August 19, 2021 --

The high point of the week, certainly for the guest, and perhaps for the seniors, too, was the Sunday morning seniors-guests softball game, Rainy Sundays made for very unhappy guests, making  the week ahead, for them, a very, very long period, indeed.

The Wabigoon - Wahanda directors 

The Brandstein family owned the camps; the directors were Dr, Phil and Gladys Brandstein. Phil was a dentist by profession; Gladys a lawyer, at a time when there were not many women lawyers.   They had two sons, David and Laurence, LPR's age.

David and Larry had no interest in taking over ownership of the camps, and the property was sold for subdivision in the early '70's.

As a camper, LPR gave no thought to the complexities of running a summer camp, beginning with recruiting campers, and hiring staff of the kitchen as well as counselors.

The medical aspect, starting with the forms campers would bring to their physicians prior to the camp season, hiring a physician and nurse,  ordering the food, with the baking, too, done on premises.  Billing, insurance, individual "canteen" accounts.

Above all, the responsibility of seeing that 130 boys and girls, some years, other years more, spent a happy, healthy carefree eight weeks on top of Smith Hill, above the city of Winsted, CT, not far from the Massachusetts state line. Not many people would accept such responsibility. 

The Wabigoon-Wahanda aiumni  are, not doubt, glad that Phil and Gladys did.

(btw -- years after the camp closed, LPR learned that there is a lake in Canada that is a fisherman's paradise.  One of Phil's brothers, Joe, was an avid fisherman. LPR has a hunch that Camp Wabigoon got its name from Canada's Lake Wabigoon. Alas, LPR has no idea as to the origins of Wahanda.)