Once again memories were refreshed, shared and updates were exchanged with old friends. The Tomahawk 55th Anniversary Reunion held on July 19th and 20th was therefore a success! Seventeen former Tomahawk staff members—mostly from the ’50s and ’60s—participated in the Saturday July 19th activities at Fred C. Andersen Camp on the St. Croix River. About 30 former staff members and a dozen current staff members participated in the Sunday July 20th activities at Tomahawk. In addition to those in attendance, Jerry McNellis, Dana X. Marshall and Bill Seabloom participated with email greetings that were shared on both days.
Both days included a review and discussion of Tomahawk’s history, displays of old camp photos, time to renew old friendships and meet additional former staffers, and camp tours. Everyone seemed to enjoy the time together and even the comments on the food were positive! Thanks are due Jeff Sulzbach, Jim King, Carol Forrest, Mark McCabe, Bob Albright and Larry Moser for work to enhance the sketchy history on our website, which will be updated soon.
The Saturday tour included a review of the history of Fred C. Andersen/St. Croix River Camp by ranger Art Marty and a guided walking tour by former Tomahawk Staffer and current Fred C. Andersen Scout Camp, Camp Campmaster volunteer Chris Lacher. Nearly everyone in attendance took advantage of the tour and extra history lesson, which brought back memories of camping there before Tomahawk opened, participating in OA gatherings and attending Cub Scout Day Camp. Both Art and Chris deserve a special thank you for their contributions that day, as well as for their help in preparing for the day’s activities. The weather cooperated fairly well, with the rain holding off until the tour was about over!
Sunday’s crowd included most of the Saturday group and a bigger contingent that missed out on the Saturday event. A few weeks before the reunion we added the dedication of a staff cabin, to 22-year Tomahawk Staffer Ralph McLean, to our schedule of events. Unfortunately, Ralph died prior to our event. His funeral was two day’s earlier. Though not able to enjoy having a cabin dedicated to him, Ralph did get to enjoy 83 years of life, and several members of his family were in attendance for the dedication of the McLean Lodge. Sunday’s camp tours were not as well-attended as Saturday’s, but judging from the comments of those who did participate, those who skipped it missed out on a real highpoint of the day—seeing the Tomahawk of today while being able to pick out many features remembered from years long past.
Thank you to all who helped with preparations for the reunion organized largely by Larry Moser, with a lot of help from Mark McCabe, Chris Lacher, Carol Forrest, Art Marty, Bob Albright, Dave Albrecht and Greg Travis.
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