From Charles Sims
Charles Sims was a camper at Shady Trails during the five summers of 1948-1952. He sent the following pictures and some information.
Picture of the campers from 1952. These are not the official photos, but mother was visiting when the official pictures were being taken and she took advantage of the opportunity. I am fifth from the right in the next to the top row.
"The dock, which I remember because we older campers (I was 15 in 1952) and had to help install it each year and at the beginning of the summer Grand Traverse Bay was really cold!"
"The Clancys. Why they aren't centered, I have no idea."
Sims also had a video tape copy of part of a movie documenting the camp made in 1952 by the U of M TV department. Sims wrote, I know about this movie because I starred in it. The TV people wanted to follow a "typical camper" through the various activities at the camp. I acquired a VHS version of the film sometime in the 1980's on a visit to Ann Arbor. (I attended the U of M.) It is a ten-minute segment, not the whole program, but it covers most of the sorts of activities that took place at the camp, so I suspect I have most of the original. When I inquired about the film, I was told that the sound track had been lost, but they could copy the video. I am toying with the idea of adding a narration, since the sound track is lost, but I am concerned that my memory of the events being shown may be a bit fuzzy." The video is available for viewing at https://vimeo.com/66768310 At the moment the video is password protected. The password is shady Watching the video, I am very conscious how much I appear and in how many ways things aren't quite what they seem. For example, the home run I am shown hitting was staged. I was pitched to until I got a good hit. The section showing me explaining the use of a slide rule also is a bit over done. I really did have a strong interest in mathematics and went on to get a Ph.D. However, at 15 I could not have done the integral on the board and that integral has nothing to do with using the slide rule. (How many people who will watch this video even know what a slide rule is!) I like that the video shows a miffler. In the summer of 1952 Adlai Stevenson and Dwight Eisenhower were nominated to run for president. The miffler shows the ShadyCrat convention at which it appears the janitor is nominated to challenge Stevenson and Eisenhower. Do you have staff names? I think the male therapist with whom I am frequently shown was "Mr. Munson", and his first name was probably Floyd. The woman who is shown correcting my stance at the board was another senior staff person. The name "Spencer" comes to mind, but I could be totally wrong. I think the video really shows the importance that athletics was given. It wasn't enough that we got exercise. We were expected to learn specific skills in a wide variety of sports. At Shady Trails I got my life saving badge, and I learned to play tennis, badminton, volleyball, and softball. We did lots of track and field. I am shown running, putting the shot, high jumping, and long jumping. (We would have called it broad jumping back then.)
added May 23, 2013
