order of the Arrow.
 



Page design and layout by:
Dean B. Zaharis
Created: August 3, 2008
Last Update: December 9, 2008
Send comments to:
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