Songadeewin and Keewaydin legend, Dick Harter, died on Monday, March 12 at the age of 81. His father, “Doc” Harter, was the original owner and Director of Songadeewin on Lake Willoughby in Vermont. Dick was a camper at Dunmore from 1941-1944, including one summer in Cabin 1 with Waboos Hare. In addition to being a renowned college and professional basketball coach, he helped run Songadeewin, along with his brother Jack and sister-in-law Aline, in the 1960s and 70s.
The January edition of Canoe and Kayak magazine has an article about Expedition 2012 and the canoe building process. Check it out! http://expedition2012.com/media
Rock the Boat, a documentary about an effort led by Keewaydin alumnus George Wolfe to gain protection under the Clean Water Act for the Los Angeles River, recently won an award at the Wild and Scenic Film Festival in California. Congratulations, George! Go to the Rock the Boat website to learn more about the documentary– http://www.rocktheboatfilm.com/
Keewaydin’s very own Clark Derbes will be exhibiting his new art work at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe, VT January 20-February 26. The opening reception is Friday, January 20.
Built over 90 years ago, this venerable building has become an historic landmark on the Keewaydin campus. It is where every Keewaydin alumnus has broken bread, sung from the songbook and seen the Banquet presentations to honor staff. It is where our history is preserved with flags and birch bark canoes hanging from the rafters, portraits of Sid and Waboos hanging above the doorways and the names of every Old Timer painted on boards. When we step into the Dining Hall, our senses are filled with Keewaydin history and a feeling of belonging. It’s a great feeling.
Though the Dining Hall has held up remarkably well, it is old and it needs attention in order to maintain its structural integrity. The Keewaydin Board recently decided that “preserving” the Dining Hall was preferable to building a new facility. So plans are in the works to replace the roof, shore up the foundation, repair the chimney and hearth, and replace window sills and frames. News regarding the timing of repairs and renovations, as well as fund raising efforts, will be forthcoming.
Chris Nevin(’74) wrote the following poem and read it aloud at the Waboos Memorial on August 28.
To an elegiac white rabbit
And so a time has passed When the return of a man, time and time again Could be tallied against the lengthening tides of all our lives When the constancy of change was tempered by the Soothing surety of one man in his rightful place
And so a time has come and gone When the rhythms of routine and toil Could be altered by his broad smile When the music of fellowship and camaraderie Rang through the rafters under his buoyant direction
And so a time has arrived When the northwest wind carries a mournful cry ‘Cross Dunmore’s field of blue When the history of a man has entered the waved and eddied stories of time’s rapid embrace
This time now fades from our view This past must lie in the ethereal Must reside in the relic’d Must be tensed as this man is no more
And yet, with this man, some greater part has slipped from death’s grasp Some transcendent light crests the ridge of Moosalamoo under Waban’s gentle guidance
For if ever a breeze could linger beyond its earthly bounds It would be this breeze If ever a voice could rise above a greensward of sylvan idyll It would be this voice If ever past joys could fill present spaces It would be these joys If ever in the shade of one man’s plantings those of us whom remain could prosper and grow It would be this shade
So now we gather in his shade, all the wiser, all the more compassionate Now we pause to consider the right way to live, the right way to pass Now we embrace, hold tight and dear, the love of a man, a place, an idea Now we act in concerted ways to stretch those memories and acts across broad plateaus Toward even broader horizons Of time and locus, amidst and among the hearts and minds of fellow travelers Whether that journey be kneeling in the bow of a canoe for the first time Or seeing the possible instead of the probable Whether that journey be a brief sojourn on a placid pond Or an epic travail through the woods of the far north Now we live and breathe that legacy, today and forevermore
And tomorrow, tomorrow we wake an enriched and ennobled people Keewaydineesi evermore, zing, boom, ta-ra-rel
