What tents were you in?
Boot Hill, Gettysburg, Olympus, and one other I don’t remember in the adventure unit. My counselors were Mary Houts, “Herman” – I can’t remember her real name but Kathy Richardson was SDP in the tent. My last counselor was Kathleen Adams, “Foochow” with whom I was recently reunited at the girl’s camp reunion in 2007.
What job did you have as a staff member?
I did a bunch of things. I worked in the dining hall as part of the Kitchen staff. The hard part of that job was getting up early to make breakfast. My favorite part was running the dishwasher and of course Alan Stewart’s cooking tips. Plus he would wake me up in the Hilton by making a ‘pssstt’ sound through my window as he walked by. If not for him, I would have never shown up for breakfast.
I was the Waterfront Director in charge of both Swimming and Boating around 1981. I remember the year we got new red canoes. There was quite a bit of assembly required and nothing really lined up very well so it took much longer to put them together and then things kept coming lose. We called them the FRC (fun red canoes) but insiders understood my contempt for them. My biggest fear was that someone would get seriously injured and that added some stress to the job.
I was the Nurse for innumerable years. In that role you get to see a different side of camp and end up dealing with everything from broken arms to hurt feelings. On my first day it was pouring rain during check in and a camper came in with what looked like four insect bites. Turns out it was chicken pox and I had to evacuate / quarantine the entire tent. Sir G and I talked a lot that day on the intercom between his office and the health lodge. It was crazy to me that I actually earned the same salary for this job that I did for waterfront director. Ah, camp.
What are you doing now?
I’m a nurse practitioner with a small family practice in rural Wyoming. I’ve taught nursing at Central Wyoming College, Waukesha County Technical College, and Yale. Along the way earned a doctorate degree in Community Nursing. Early in my career, I had an interest in trauma and was the director of a Life Flight helicopter. After while the trauma got to me and I worked overseas providing healthcare for the weapons inspectors working on START and INF treaties. This gave me a taste for how the medical field can influence foreign policy. The interest in working overseas started with a visit to Igor Novosselov in Russia. We met at camp when Igor was an exchange counselor, and he was a reason to go to Russia, a place I’d always wanted to visit.
My husband is currently serving the U.S. in Iraq, working as a logistics coordinator at the Baghdad airport. He and I met in Siberia in 2000, and my dear and many camp friends made up the largest contingent at our wedding in 2002
What about your camp experience has influenced you the most?
Thinking back on everything that I’ve done, there is a common thread that started at camp. In the SDP program I received the first consistent reinforcement of my abilities and developed leadership skills that I still use everyday. Many of the people I met 30 years ago are still my close friends, those who, I like to joke, have known me for years yet still love me anyway. I’ve met people from camp all over the world. The other big influence was the wonderful acceptance of everyone no matter who they were or what they could do. Finally, at camp I felt the total freedom to explore my spirituality from all perspectives – I realized there was more to it than what I had been taught at church in Wheaton, Illinois. This has been reinforced as I have represented the United States of America all over the world. I hope that people realize that U.S. citizens ‘serve their country’ in roles inside of and outside of the military. I think Phantom Lake Camp is a great place to foster this sense of service outside of traditional military service.
Is there anyone from camp to which you'd like to say hello?
Carolyn Russell, Nancy who works in office, anyone who is taking on the year ‘round work at camp that is so invisible to those who are only there in the summer. My hat is off to them, as they have to fill so many roles. Because I live in Wyoming it’s hard to physically have an impact on camp but I do want to stay connected and continue to be part of camp. I believe that the Internet is a wonderful tool that enables us to do so. I send my kudos to the developers of this site. Thanks for all that you do to keep us all connected!!!! Hello to anyone I didn’t see at Jon and Bryn’s wedding in October (a short list).
Would you like to share your email address?
RuthanneRN@mac.com
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