A Shady Trails Memory
by James Nink
The photo of me was taken by my father. I think it was at the front of the "Wolverine" cabin at Shady Trails speech camp in the summer of 1960. On the top right is me, James Nink, age 13. Clockwise, bottom is David Nink, age 3, Randy Nink, age 5, Thomas Nink, age 11, my mother Betty Nink, age 37, and Richard Nink, age 8. I don't know if the picture was when my parents dropped me off at camp or picked me up on that day. My brother Tom is wearing a T-shirt with the Shady Trails logo but he is not a camper! It is so sad to say that my parents picked me up early from camp. I only stayed about two to three weeks at camp. Staff called when I needed to get my hearing aid fixed. It wasn't my own fault. It was a big mean bully kid who pushed me down from behind or grabbed my neck and hearing aid cord, and I fell down very hard. I broke my hearing aid on the ground as I was walking on the trail to the sport field. My parents were very upset. Then a short time later that same summer I went to Camp Roy-el at Twin Lakes off Long Lake Road near Traverse City. It was not a speech camp, but a camp for persons who have a handicap. I was a camper there from 1957 to 1964. I also went to Central Michigan University in the summer of 1964 at Mt. Pleasant, Michigan for speech.
On Friday evening of the reunion (August 10th, 2018) Jim Emery told me what happened to Shady Trails in 1994. He told me that the University of Michigan wanted $3000 for five weeks from each camper! Oh, that is so outrageous!
Sunday morning of the reunion I sat down by the the bay. Oh, what a gorgeous view of the sunrise! It was a calm peaceful day with very light small waves with wonderful sounds! That was after 6:30 a.m. As I was at the beach sitting down on a large rock I watched the sunrise, bright red light from the sun on the horizon. WOW!! A great one.
added September 6, 2018
