News from Elizaville

As Scatico’s 100th anniversary draws near it has turned thoughts toward the passage of time—and the essential conundrum of how it can pass so slowly in the moment and yet also in an instant through the years.

Each summer, campers arrive and embracethe slow, rich progression of the hours and the days. Childhood at its best—outdoors and nestled within a nurturing community. Morning line-ups. Afternoon general swims. Taps at night. Divisional activities. Full-camp special events. Just sitting and talking with friends. The moments of childhood seem like they will linger forever. And then, in an instant, it’s the closing banquet. Another season etched in memory.

As campers annually sit around Opening Campfires, sparks rising into a star-filled sky, they think of the adventures awaiting them in the days ahead. This is a ritual begun in 1921 that has spanned the decades, continues today, and will carry on into the future. Excitement. Nervousness. Wonder. Brotherhood and sisterhood. The thought that where you sit right now, around a campfire envisioning the summer to follow, is a place where someone has sat before and a place where someone will sit in years to come.

All Scatico campers and counselors have sat on those campfire benches and embraced these fundamental emotions. This is true whether you dreamed of ice cream cones at Coons or Holy Cow; if your caretaker was Fred Petersen or Al Adams; if your flagpole was in front of the Social Hall or on girls back campus; if your talent show performances included songs from Gilbert and Sullivan or “Hamilton”; if your tennis was played with wood racquets on clay courts or carbon fiber composites on all-weather surfaces; or if you had California Fruit Salad for lunch weekly or drank half-pints of chocolate milk at Taps in the evening.

With the approach of Scatico’s 100th anniversary, we think of the thousands of campers and staff who have created our community, culture, and collective memories, and the thousands still to come who will build on this legacy. And as this milestone nears, we will plan how best to celebrate and capture the sights, sounds, and smells (it’s 1980, you’re walking past the bake shop, and you know for certain there will be chocolate chip cookies for dessert at lunch) as well as the less tangible (and more lasting) embrace of friendships and memories.

The years of childhood pass slowly.... and way too quickly.

Mark Your Calendars—Scatico Is Turning 100!!

Camper or staff, green or gray, we want to see YOU at Camp Scatico’s sure-to-be epic 100th reunion celebration on October 3, 2020! The summer of 2020 will be Scatico’s centennial, and we’re marking the occasion by bringing together Scaticonians of every generation for a special reunion event AT CAMP. Canteen and campfires, speeches and s’mores, time on the ballfields and time at the lake, the 100th will bring together little pieces of all things camp, as well as honor Scatico’s legacy and tradition. The event will be free to everyone, and all are welcome, from those who experienced Scatico in the 1920s and 1930s to current campers and their families. Please visit www.scatico100.com for more information, and keep your eyes peeled for an official Save the Date going out via email soon.

Carrying On the Tradition

More than 120 alumni will have children at camp this summer as campers or staff members. In no particular order: Eric Strauss, Stacey Koretsky Strauss, Margie Ostrove, Andrea Friedman Voorhis, Jen Florin Finkel, Ken Senior, Doug Florin, Emily Malech Florin, Dave Kedwards, Alyssa Sourifman Percival, Randi Schwartz Gross, Jon Reitzes, Lindsay Newblatt Reitzes, Todd “Bulldog” Weiss, Chris Harwood, Allie Doliner Harwood, Pam Blomberg Schwartz, Jon Cooper, Andrea Baron Cooper, Stef Birbrower Greer, Ian Ranzer, Larry Max, Michael Vickers, Dori Popkin Chait, Randy Goldstein, Justin Lapatine, Debb Falk Zerwitz, Kara Horowitz Bockstein, Roger Lowenthal, Marc Stiefel, Jeffrey Hellman, Shawn Chudnoff Goldberg, Greg Mazarin, Gary Orseck, Josh Weiss, Hillary Nahoun Krane, Jimmy Moscou, Pavel Mozga, Magdalena Parwinicka Mozga, Tom Rubinson, Jennifer Fleischner, Beth Gustave Bochner, Samantha Nahoun Gornstein, Eric Kleiner, Alan Ranzer, Arthur Roses, Rob Rubin, Andrew Tannenbaum, Kerri Berkman Winderman, Andrew Zuckerman, Katie Mazarin Derasse, Laszlo Nemeth, Stacey Lipton Schumer, Gregg Rosh, Barry Pisetzner, Melissa Rosenblum, Brian Kanter, Whitney Scott Jacobson, Mandi Zucker, Rob Klafter, Melissa Koehler, Jen Kahn Feuer, Ali Stiefel Lobel, Jessica Clark Newman, Judd Henry, Iris Henry Warren, Todd Garber, Samantha Safran Bodner, Rebecca Roses Harrison, Ben Klein, Sara Michaelson Yarkon, Aaron Ziff, Dana Tannenbaum Savitsky, JJ Shapiro, Scott Yurdin, Randi Madison Zelkin, Pam Weiss Caldara, Alison Goodman Ecker, Hillah Wiczyk Mendez, Kate Deutsch Eichel, Scott Madison, Jason Sanders, Dusty Fox, Ken Vallario, Aaron Wattenberg, Sloan Zuckerman, Kara Haback Freeman, Julie Nahoun Hartstein, Lara Holzer Miller, Beth Yurdin Metzendorf, Jeff Araten, Linda Lowenthal Tolstoi, Adam Holzer, Patti Klyde Press, Todd Fass, Julie Strauss Greeley, Melissa Fass Karlin, Gerald Stein, Leslie Wayte Heineman, Andrew Rubinson, Susan Gross Greenbaum, Mike Madorsky, Elisa Segal Madorsky, Becky Feuer, David Rothenberg, Richard Croland, Larry Hamburg, David Rosh, Michael Smiley, Jessica Weiner Mester, Stephanie Deutsch Clendenin, Susie Oshatz Perlman, Jon Feldman, Dick Hecker, Nancy Klyde Hecker, Dave Berger, Felicia Berger, Elyssa Berger Schecter, Ketti Krieger, and Courtney Chiddick.

Not included are many grandparents (and even a few great-grandparents). Special shout-outs to Laszlo Nemeth, Dave Kedwards, Pavel Mozga, and Magdalena Parwinicka who began their Scatico careers as International staff members.

Camp Friendships

Rick Frishman (1960s-70) is an author, publisher, and speaker who provides advice on publicity and publishing for entrepreneurs and businesses. He shared the excerpt below from a weekly online column he writes called “Sunday Tips” (and which reaches more than 30,000 subscribers):

I have an interesting story about old friendships. I was a camper at Camp Scatico in Elizaville, NY, from 1965-67. I was a counselor from 1972 to 1976.

Last week I reached out to two kids that were in my bunk when we were 10 years old in 1965. First kid was Jimmy Roberts. NBC Sportscaster (and legend). I sent him an email last Sunday and said: “Don’t know if you remember me, but you were my bunkmate in 1965.”

Within 15 minutes he replied, “Hey Ricky—great to hear from you....” We have been emailing each other throughout the week.

Kid #2 was my best friend George who slept in the bed next to me. I Googled him and sent an email to his assistant. I explained I may have the wrong George, but please pass it on.

Well, today I got an email from him: “Hi Ricky—great to hear from you. What have you been doing the past 54 years?”

So, reach out to old friends. You never know what can happen.

The bunkmate Rick mentions above is George Rohr, who attended Scatico as a camper for several summers in the 1960s.

The Day the Laundry Truck Took Down the Front Gate with the Arch.... 1950s? There would seem to have been a major miscalculation. Amazingly, caretaker Fred Petersen was able to save the side stonework. And as a testament to his craft as the original mason, the truck did not crumble any of the mortar work. Next photo: Beulah and Fred Petersen.

We Will Miss You

Steve Sertner passed away on Janiary 19, 2019. Steve was a Scatico camper from 1963 to 1972. His sister Ellyn Sertner Lavigne was also a Scatico camper.
Sam Rosenblum passed away on December 30, 2018. A Paterson, NJ, native, he was a camper in the 1950s-60s and the patriarch of a Scatico family, with 4 children (Sara, IJ, Melissa, and Ali) and 4 grandchildren (Eliana, Daniel, Jared, and Max) as campers from the 1970s to 2010s.
Sam Sergy, who passed away on April 27, 2018, also traveled from Paterson, NJ, to Elizaville as a camper in the 1950s, along with his brothers Alan and Bruce.
Jack Atkins passed away on March 23, 2019. He was a Scatico camper and staff member from 1955 to 1969. His father Steve and younger brothers Dick, Chick, and Bob were also Scatico campers.
Neil Schain passed away on April 28, 2019. Neil spent more than 25 summers at Scatico, beginning as a counselor in 1983 and through to his final season as an assistant in the Admin Office in 2015. He introduced the “final night” slide show to camp and produced more than 15 versions of this through 1997.

Staying in Touch

As always, we like to start off with RSSes (Random Scatico Sight-ings)....

A rare 3-way RSS (and, no less, in the bleachers at Yankee Stadium) brought together Moises Torres (2013-19—current assistant head of girls athletics), Ryan Kenny (2005-16—former camper, counselor, and division leader), and Daniel Kovacs (2013-19—current Junior Counselor)...

Wear your Scatico gear! Andi Arnold (1980s-2010s) was attending a Broadway show in her Scatico vest when she was stopped by Harriet Koretsky (mom of Stacey and Josh, mother-in-law of Eric Strauss, and grandmother of current camper Jacob Strauss)....

Jill Ettinger (1980s-90s) was having coffee in Los Angeles with Joanna Jacobs, a mom of one of her daughter’s classmates. Talk naturally turned to summer camp and they soon discovered that the friend’s older brother, Cooper Jacobs, is a current Scatico camper....

A second L.A. RSS spanning 50 Scatico summers—Mike Samuels (1980s-2010s) and Doug Herzog (1967-78). Mike was most recently at Scatico as an assistant head counselor in 2017 and is a newly-transplanted Californian. Doug is currently on the Leadership Team at Quibi, a short-form video content streaming service founded by Jeffrey Katzenberg that is slated to launch in the spring of 2020....

In non-RSS alumni news.... Congratulations to Jeff Bukantz (1970s-80s) who was an honoree at The Jewish Sports Heritage Association’s recent annual dinner for his lifetime contributions to the sport of fencing in the United States and his term as President of Maccabi USA. Jeff’s dad Daniel Bukantz (a Scaticonian in the 1930s) was a 4-time member of the U.S. Olympic fencing team....

Jon Gross (2006-16) was featured in a recent article in Penn State News, highlighting his career as a broadcaster at the University over the past 4 years (including coverage of the Rose Bowl). In the fall, he will become the lead sports broadcaster (football, basketball, baseball, and softball) at UNC at Pembroke...

On a recent visit to Los Angeles from his home in Boulder, CO, Jim Moscou (1970s-80s) connected with a slew of contemporary Scaticonians over the course of several days: brothers Tom and Andrew Rubinson, sisters Julie Strauss Greeley and Margie Strauss Featherstone, Mike Samuels, Brett Moore, and Jill Ettinger....

A photo to the right shows Michael Lasker (1980s-90s), holding an Oscar after this year’s Academy Awards: “I was the CG Supervisor for the Look of Picture for Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse at Sony Pictures Imageworks. I supervised the team that figured out how to take Sony Animation artwork and bring it to life on screen”....

Bob Siegel’s Scatico career began in 1929. He lives in Palm Coast, FL, and emailed recently to ask, “Am I your oldest camper?” Readers?....

Bob Singer (a counselor and division leader in the 1960s) reports the he is “still doing scheduling and summer work at Crestwood Day Camp” in Melville, NY....

A 2010s staff reunion in the Czech Republic: Moises Torres and Robin Guzman recently traveled from New York to visit Katie Simova and Ondrej Podrasky in Prague, sending in a photo from the John Lennon Wall.... Dominika Komarova, Peter Makuch, and Barbara Bodai traveled from Slovakia to work together in the Scatico kitchen in 2017. Barbara recently sent in a photo from their mini-reunion in Bratislava and wrote: “I spent 3 months at Scatico and made life-long friendships which I will be forever thankful for and I have never felt so welcome anywhere else. As cheesy as it sounds—the best summer of my whole entire life”...

Former bunkmates Laura Kahn and Tory Dodge (both 1990s-2010s) are now co-workers at Ernst and Young in Manhattan....

...Since marrying at camp in the spring of 2016 and then moving to London after the summer, Matty Carroll and Kael Au (who first met as staff members in 2008) have clearly established the unofficial European headquarters for Scatico: the photo to the right shows Kael with fellow 2010s counselors Kristina Hilling, Dani Vaughn, and Laura Corder; a Scatico reunion is planned for a June Yankee-Red Sox game in London; and other recent Scatico connections have included get-togethers with Ali Levine (1990s-2000s), Emily Mester (2000s-2010s), and Kate Rosenfeld (2000s-2010s). (And we’re thinking this is not the full report!)....

Scott Lief and Liz Croland (1970s-80s) see each other regularly at meetings of the Ridgewood, NJ, Chamber of Commerce. Scott is the current president and Liz is a board member.... A January reunion in Maryland of Scatico past and present, organized by current camp moms Debb Falk Zerwitz, Dori Popkin Chait, and Jen Finkel Florin, brought together three camp families and three generations of campers. Every camp decade from the 1950s to the 2010s was represented (except for the 1970s). Steve Heyman Florin, the senior statesman, began his Scatico career in 1955....

A reunion above the clouds (see back left of photo) atop a mountain in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (left to right):Jesse Prager (current head of Scatico’s outdoor adventure program and a ski instructor), Jon Feldman (1970s-80s), Jon’s daughters Ally and Sarah (2000s-2010s—Sarah a 2019 Division Leader), and Amy Rosen Moran (1970s-80s—cousin and aunt).... A May dinner in New York City brought together 1960s-70s Scaticonians Jeff Abrams, Doug Herzog, Ben Krull, Andy Levine, and Richard Croland....

David Epstein (1980s-90s) will move to Colorado Springs this summer to begin a 2-year assignment with the Department of State to teach foreign affairs and international relations to Air Force Cadets...

And to close this issue’s “Staying In Touch” column, we were especially touched by an email received from Linda Jueckstock, who spent one summer as a Scatico nurse in 1972: “I was searching Google Earth and came across Elizaville, so I just had to look up Camp Scatico. It was so nice to see the pictures of all the kids.... The friendships and experiences of the campers were a joy to watch. It truly was a beautiful camp then. Congratulations on continuing the traditions. I enjoyed my 8 weeks as one of the camp nurses and have many fond memories of that summer.” ...

Thanks for staying in touch. E-mail news and photos for the Fall 2019 issue of the Alumni Newsletter to info@scatico.com.

What’s new in Elizaville? The dining room gets widened by 8 feet and a nearly 2,000-square-foot deck is added alongside. Plus, a new covered picnic area by the girls tennis courts will seat more than 125 campers and staff.

Weddings

Anna Briskman (1980s-90s) and Darin Rakowsky on December 28, 2018. Anna’s dad Ira and sister Emily were also campers.
Lauren Seebacher (1990s-2000s) and Daniel Hamersma on May 4, 2019. Lauren’s dad Bob and siblings Paul and Rachel were all Scatico campers and counselors.
Dale Margolin Cecka (1980s-90s) and Rich Clarke on December 30, 2018. Dale is a family law attorney in Atlanta.

The Next Generation

(for the best deal ever... send in a birth announcement and receive a Scatico onesie and bib!)

Sebastian Elliott on April 4, 2019, to current boys head counselor Cory Schwartz (Scatico career from 1987 to the present) and Emily Smith. Sebastian will definitely be the youngest “camper” this summer!
Penelope Rei on February 19, 2019, to Anthony (1990s-2000s) and Angela Ela Serina. Grandma Marie Serina was a Scatico head nurse from 1999 to 2012 and currently helps chaperone the CIT service trip to the Dominican Republic (where Scatico helps run a day camp);
Maya on February 21, 2019, to Hannah Sunshine (1990s-2010s) and Devon Nee.
Myles Jacob on January 26, 2019, to David and Robyn Polansky Morrision (1980-90s)
Natalie Claire on December 18, 2018, to Ben and Hope Mandel Amsterdam. Ben and Hope were both campers, counselors, and division leaders in the 1990s-2000s.

The 1980s...

Big hair and short shorts. Jill Ettinger (1980s) sent in a collection of photos from the Reagan Administration era. Here’s a sampling....

1. 1986—Madonna Night. Every girl camper and counselor dressed up as their favorite Material Girl. Second from left? That’s current girls head counselor Kerri Berkman Winderman—with Danielle Smolen, Caryn Gordon, and Jamie Kurzban.

2. Division leaders Mike and Elisa Segal Madorsky. For current boys side campers following along at home, they’re the mom and dad of longtime 2000s-10s Scaticonians Chase and Mack Madorsky.

3. As a Division Leader, Jill with campers Andrea Baron Cooper and Katie Mazarin Derasse at the Carnival.

4. 1984 Waitresses Alison Max Rothschild, Liz Clark Zoia, Jill, and Beth Gustave Bochner with Dining Room Head Peggy Adams. Peggy and her husband (and camp caretaker) Al Adams spent more than 30 summers at Scatico, beginning in 1967.

As for the yellow Williams shirts? For about 10 years in the 1970s-80s, the Soopers and Upper Seniors took an overnight trip to the Berkshires and stayed at Williams College.

Scatico Museum

John Hickey, the current head of Scatico’s media department, began his camp career as a staff member in 1981. Along the way, no one else has envisioned and executed more Color War breaks, full-camp game shows, or Carnival Haunted Houses. After camp last summer (and in anticipation of the 100th anniversary celebration), John re-created the Scatico Museum display case in the Canteen (a project he first constructed in the late 1980s). On this page, we share some of the items highlighted in the exhibit.

1. 1920s, directions to camp when it was located in Wingdale, New York (pre-1934). The tuition of $300 required a $50 deposit, but did not include “Railroad fare, auto hire and baggage from and to the depot, laundry, etc.”

2. Uncle Nat solemnly awaits the new day as the bugler sounds reveille.

3. Today’s campers might be surprised to learn that the daily milk snack was served in glass bottles, after rest hour, and with only a whole milk option (not low-fat chocolate milk, in half-pint containers, served after Taps).

4. A shortage of male counselors during World War II led to the hiring of female staff to run the youngest boys divisions. One alumnus has shared that female staff slept in what are now the cubby areas of boys lower hill cabins with a curtain closing off the space for privacy.

5. 1935. Hall of Fame baseball player Lou Gehrig visits (in the middle of the season when he was still playing for the New York Yankees) and gives batting tips to campers.

Vintage tennis: wood racquets and white shorts

Spring 2019, Edition 99