I was at Woodside roughly 14-15 years ago. And I had the pleasure of going to visit old friends about two years ago. I still can't believe how much it's changed! When I got there in 1987, there were 12 boys in one camp. (It didn't even have a name then, it was just "Camp". But once Woodside started to expand, it became known as "Twin Oaks".) There were only 2 permanent structures on site. An old mobile home that served as the school, and a small log cabin that housed the refrigerators, washers and dryers, cubby holes for clothes, and a shower room. The Office was what is now an antique shop on Hwy 71. Then we started to grow. We built a two room schoolhouse. (What is now the main office) This meant that the office on 71 could now be on site at the mobile home trailer. We built a new camp called "Twin Pines" on the other side of the showerhouse. We were now up to 24 boys.
And so it began!
There are so many memories I have of that place. And while 15 years is a long time, the memories even now flood back. Jeanette and Bebe Ran the place. All the different counselors I've known, loved, and hated! There was Sally (Bebe's Sister) who was a counselor. And every bit as loving and caring as Bebe. Or so I thought until Bebe and Sally "switched", then I didn't like Sally so much! Bebe was a counselor, while Sally held down an administrative position. And even when Sally was a counselor and had to punish me for whatever I did wrong that day by making me scrub the pots and pans in camp to "get the black off", (Believe me...if I didn't do something to get in trouble one day...all the counselors had a conference to figure out what was wrong with me!)
Then there was Charlie with his golden retriever (I forget the name) and he would play his guitar at pow-wow, usually "Mr. Bongangles" (On a side note, when I last visited Woodside, they didn't do a Pow-wow the two nights I was there, so I don't know if they gave that up)
And Chris. A young kid to be a counselor, But I admired him so much, and was heartbroken when he left. It was a shame too, but mistakes were made.
Then the infamous duo Terry and Kenny. I have to watch what I say, lest they figure out how to work a computer and hunt me down! I think we picked Terry up when we built the schoolhouse. And I think he brought Kenny. I think I'll stop there on those two!
Tiffany....what can I say? Loving, caring, funny, and all business. A 5 foot woman in the biggest truck you have ever seen! I wonder if she knows every kid in camp had a crush on her? I'm sure by now she must!
Bubba...I don't have enough room to say all i have to say about this man. I hated him with a passion, because he was ALWAYS in a good mood. I mean that....ALWAYS!
He would dole out his punishments in 5 minute blocks, just enough time to smoke a menthol Benson & Hedges cigarette! (Of course that's verboten now) As a kid, I never cared for anyone else, or what they thought of me. But when Bubba was disappointed in me for not achieving what he knew I was capable of, that made me stop and think. Bubba was the first person that I cared enough for to worry about what he might think of what I did. And some small part of me even today, stops and thinks what he might say about a choice I make!
Glen. I feel so bad for poor Glen. I went out of my way to make his life miserable. Don't ask me why, I don't know. I would get in trouble and have to do a "big" bucket of shavings and stay up all night doing them...I could have done it in 30-45 minutes...but I would diddle around and stay up till 5 or 6am doing them...JUST so he wouldn't get any sleep. I saw a post earlier from another former camper that no matter how hard he tried, He couldn't get Glen upset. Even Bebe knows about the 'incident'! And had it been any other kid...he probably would have lost his job...but I gave new meaning to "passive-agressive". Glen...If you're reading this now. I'm sorry for all that I did. I was a stupid kid! I wish I had been mature enough to say that 10 years ago...or even mature enough to not have done it at all.