Long ago...behind us, across the street from our Lake House, a vibrant, wild, kid's camp called CAMP WILLABAY ...stood...It was hidden away...in the far corner of the Bay...Truly a treasured gem, whoever went there...so many trees....a dense forest with scattered cabins all about...
Zippity-Doo-Da...Zippity Aaayyy...Let's all go to Camp Willabay...Young teens would jump at the chance to escape the hustle & bustle of the city or their smaller towns and assume they would become better people...
Surely you become better at something by swatting a zillion killer mosquitos the size of Mongolia while enjoying all the woodland games & good times...and mild mischief...
The people running the camp were generally really cool with us outsiders because we would wander over there and hop on their trampoline, or play basketball, or tennis...(...yes, tennis was "Big"...back then...)
...all this...at the end of the day, while all the happy campers were at the cafeteria...It was all good...
I felt like I was falling into a character of the Bill Murray movie "Meatballs" because the cabins and kiddies and trees felt like a surreal movie set...
One funny camp story was when my brother Joe, one time, got a little crazy with his buddies one day and decided to try to ride the camps horses, bareback....Unfortunately, the camp counselors were not happy with this intrusion and chased Joe to an area of barbed wire....
His buddies made it through...but Joe got his ankle stuck, gnarled tight, in the grizzly barb wire and it shredded his skin to the bone....bleeding all over the place...
They rushed him to doctor here in the bay and stitched him up good...but it hampered Joe pretty bad for a few weeks...as my Dad made a wry, funny comment...
"Hey, hot shot, I guess we won't be seeing you walk around the lake anytime too soon....(something my brother had done, the day before....Joe walked all 27 miles around the path of Lake Geneva in 9 hours)...Joe was the oldest boy, in the family...and his wild ways, made me & Dan's wrongful steps as teenagers...not so bad...
Back to the old camp, it died out, eventually...and it got sold to a real estate developer and Boom...all the cabins and a bunch of trees are leveled to make room for a giant neat, condo complex. It sounds sad, in some ways....
...and it is...but life goes on and now 3 of my sisters have places over there, now....Patsy, Joan & Karen...and their families, all enjoy being solidified in the Bay...so close by....for at least 10 years.
The now established, Willabay Shores, still has a wonderful woodlands feel to it....but the trampoline...and other neat stuff are all gone...
One last memory, of Camp Willabay...On the final day...of camp....usually....they would flood, an open field of dirt...and roll out a giant 6 foot diameter high, ball...to play "Mudball"...It was hilarious, as 25 joyful kids were filthy dirty, drenched in soupy gray mud...
...pushing the ball, back and forth...As the camp kids finally got exhausted, from exertion trying to win the Mud-Ball mania...They would stumble down to our open park next door, completely caked in mud, moving like delerious, laughing Mud-Zillas towards the cleansing, cool waters of the the Bay...
Certainly, a funny, funny sight to see...and a memory, from long, long ago, that's hard to imagine nowadays, but in an instant always brings a smile to my face...anytime I see muddy kids on TV...
HOORAY...FOR CAMP WILLABAY...!!!
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About Me
- Jim OLeary
- I am just your average, ordinary 45 year old who has a huge passion for writing. Sure, I am proud to be Irish, thru and thru, but that just comes with the territory of being naturally brewed from fine stock out of the South-Side of Chicago. Maybe you remember me as a Crusader or maybe as a Blue Demon or possibly just as the crazy kid hanging around from 86th Street. But I have had an amazing journey thru life that really remains somewhat of a mystery to most. In reality, a great number of people only know about 5% of what has transpired during my life...Here is your chance to catch up on the other 95% you would have never known... Enjoy, I guarantee ...You will not be disappointed. Oh yeah, there are plenty of surprises ahead, some good and some bad, but more importantly, you just may come away with a whole new perspective on life thru my life experiences and all of the people who were an amazing part of it all.
2 comments:
Thanks for the memories. I went to Camp Willabay for four years: 1969-1973. We kids always wondered about the people living around the camp.
Sorry it's not still there, but you have a lovely Willabay Shores, or whatever it is. :)
I went to Camp Willabay in the summers of 1975 and 1976 with my church. The trampoline, as I remember it, was not above ground. It was level with the ground with a pit underneath it. Also, it was just outside the mess hall, so we could get a few minutes of jumping on it before going to eat. Fond memories.
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