(1960-1969)

Opening camp was not without its own set of issues.  Thirteen years of dormancy meant a lot of infrastructure and facility work needed to be done first.  And a lot of furry squatters would need to be displaced.  My father-in-law, Russ McConnell has told more than once the story of his first journey onto the camp property in 1960, driving down Raymond Road at night in the pouring rain, looking for a forty-watt light bulb someone told him would be hanging over the intersection marking the camp’s entrance.  Scattering whatever animals happened to be disturbed from their winter hangout, the family drug mattresses from various rooms into the dorm foyer and built a fire in the fireplace against the cool dampness.  The wet night gave way to a beautiful sunlit morning with the tips of the three foot tall grass sparkling like diamonds in the sun.  He was sold on the camp from then on.   

Early on there was an immediate need to put safety ladders on the second story doors of the new boy’s housing quarters, which opened to nothing but the ground ten feet below.  The girl’s dorm also needed work to meet safety codes for fire egress, adding a door at the rear of the structure.  This was before the two bathrooms were added to the back of the dorm, which meant that for the first few years all the girl campers and counselors had to juggle bathroom time between the two small bathrooms in the middle of the old dorm!  There was a lot of immediate work that had to be done in order to get the camp up to speed.  But dreams abounded for those early participants about what the camp could be in the future.  For instance, the July, ’60 minutes record that “an investigation should be made into the possibility of building a lake with swimming facilities on our own property.”  The first summer was a great success.  The camp saw 231 different campers enjoying those four weeks of camp, and thirteen of those campers were baptized into Christ! 

Early in 1961, the first newsletter from Gander Brook came out, showing the previous success of the summer camping session and talking about the future financial needs of Gander Brook.  Bob Lawrence was chosen to be the summer director for 1961.  He said, “Our chief aim is to groom young people in the likeness of Jesus Christ.”  Andy Richie was again agreeable to rounding up another batch of counselors from Harding.  This year was also a huge success, seeing over 300 camper slots filled.  Camper fees for the week were still $15.00! 

Brother Lawrence again directed camp for the ’62 session, assisted by Decker Clark.  Tuition rates were raised to $18.00.  Prior to the camp season a large auction was held to sell off as much of the unused equipment from Gander Brook’s property as could be sold.  A nice publication was developed by Lawrence and others, including Russ Fowler’s poem, “The Gander Brook Pine.” 

“Come with me for a nature walk:

We’ll leave the crowd and all their talk.

And step in the shade of the old pine tree;

Let’s pause while she whispers to you and me.

The needle are soft and the shade is cool;

We’ll have our lesson from nature’s school.

She whispers, “I’m not a cedar from Lebanon’s rim

That made Temple beams in Jerusalem.

“I’m not an oak from Hebron’s height

That made a shade for Abram’s delight.

“Neither am I a sycamore high,

A seat for Zachaeus as the Lord passed by.

“But I’m a pine at Gander Brook Camp

And I stand on a hill like a mighty lamp.

“A tree that stands in earth’s firm sod

And beckons, ‘Let us draw near to God.’’ 

Eventually the sale of the Jackman property was finalized.  In one of life’s “wish we had it to do over again” moments, the Board had earlier turned down an offer of $5,000.  The property eventually was sold for $1,800, with the proceeds going toward payback of Mr. Dunn and toward upgrades on the new property.  Again the year was a big success, seeing 329 camper slots filled and twenty-eight campers baptized into Christ.

Registration rates for 1963 stayed at $18.00.  The chief concerns for property upgrades were roofing repairs and upgrades to the septic system.  The thought of moving the boys closer to the main camp was floated, partly due to the vandalism that systematically occurred to the boy’s housing in the offseason (a problem which would plague Gander Brook for many years.)  Some felt the boys could be housed in tents, but it was during these discussions that plans were solidified for the construction of new boy’s cabins.

In that same year a note of appreciation was written to Leo Fournier for his work in repairing the front porch of the lodge.  A side note from Bernie McGrath’s history from the ‘60s says, “This was my second work project with Leo, that porch will last forever.”  Well, it didn’t quite last forever, as it needed to be re-decked with new supports in 1999, but when you consider how much traffic that porch gets, 36 years is a good long life!   

In 1964 the directorship of camp was divided between four men, Shirley Morgan, Dale Combs, Lawson Mayo, and Bob Lawrence.  In the January meeting, long range plans showed the intention of building four boy’s and four girl’s cabins, and staff would be housed in the former “girl’s dorm.”  The most pressing task to be undertaken was the boy’s cabins.  Early in the year the church in Seabrook (under Leo Fournier’s capable hand) volunteered to build one of the cabins, based on an A-frame  design modified by Russ Fowler.  Russ ordered the supplies and the construction of the cabins began during a June 4-6 work weekend.  Four cabins were begun, two being finished by the time the weekend was over.  The other two were completed before the end of the year in October.  Now a majority of the boys (the younger campers) would not have to trudge up and down the hill to join the rest of camp for the day’s activities, although they still had to walk down the hill to line up for showers at that one stall.         

            One positive note from 1964 was that the State of Maine awarded the camp with a higher rating, moving from a class “C” to a class “B.”  Later in the year a change house was constructed by Leo and his crew down at the waterfront site at Upper Range Pond.  While all-in-all the camping season was great, with 386 camper slots being filled by 329 campers, it was noted that the “split-directorship” was not an ideal situation.  Twenty-two campers were baptized in ‘leech pond.’  And the tradition of ‘family camping week’ was continued, immediately following the summer camp session. 

Retreats

1964 marks the beginning of a long-standing tradition of Gander Brook.  This was the first year of the annual Men’s Retreats, and Dr. Jack P. Lewis of Harding Graduate School was invited to be the speaker.  The first one was called a ‘Preacher’s’ Retreat, but it was intended to be a time for all Christian men (and friends) to gather and enjoy the bond of Christian fellowship.  The women would follow with their own retreat eight years later, which would turn out to be an even more densely populated weekend of inspirational fellowship for hundreds of ladies to gather and see old friends.  In 1985 these retreats would be put on a five-year rotating basis, between Maine, Vermont/Western Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Eastern Massachusetts/Rhode Island.  In 1980 the Singles of New England joined in on the fun, and for many years enjoyed their own retreats over the Labor Day weekend.

These retreats were a wonderful addition to the camp, fulfilling a long expressed goal of the Board of directors to have special times of edification for Christian adults on the camp property.  It was always intriguing to me to see how this weekend had a way of giving retreat-goers just what they were looking for.  Over at one table you might find a group of guys hunkered down in a serious Bible conversation, soaking up spiritual food from one another.  And at another table you would see men needing a respite from their taxing ministries, playing dominoes or board games.  And the singing, for both women and men alike, was so inspirational, and you learned which women could sing bass and which men could sing alto! 

Aside from the spiritual boost, the Men’s Retreat also brought a physical finale to the year’s activities, as it became the custom to drain the water and button up camp following the final “Amen!” 

Singing

Speaking of singing, how many memories center around pulling up chairs around the fireplace and dragging out the old songbooks.  With a roaring fire voices would sing until they completely wore out.  My memories of singing include Bob Lawrence and his disdain for the newer, foot-tapping music.  He preferred the hymns out of ‘old blue.’  How we would give him a hard time when we caught him tapping his toe to one of the newer songs.    

And then there were the Wednesday singing periods during camp just prior to supper, that always saw a few more people on the porch than normal, because that was the day the campers would get out the old song books and sing songs of the past.  Out of the woodwork would come the teachers, kitchen help, and other adults to join in the melodies they knew by heart.    

I recall one hot summer evening, so hot in the dorm that we were all having a hard time getting to sleep.  So we set up chairs outside on the grass in front of the porch, singing our favorite hymns. The next morning, the girl campers commented at breakfast of how we helped them settle down and go to sleep in what had to have been even hotter cabins.  They said, “we sounded like angels.”

And there were the kids coming back from swim time, singing “Killy Killy Killy Killy Wash Wash Wash Wash” as the bus rounded the bend coming into camp.  Maybe today Killy Killy doesn’t get ‘wash washed’ as much as it did in earlier years, but singing has always been a constant unifier at Gander Brook. 

One of the big tasks of 1965 was given to George Baker, Ralph Waning and Neil Durgin, that being the design and construction of a shower house in the boy’s area.  The intention was to have the facility ready for the ’66 summer session, but construction didn’t actually begin until the spring of ’66.     

While securing a director for the year was a challenge, eventually four men stepped up to co-direct the camp.  The summer camping session was again a success, with 290 camper weeks filled by 204 campers, and twelve baptisms.   

1966 was a huge year of improvements on the camp property.  Infrastructure plans for the year included re-roofing the four small cabins along the road, as well as the dorm.  The annual Memorial Day work weekend provided the opportunity to begin that roofing work. 

In addition to the reroofing, Bob Lawrence was put in charge of a group of workers to get started on a second batch of cabins, three to six new units to house girl campers.  On top of that, Tom Yoakum was given the task of constructing the boy’s shower house designed the year before.  All hands were on deck for this work, and even the June Board meeting was foregone in order to allow more nails to be hammered.  By the end of the year, not only had the five cabins along the road been reroofed; but three new girl’s cabins were finished! (Pegwaket, Nantasket, & Sagamore.)  And the boy’s shower-house project was also completed.  (Though built in 1966, the shower-house was not wired up with electricity until years later by Kenny Fecteau of Conway, NH.)

Dale Combs was the director for the year, and reported that Gander Brook saw one if its largest turnouts.  This was both good and bad.  Having big numbers was great, but the facilities and staff could not keep up with the increasing population.  It was felt that a limit of 100 campers per week should be established.  Also in this year the first of many Mid-Winter Reunions was held.  These well attended annual events gave Gander Brook campers a chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones.  These youth rallies were held in different locations all over New England.  

In 1967, plans for the property included upgrading electrical wiring, building for the boy’s and girl’s cabins, and putting the final touches on the previous year’s construction projects.  By the end of the year, not only had those projects been completed, but half of the lodge received a new roof and the main road was improved all the way back to the boy’s area.     

One note constantly on the minds of the directors was the amount of money required for all of these projects, and the desperate struggle to come up with funds to repay the creditors, who were beginning to get a little antsy about non-payments.  There were many fundraisers and pleas to Gander Brook nation, and with hard work and God’s favor, by the end of 1967 all debts were paid with over $300 still in the bank!  

Decker Clark was selected to be the director for the ’67 camping session.  This would be the first of many years that campers would see him heading up the summer activities!  Despite the concerns over the number of campers able to be accommodated, this year was a banner year, with 560 camper slots being filled and 17 young people baptized. 

Work and Worship Week

In 1967 the decision was made to implement what we now call “Work and Worship Week,” from July 3-7, the week prior to camp starting.  Russ Fowler was put in charge of this first installment of what would become a yearly tradition.  The fee was to be the family's grocery bill for the week, a practice that is still in effect even today.  Traditionally the camping season would start the week after the Fourth of July.  This meant that Work and Worship Week would usually fall during a week when many companies, factories and shops would shut down for yearly maintenance and repairs.  This meant a lot of people had the week free, and would use their vacation time to come to camp to share fellowship and get the work done to get camp ready for the summer. 

In the early years of camp, the Memorial Day weekend was a popular time that saw many people coming to camp to get a head-start on opening up the camp, getting the water up and running, knocking down the grass and getting started on repairs.  This gradually shifted to early July as Work and Worship Week became more popular.  In fact there were weeks when the camp was virtually opened from start to finish during that one week.

My first drive on the property of Gander Brook was during the 1986 installment of WWW, the year after the pavilion was built.  Finishing touches were still being put on the structure, and I can still see Leo Fournier skipping around like a squirrel on top of the pavilion’s tin roof.  Bill Howell asked me to tag along with him for a run into Windham for some supplies, and we made a pit stop at an ice cream stand in a small, A-frame building at the intersection of Rte. 86 and 302 (still standing, now serving seafood!) 

Not just adults but children did their share of work.  It may have been harder to keep them motivated, but they were taught to do their share.  How many arms full of cut grass or raked leaves would be thrown into the old blue trailer now deteriorated, but in its glory pulled around by Wendall Davis’s tractor?  While everyone put a lot of salty ‘sweat equity’ into the camp, occasionally some of us would take off at 3:00 to catch a game of disc golf before supper, fully expecting to hear Leo hollering at us, “Get back to work!”

A speaker was usually brought in to provide lessons for the evening.  It was tough to work all day, and then come sit on those hard benches for an hour of worship, but everyone came, especially for the singing.  And so many would head over to Cole Farms restaurant after worship was over.  We all loved spending time at Cole Farms, but we made life pretty difficult for a restaurant getting ready to close for the evening, only to be hit with dozens of excited Gander Brookers!  One year we got a visit from a flustered Mr. Cole asking us to at least give him a heads-up so that he could have plenty of staff on hand when Gander Brook invaded.  Eventually we learned to be a bit more respectful of his closing times.  But it was sure fun, catching up with old friends and sitting in those booths that had the vintage jukebox machines hanging on the walls above the tables. 

The early years of WWW saw large numbers.  The largest group was most likely in 1985, the year they built the pavilion.  Because many of the old factories and tool and die industries were beginning to close, and because of the changing nature of life in America, the numbers of those attending Work and Worship Week gradually began to dwindle in size, a concern that was even noted in the 1997 Board minutes.  Camp has been able to adjust, mostly by having various groups come earlier in the spring, but Work and Worship Week has given many of us wonderful reminders of preparing the camp for the first cars arriving with eager summer campers.

By 1968 the boy’s housing across the road had been all but destroyed by vandalism, and the decision was made to build two more cabins to complete the group of six we have today.  These two cabins are actually two feet longer than the other four previously built and were completed in time for camp.  The next time you walk through the boy’s area see if you can tell which those two are.  December saw the first Pine Cone publication, put out by Dennis Kelley.  Since the beginning of Gander Brook friends of the camp had occasionally received newsletters and publications about the latest happenings.  But the Pine Cone would become the official quarterly sent out to all Gander Brookers for many years to come.     

In 1969 Decker Clark was again camp director.  Camper fees were now $22.  The camp saw 411 camper weeks filled and the Kingdom saw nine new souls added in baptism.  This is the year Gander Brook received our 501 c 3 tax-exempt status from the IRS.  And with the end of the ’60s, a series of years followed with gradual improvements each year, and gradual increases in camper registration fees.  The years also saw changes in the makeup of the Board of directors and the number of responsibilities they were having to consider.  In the seventies there were seven listed committees: Booster Club, Publicity, Kitchen, Nursing, Education, Work and Worship Week, and Camp Director.  In 2021, these committees have grown to over twenty, including new ones such as: Building and Grounds, Crafts, Forestry, Special Camping, Canteen and Laundry, Waterfront, Outdoor Program, Fundraising, Web Upkeep, Security, Insurance, Water Maintenance, Camp Bus/Vehicles, Recruiting, and Registration.

The years have also brought changes in the directorship at camp, and changes in the group of counselors taking time off of their college studies.  The remainder of this history will not attempt to piecemeal every year individually, but will look at the years in groups, noticing several changes in camp life which any history of camp would need to include.  While there were improvements and significant changes to infrastructure which will be noted as the years go by, there have also been a number of things which have remained the same.  For instance:    

Vandalism

In the early years of camp there was constant vandalism.  Sometimes the lodge would be hit. One rough year saw the piano beaten up and the beautiful glass globes which hung in the lodge were all broken.  Only the old pictures remind us of how nice the dining room looked when it was the “Sunset Dining Room.”  Many a moose has suffered the indignity of being uses as a piñata.  One year’s notes recall how Ron and Faye Doran did a nose job on the moose head to try to fix the damage from the winter before.  Usually occurring in the spring, the boy’s lodging across the road was a popular target for the destruction.  Even though plans called to rewire and even paint the old boy’s lodging across the road in 1971, vandalism took its toll to the point that this structure would eventually have to be torn down in 1972.  The house was dismantled and the rubbish all pushed into the basement. 

In those early years there were not many houses on Raymond Road, and we had few neighbors.  Over the years there have been a variety of security systems installed, which always seemed to be annoyingly set off by furry visitors.  Those systems also seemed to come with rather short life spans.  Evidently, twenty-below zero weather inside the lodge is not a healthy environment for electronic circuitry.  But over the years, more houses began to pop up on the roads leading to camp, which meant more neighbors, more eyes, and more traffic.  On the one hand, it’s definitely not as quiet and peaceful on the property as it was back in the early days, but on the other hand, we haven’t had any major vandalism in years!

Water, Water, but not necessarily everywhere…

Another constant has been the ongoing efforts to provide and maintain good water to the camp.  While the need is constant, this necessity has prompted a large percentage of changes the camp has seen.  How many PVC pipes have been glued, pumps burned out, joints sweated, toilet or faucet guts replaced, and leaks repaired?  How many silent prayers lifted up before striking the match to hopefully fire up a stubborn hot water tank after eight months of dormancy?  How many frustrating trips to the “cage” to try to find just the right fitting, only to end up in yet another trip to the hardware store?  The need for water has always prompted “water problem surveys,” discussions of replacing iron pipe with plastic, upgrading water systems, digging or drilling new water sources, revamping shower house facilities, getting yet another dishwasher, another washing machine, another hot water tank, another pump.  Seldom are the years that we did not have to glance every two hours at the little round gauge on the walk-in wall in the kitchen to see how the camp pressure was holding up. 

It wasn’t that there was a problem with the water.  In fact the water at Gander Brook is super!  It may not exactly have “curative properties” the old Wilson Hotel hype suggested, but it was refreshing, whether it came from the lower or upper spring, or the lower or upper drilled well.  I always enjoy telling newcomers to camp that when they shower at Gander Brook, they are showering in Poland Springs water.          

When the deep well was drilled in spring of 2002 down by the lower well house, we finally struck gold and hit a superb water supply giving us fifty gallons a minute!  Some believe it’s the same aquifer as Poland Springs, so I may not be far off about those showers we take!  However, it is only in recent years that our water infrastructure has remained fairly intact and reasonably maintenance free.

In the earliest years of camp, the water came from the spring at the lower wellhouse, where the unique old spring-house still stood, minus the porch.  The floor of the wellhouse had a plywood access panel covering a stone-lined pit that filled with water received from nearby springs.  At the beginning of the season, a pump would be lowered into that stone lined pit and water pumped up to the lodge.  Of course, if you didn’t first screw the drain caps on the pipe going uphill, you’d have a dozen water-spouts shooting thirty feet into the air to remind you of your blunder.  When we first bought the camp, water was fed into the monstrous green storage tank in the basement of the lodge, which was probably installed when Noraco Lodge was built in 1927!  From there the water was pumped directly to the other cabins throughout the camp. 

That all changed when the girl’s shower house was built in 1970.  In 1971 a new well was dug behind the girl’s area as a dedicated source of water for the girl’s shower house.  An enclosed structure was built over this well, which was basically a large, underground concrete holding tank.  The floor over the well had an access hole for a pump to be lowered into, which fed the girl’s shower house.     

I only recall one year (2010) where failed water tests resulted in the camp being put on a “boil water” ban for the year.  The problem wasn’t the water—it was our piping.  Early on the process began of replacing all the old iron piping throughout camp with plastic.  A significant portion of the old iron piping (from the lodge down to Raymond Road) was replaced in 2004.  Sometimes this plastic piping would be buried, and other times would lay on top of the ground, to be buried by another work crew another year.     

In 1979 an open conduit was placed under Raymond Road which would allow passage for any future piping from the lower well.  Unfortunately, this was not placed far enough below the frost line, and had to be redone in 2013 to provide future winterization for lines coming from the lower well house.  That same year the piping from the lower well house to Raymond Road was buried below the frost line.  The water system was later upgraded when the lodge water supply (from the lower spring) was tied into the well (behind the girl’s area.)  In 1980 a new pressure tank assembly at the lower well house finally eliminated the need for the huge green tank at the lodge. 

Due to the ever-jeopardized water supply, a new well was drilled near the upper well house in 1996.  Unfortunately, it produced barely enough water to be a viable resource for camp, producing only three to four gallons per minute.  As a result, it was necessary to install a two-thousand gallon tank to the back of the upper wellhouse, to which that upper well and eventually (in 1999) the lower spring source were tied.  This effectively meant that the upper well reservoir under the floor was no longer needed, although Glenn Richardson once told me the water was still available for emergency use in case a pumper truck needed a source to fight a fire.  In 1997 the new storage tank was enclosed and covered for protection, using material salvaged from the demolition of the change house at the old waterfront at ‘leech pond.’         

In 1995 the old springhouse was in such bad disrepair that a new stick built structure was actually built inside of it to keep the water access, pump and pressure tanks covered.  After this new structure was built, the old springhouse building was dismantled in 1999 and forever relegated to memories and photographs.  Over the years new piping has been installed, some to be buried for future winter use, some still visible above ground.  A new chlorination system was installed in 2012, minimizing the threat of any future “boil water” bans.  The floor over the upper wellhouse was replaced in 1993, and again in 2017.  There will always be ongoing work to upgrade and winterize our water system, but for now the camp has a good, stable setup that we pray will work for years to come. 

Not only have we had to deal with trying to get and keep water coming to the faucets, but there has always been an ongoing battle of what to do with it once it goes down the drain!  In 1969 three new septic tanks were authorized for installation in different locations.  The 1984 director’s report shows that three leach fields were desperately in need of repair (the boy’s shower house, the girl’s shower house and the kitchen.  That report also noted the need to replace the failing dishwasher.  In 1985 the kitchen leach field was upgraded.  And work was done in the kitchen to insure an adequate supply of 180 degree water for dishwashing.  In 1986 the kitchen plumbing was finally tied to the new leach field. In 1989 a new leach field was constructed to serve the girl’s shower house and the dorm.

In June of 2001 the major septic issue involved the four small cabins along the road.  The tank between the dorm and infirmary was an old metal one that no longer functioned well, if at all.  Glenn Richardson suggested that we tie these four cabins together, adding two new septic tanks and totally replacing the aging leach field behind the RV area.  Glen came up with a few transit and shovel bearing friends, who watched as he skillfully manipulated the large, rented excavator.  Holes and trenches were dug, septic tanks and pipe laid, and gravel and sand levelled over the leach field, which is now guarded by the large boulders that sit in a row behind the RV area. 

And on and on it goes.  Anyone with half a handy hand can probably tell you of an experience or two or twenty related to water at camp.  Here’s one of my own: one spring as we were opening up camp we couldn’t seem to get water to drain from the kitchen.  Determining that it was a clog in the sewer line from the lodge out to the septic tank, I went to the cage and got out the long metal drain snake and prepared to take the end cap off the four inch clean-out.  I turned the end cap thinking it was going to be a tight-fitting chore.  The back pressure blew the cap off and gray water shot two feet across the room.  It would have probably shot ten feet, but for the fact that I was the one two feet away, blocking its progress!  And here’s where we say, “Insert line, and add your own story!”