Camp Kennaway memories
By John Rosenthal (56)I was
delighted to come across the HSRSA web site while I was "just surfin'." It's
been a long time since I went to Kennaway. I guess I was one of the first
campers there in 1954. One of our earlier Toronto 46 Scoutmasters, Bob Hunt, was
Camp Director at the time.
I was assigned to Skipper Bud Jacoby's troop. I
remember only some of the guys who were there then. Manfred Appel, "Girl Guide"
Gibson, Peter Clark.
"Doctor Jim" Anderson was Camp Doctor, of course, ably
assisted by Nurse Helen Cruden down at the Camp Hospital at Kennabi. I
was devastated one time (much more recently) when I was doing some research at
the library and came across a death notice for Dr. J.E. Anderson. I wrote to
Mrs. Anderson at that time, expressing my condolences. She wrote back saying
yes, she did remember me, and she recalled my nickname. Maybe it was from the
time she took such good care of me at the Camp Hospital when I had contracted
pneumonia. That was the time Skipper Jacoby came to visit me and asked if he
could have my Kellogg's prize multi-colour flashlight.
Doctor Jim wrote and read to us, at dinnertime, the camp
newspaper, "The Thunderbird -- the eyes, ears nose and throat of Kennaway."
Which often became the "bleary eyes, runny nose and sore throat" of the camp.
Mrs. Ormerod and Mrs. Crombie were the camp
cooks.
On your web site, you are showing "Yendis" for Syd Robinson,
listed as a volunteer of the '54 Camp Staff. The first I ever recall hearing the
name Yendis was for Syd Young, but you don't have him listed on staff
until '57.
In '55 Col. Spooner was Camp Director. I don't recall a
William Widridge at all. Fred Woods (54-56) was one of the Scoutmasters all the
time I was at Kennaway. I remember him giving us a canoe lesson -- Canoe
overturned on the ground, Scouter Woods with one foot on the keel, the other on
the ground, saying, "This, Gentlemen, is a canoe." Another Scoutmaster was
Tom Faulds. Apparently his handwriting was so bad, Col. Spooner thought his
name was "Fanlop."
Both years I was at Kennaway, the "Bus Stop" was the prize
that all the other Kennabi campsites tried to steal. It was a section of
telephone pole that had once been a TTC bus stop. We had it mounted onto another
pole that was near the swimming area. When it did get stolen we put out a major
effort to capture it back. It was never away for very long!
It was probably in the winter of '54 that someone had driven a
car out on the lake and parked it on Doe Island for the summer.
I remember that we participated in a local celebration in
Haliburton one time. The Kennabi army truck was painted up to resemble a dragon
with water colour paints to have the headlights done up as eyes, etc. It was
called the Draggin' Wagon. We got to see "The Fly" at the local movie house that
night.
I guess it was '56 when the 46th got to have its own campsite
at Big Bear Point. After our troop camp, Dr. Jim asked Gary Patton and I
if we would like to help out for the rest of the summer at Kennaway. Needless to
say, we jumped at the opportunity. Even though we never got paid, we each got to
wear a "Staff" t-shirt! Gary and I shared the room behind the Doctor's Office.
Gary was a "Kitchen Boy" and I was lucky enough to be named "Curator of the
Nature Museum." We both looked after the camp mascot raccoons, "Rackety" and
"Jasper."
When it was time to leave, Scouter Woods gave me a bag of
grass seed and told me to spread it around the cabin. He didn't believe that I
had spread the whole thing! When I saw him later that Fall, he claimed that the
grass had grown so high that it pushed the cabin off to one side.
That Fall was the occasion when a few of us Kennaway Campers
were called to a special meeting at Dr. Jim's home. We sat around the table and
talked about our scoutmasters and school, etc. Then Doc pointed to a microphone
that was mounted on the chandelier above the table and told us he was going to
use the tape for blackmail. That was the beginning of the Toronto Metropolitan
Region Showmen. We put on performances at the Sportsmen's Show, first aid
demonstrations at the Royal York, and we were even on television one time on the
Holiday Ranch show. Then we got into "Scouting on the Air."
1050 CHUM gave us 15 minutes of time every Sunday at 6:00 p.m.
We spent time preparing shows during the week, and edited our tapes in the
basement of the old Scout Headquarters on Bay Street. We had a full recording
studio there and much fine equipment. A lot of help and guidance was given to us
by volunteers from CBC. Stan Wilde, from Todmorden, was one of the leaders who
worked with us. I was the announcer for the show, my "Good Evening, Ladies and
Gentlemen, this is Scouting on the Air" was recorded on "wax," and used for all
our broadcasts.
I'm sort of disappointed that the original Kennaway
Thunderbird logo got changed to the Thunderbird totem. But then, I'm all for
progress, even though I don't want things to change. I'm sort of weird that way.
Do you know if there is any representation of the original Camp Kennaway
Thunderbird emblem still existing?
I got away from Scouting after our 46th Rover Crew faded away
around 1960. At that time, we had discovered girls, and we were getting out of
high school and there were a lot of other things demanding our attention. I ran
into Doctor Jim at University of Toronto when I was there. I visited him at his
anthrops office in the Sidney Smith building.
After I graduated, I worked in South America for a couple of
years, and when I returned to Northern Quebec in 1970, I started to get involved
with a scout troop up there, but I was disappointed with all the changes that
had been made at that time. "Scouts" were younger, "Venturers" had been created.
I had a short time with the group up there and then got transferred to Jamaica.
When I returned to Toronto, I never got back into Scouting again, although I did
encourage my daughter to get into Guides, but it just wasn't her thing.
Just thought I'd put some of these thoughts down, after
visiting your web site. One of the greatest influences in my life was Doctor Jim
and I'm grateful for the opportunities he provided me. I never would have had
the chances if I hadn't gone to Kennaway.
Thanks for the opportunity to pass along some of my [best]
memories.
|
