the past isn't past

[David Starr]

My eight year old daughter wore my Alton jacket this weekend. All these years it was saved and put away, first by my late mother, then by me, for a time like now. It brings back lots of memories, of my years at Camp (66-70), the friends I made, and most of all a source of a precious bond with my late father, Lem Starr (counselor 44-51). He loved Camp, we visited together in 73 a week before he died, and I always felt that was poetic justice, the fact that he got to see it one more time. It's funny how Camp remains so present: bizarrely enough we live in Brookline MA in Coolidge Corner on a street named Alton Court. I buy my fish on at Wulf's on Harvard St: Alan Wulf was a camper of my father. I run into Camp people all the time. And most of all, I'm writing my doctoral dissertation on a Jewish intellectual named Solomon Schechter, whose grandson is Dan Schechter, a dear friend of my father's from-- suprise surprise-- Camp. So even after all these years Camp is in my thoughts, whether it's remembering family and friends or reading Peter's great book on the King. I hope my daughter enjoys my jacket as much as I did. David Starr

dstarr@hebrewcollege.edu

[Jim Meyer]

David:
The Camp Alton world is indeed a small place. I went as a camper and counselor from 1944 to 1955. Of course, I remember Lem well. He was one of my favorite people.

When my family moved from Concord, New Hampshire to Brookline in 1948,we lived on Alton Place all through my high school years.

I also remember Danny Schechter well, but I never realized he was related to Solomon Schechter. We live in Oregon. Two of my grandchildren go to the Pacific Northwest camp sponsored by the Conservative congregations in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia: Camp Solomon Schechter.

Jim Meyer



meyer@easystreet.com