Wednesday, August 12 The Counselors

Since I've been reminscing about staff members, I probably should take some time to talk about the counselors we had over the years. For the most part, the bunk counselors were young, college students. (Of course, to us, they seemed really OLD.) Many of them were Phys, Ed majors, and they came from all over the country, mostly for one summer. But, there were a few, key, "upper level" counselors (like the head counselors), who returned year after year. These women were tough. And they had tough names like, Sandy, Rusty, Foxy and Bobby. In fact, I spent my first week of camp in 1959, thinking Sandy was a guy. However, no one instilled more fear in me than Bobby Schammel. She was the head counselor of Inter Camp when I started and was still Head Counselor my last summer. Oddly enough, the 1959 Lenorlog had a section called, "Dirt from the Dustpan", which mentioned that Bobby was once a can-can dancer. A fact I find surprising and almost surreal. Bobby was so intimidating that even at the Camp Lenore reunion at the Yale Club in 2006, I was still a little afraid to talk to her...At any rate, one fateful summer, I had the bad luck to randomly be assigned to Bobby's table in the dining room. Now, the head counselor's table was usually reserved for the trouble-makers and miscreants of the Camp. But, usually, even the best behaved, got assigned there once. That's how I got there.
Bobby was a stickler for table manners and "taste portions." (a required tablespoon of whatever was being served.) One evening, we were served peas and little diced carrots. I dutifully took my taste portion. But, while I was spooning it into my mouth, some accidentally spilled onto the floor. Just as I finished the few remaining peas, Bobby noticed, and said, "See? You liked them after all! Would you like some more?" Something vindictive inside me prompted me to say, "Yes!" I then proceeded to take my new, full portion of peas, and discreetly drop them, one by one, onto the floor. I couldn't wait for us to be excused, thinking I was the first girl in Camp Lenore history to pull a fast-one on Bobby Schammel. However, just as we prepared to push in our chairs in and leave, Bobby decided to make us check under the table for napkins, thus revealing the pile of peas under my chair. I spent the rest of that summer seated right next to her.
There were other counselors of note. Some were in my bunks, and others were simply memorable human beings. Like my counselor in Bunk 33, Lucy Browder, who was from Sweetwater, Tennessee, and was the Nature Counselor. She kept killing jars, filled with dead bugs and butterflies in our backroom. There wer Drama counselors, like Shelley Schulman, who was the main counselor in Bunk 18 when I was a CIT. I have fond memories of Fran Streiter, who was a counselor the whole time that I was at Lenore, and was a wonderful, kind and motivating force during our summers. She was so attached to us and Lenore, that in 1967, when she had to leave camp early for some surgery, she wrote a long and poignant letter to us that was published in the Lenorlog.
And then there was Ellen Greenfield, my counselor in Bunk 34 in 1965. Maybe it was our age, her age, or the fact that we all were New Yorkers, but, to us, Ellen was the greatest counselor a sixteen year old girl could have had. Pretty, with beautiful strawberry blond hair and freckles, Ellen was funny, athletic, and was really the first counselor to whom we all could totally relate. She came to Lenore from Camp Tamarack to teach tennis, along with her sister Jane. They were quite the dynamic duo. Jane was a counselor in Lower Camp, whie Ellen was my counselor in the Valley. And, in what had to be a first for Lenore, their brother, George, also worked at Camp, too. George was a little older than us, very handsome, and as such, was quite the center of all the girls' attention. My bunkmate, Nancy Katzman ended up capturing his.
At the time she was our counselor, Ellen was engaged to marry a young, soon-to-be attorney named Roger Rosenberg. She graciously let us in on all her plans. We were even invited to her wedding. Several years later, Ellen came to mine. Time passed, and though I lost touch with her, I thought I'd try and reconnect with her when I heard about the reunion plans in 2006. Sadly, I learned that Ellen was suffering from a form of brain cancer, and was gravely ill. She passed away shortly after that.
So, here's to you, Ellen along with all the wonderful women (and men) who taught us how to swim, canoe, water ski, play tennis, golf and volley ball, and helped us grow up to be responsible, caring adults.