It is really difficult to condense 12 summers of memories from such a wonderful place. It actually started in 1957 when my sister got to go to Hagan for 2 weeks. I really wanted to go also, but my parents told me I was too young. Then in 1958 when I was in Junior 2 for the last 2 week session and we had Christmas in August and Janie Magee Mitchell got to light the candle as the youngest child, I found out that I really could have gone the year before. My parents apparently weren’t ready for me to go. I remember the “water test” on the first day. I was not a swimmer at that time; in fact, I couldn’t even put my face in the water. “White Star” I heard someone call out. I didn’t really know what that meant, but I survived the cold river water. I know I was white star in Junior 3 also and then I must have gotten brave because by Intermediate 7 I was finally promoted to white cap. I don’t have a lot of specific memories from my early years at camp. I know I occasionally fell asleep during the rest hour time, so I must have played hard and I certainly had a good time.
I remember the drive from the Philadelphia area to camp. My parents drove up the Northeast extension of the turnpike and got off at the Mahoning Valley exit. I remember the exit being quite a curve and when we got there I knew camp wasn’t much further away. I also remember the “roller coaster” road from Route 209 to River Road. My stomach was full of butterflies, not from the ups and downs and twists, but from the anticipation of finally getting to Hagan. When we arrived someone was waiting at the entrance to the camp to check off names and tell us what cabin I was assigned to. Cars were already parked behind Great Hall and we would find a spot, open the trunk and someone with chalk would come and label the trunk of clothing. There was this neat old “woody” station wagon that would drive the trunks to the appointed cabins. I don’t remember whether we stopped at the Rat Trap first or went to the Pill Box for the athlete foot check. One year I had stubbed my little toe really hard the day before and ouch it hurt when the nurse or assistant separated my toes to check.
When I was in the Junior and Intermediate cabins, I have to admit, I don’t think I knew where the shower house was. I figured we swam every day and washed our hair in the Delaware on Fridays (oh how not environmentally safe that was!) so I didn’t need a shower.
The year I finally made it to the Senior side of camp was exciting. Friendships started to form as more Hags tended to come back and at the same session. Senior 3, 5, 7 were my cabins. For the time in Senior 3, I was still a 2 week camper. But by then I was a better swimmer and I remember spending most optional periods down at the river enjoying the cool water. For Senior 5 I convinced my parents I should stay a month, but for some reason I chose the middle 4 weeks. Most people stayed either the first 4 or the second 4, so the camp kind of cleared out and we had to start over again with friendships. For Senior 7 I was given the choice of going to camp for 2 weeks and going to Europe with my family, or going to camp for the whole season. Needless to say, I was in Senior 7 for the whole season. Somehow we arrived early enough that I was able to get a top bunk and was happily up there the whole season. The advantage of the top bunk was that you could have your trunk right at the edge of the storage loft next to your bed and you didn’t have to have a cubby with all clothing and other items folded neatly with the folds facing the door. As long as the mess wasn’t visible it didn’t matter what it looked like inside the trunk. You would have thought that as a season camper I would have worked on at least one tie, but I was so happy down on the waterfront that there was little else I wanted to do. Although I did try to do some of the other activities as I was really hoping to be chosen as a CIT for the next summer. I think this is the summer I also did junior lifesaving. I remember being called to the water front to “save” Robin Ruth. I got her back to shallow water and then tried to figure out how to do a shallow water carry on her and not fall over because of the rocks! Somehow I survived and passed! This is the summer that I met Bonnie Reyher Mellor and Barbara Huffman Belon. Somehow we three have maintained contact for over 50 years. That’s what Hagan friendship can do for you.
The summer of 1965 I was chosen to be a CIT. I was so excited. It felt like quite an honor. There were 15 of us as there were no 2nd year CITs that summer for some reason. We arrived during “pre-camp” week to help do whatever needed to be done to get camp ready for opening day. We were assigned to different areas of the camp as the summer went on so we could be prepared to work anywhere in the camp. I actually don’t remember doing much more than the waterfront activities and athletics. I guess they had me pegged before the summer started. We had 2 “days off” during the summer. One of them we went to New Hope, Pa and the Buck County Theater. There someone got copies of the musical “Alice in Wonderland” which we did as our CIT play. That means 15 girls playing various parts. Jane Flanagan Klein Rittenhouse was our Alice; Nancy Milnes Givens was the White Rabbit. I don’t really remember who played what else, but many of us played more than one part to fill it out. I can still get through part of some of the songs. Our CIT head was Bonnie. She hadn’t grown up at Hagan like many of us had, but she understood about the traditions and what needed to be done to guide these 15 girls as we grew into leaders.
The summer of 1966 there were 6 of us chosen to go on to become JCs (Junior Counselors). We were supposed to be paid $100 for the summer, plus the room and board such as it was, but Monroe County had an occupational privilege tax and we would have had to pay $10 back, so they paid us $99 instead! As JCs we were pretty much just assigned to work in 2 areas. I was on the waterfront. Swimming and boating and canoeing were my 2 favorite things anyway, so I was extremely happy. Karen, Jane, Susie, Bonnie, Nancy and I grew together that summer. The JCs also put on a play each summer and somehow we figured with 6 people we could pull off “My Fair Lady”. We learned the songs and some dialogue and managed to have a great time doing it.
1967 I was assigned to be counselor of Intermediate 7. It was funny to be back in that cabin as a counselor after having spent 2 weeks there a few years earlier as a camper. I was a swimming instructor which made me exquisitely happy. One thing I specifically remember from that summer is that the roof of the cabin leaked in the rain. There was a mad scrambling of trying to move beds into spots that were dry, and one night I ended up giving up my bed and sitting up because there was just nowhere else to go that was dry.
1968 I was assigned to be counselor of Senior 3, once again a cabin in which I had been a camper. During precamp week, Karen Beatty who was DP (Department Head) of boating and canoeing and Deb Lindenmuth, the camp directress that year, somewhat cautiously asked me if I’d be willing to split my time between swimming and boating and canoeing. They didn’t have to ask twice. That summer Karen ran a Basic Canoeing class (Red Cross certified) which I took so that I could go ahead and get my canoeing instructor the next summer before camp started. This year I remember some of my campers. Not too many of them by name as it has been almost 50 since. They were such unique individuals, I really felt honored to get to know them and help them with their experience at camp.
1969 I became the DP of boating and canoeing. I was assigned 2 counselors to work with me, Gay Staudenmaier Moceri and Janie Magee Mitchell. We would teach the basics of the parts of the rowboats to the younger campers and take them out for rides in the rowboats. The junior campers got one “Rock” lunch a 2 week session. That required putting about 5 campers in the boats, rowing upstream to “The Rock” and having a bag lunch. The bag lunches consisted of 2 sandwiches. One was peanut butter and jelly and the other was Lebanon bologna and cheese, a piece of fruit, usually an apple or orange, and 2 cookies. We also had a couple of gallons of “bug juice” to cart along. The older kids were allowed to use the rowboats on their own. We also gave instruction on canoes and canoeing techniques. Each session on Wednesdays, which were “optional” days we offered a canoe trip. One was an overnight, where they “trucked” us upstream to a campground. We slept in our sleeping bags out in the open, cooked a dinner over an open fire and had breakfast then headed downstream back to Hagan. The other trips were downstream to Kittatinny Beach where we could cavort on the rafts and floats until the truck arrived to take us back to camp.
That was my last year as Hagan as I believed that I needed to make more money since I was heading for student teaching and wouldn’t be able to have a part time college job at the same time. I did find a job near my parents’ home and didn’t make any more money that another summer at camp, but I did meet my husband that summer, so I guess it all turned out ok.
There are many other memories of camp that come floating back. This part will not be in chronological order, just some memories here and there.
The middle Saturdays were “Special Days”. I remember Army/Navy Day where the camp was divided into two teams and we had contests like tug-of-war, capture the flag. We usually ate outside for lunch on those days. The kitchen “boys” had to set up stations around the main part of the campus. One was for the sandwiches, one was for bug juice, and one was for dessert, usually watermelon. We would sit with our teams and plan strategies for the afternoon events.
Another memory was evening Vesper services. There was a visiting pastor from a Lutheran church who would come and stay at Ministerium with his family for free, but he had to do an evening service for us and Camp Miller and a Sunday service for both camps also. A senior cabin was the “choir” and we got to sit on 2 “benches” made of raised logs at the front of the outdoor chapel. The vesper service was probably about 30 minutes long. There was a cross on the path that led to the chapel and once you passed it there was to be no more talking as you were to start getting in the right frame of mind for worship.
We had evening entertainment each night also. Occasionally we saw an old movie. I remember watching “Ol’ Yeller” as a junior camper and being scared silly. Sometimes the cabins had to put on skits and the DPs would vote on which was the best. There was often a play that campers would work on during optional period and put on for the camp. I do remember watching “West Side Story” with an all-girl cast. One favorite was the song contest. We did a lot of singing in Great Hall after each meal so we needed new songs each year. Each cabin had to come up with either a campfire or rousing type of song. I think it was the summer of 1968 that Margie Bartleson Perry helped come up with one called “Feather Beds”; we still sing it when we get together for our reunions.
Camp was fairly structured. There were 4 periods of classes during the day with an optional period and then a “free period” which was actually a relaxing time for the counselors. Everyone had swimming lessons once a day and the other 3 periods were divided among the other activities: boating and canoeing, athletics, nature, pioneering, religion, entertainment. This was the kind of atmosphere that some people thrived in, like me, and others rebelled against so they didn’t keep coming back to Hagan.
We had “kapers” every day. That was simply cleaning the cabin with one special job, like sweeping Great Hall or rolling the tennis courts that were made of gravel. There was a Kaper chart with the various jobs assigned on a rotating basis day by day according to your bed number. One job was OD, Officer of the Day. That person got to run to the Rat Trap Porch after breakfast and find out what the cabin’s schedule was for the day.
After dinner we had canteen time. You could buy candies, ice cream and other sweets. In the early years of my stay we were dismissed by our kaper score so if your cabin was messy and got a low score you were one of the last ones called and risked having the bugle blow signaling the end of canteen before you got a chance to get your treat. There were usually tournaments after canteen. Your cabin would be assigned some kind of team game to play again another cabin that was close in age.
I can’t believe this is page 4 already, so here are some more random thoughts about camp:
- Uniforms – not the prettiest, but definitely a “leveler” for socio-economic reasons.
- Dances – senior cabins on Friday evening. Either Miller came up to Hagan or we went down to Miller.
- Wednesdays- all optional periods, except swim lessons. Sometimes we would have a “play day” with another camp in the general area. I remember going to Akiba and running into to friends from high school.
- Staff parties – usually once a summer, either in Great Hall or one time we did a cookout down on the beach and later that summer a potato or two wrapped in foil would appear in the rock piles.
- Overnight hikes for the cabins. Senior cabins did one a session.
- Dinner hikes. This was for the younger kids and usually did one a session.
- Counselors hanging out with the kitchen boys after taps, listening to records (yes, records) or just chatting. The occasional contraband of alcohol, but we consumed it just off campus so we wouldn’t get in too much trouble. We also took the occasional trip to Port Jervis, NY where at 18 you were legal.
To anyone who might have dug up our time capsule and is reading this and trying to make sense of it, you have to understand what a magical and important place this was, both physically and in our memories. Strong friendships and values were cemented here and remain to this day.