Turtle was on the scene to capture the bittersweet end of our old and faithful gazebo. It served us well for many years but it was an accident waiting to happen.
If you get a little choked up hearing that news as I did (feel free to share a memory in the comments below), rest assured that a new gazebo is being built in its place.
Long live the gazebo!
i just remember guys group at camp meeting and all the great memories with my buddy James Hughes!
I remember building the gazebo when I was a camper with Rev. Farrell’s Teen Camp. So I guess that means it was over 30 years old. That’s a great challenge for the new gazebo team, build a gazebo that will last 30+ years.
See you at Teen Camp #1.
The old gazebo is where I told Kelly for the first time that I loved her. There’s a mushy memory for you!
That’s awesome, Josh. I was in a dorm room at Asbury Seminary when I told my wife I loved her for the first time. Not quite the same bucolic setting.
i was told by linda dugan (because she was there with me, on the scene) that it was built in 1979 so it has lived exactly 30 years!
and josh, that is a great mushy memory! lol.
my memory (on the top of my head) was actually last summer (2008) along with justin wrentzel and sam cox…cleaning out the front of the Old Gazebo, where there was a lot of random things but also about 20 or more bricks that were in the bottom of the lake (…not going to mention any names on who would have done that, lol…but i have heard who it was, ha ha ha).
Good Memories!
Mine was also last summer, anna kralie and i were babysitting for the missionaries of jr. high2, this first day when we had to watch them we brought them to the gazebo and sat there watching the fish. well Westley the four year old started to swing on the side, like a good baby sitter i said now lets not do that. but he kept swinging and fell in. lucky he didn’t get hurt. then i had to go back and explain to his parents why he was all wet. I did lose one of my flip flops jumping in to get him. (hey turtle did you find a blue flipflop lol)
That is sooo sad!
My memory: crushing Jack while taking a group permanent staff 97 pic: http://picasaweb.google.com/delancocamp/OldSchool#5317519006967419858
Thought I’d go ahead and post the other old school gazebo pic: http://picasaweb.google.com/delancocamp/OldSchool#5326039821112176898
We tried to catch a giant, mythical turtle named Wompiss off the side with breadcrumbs and a broken net for the amusement of the junior highers, who accepted everything we said as true.
We prefer to call him Wompus. He even has his own shirt – http://www.delanco.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/wompusgreenshirt.jpg.
i just enjoyed hanging there with my friends and looking for wompus
The gazebo was my morning devotion place when it was raining, the bridge was my spot when it wasn’t… and my son, who is a few years into his Delanco-loving days, just told me that the gazebo was where he caught his first snapping turtle. He wants to know if you saw a turtle painted with red nail polish, and to tell you he wasn’t responsible for the bricks… (either his his mom *shifty eyes*)
I witnessed Jon Falcone almost choke to death on the gazebo. Jon and I were stringing up the great pumpkin (trashbag filled with stuff) so that it would arise from the gazebo for our Charlie Brown themed night game when Jon, who for some reason was sucking on a lifesavor, fell from the rafters and started to choke on his lifesavor. I thought I was going to have to perform the heimlich maneuver, but Jon was able to cough it up in time.
Some other good memories I have of the gazebo are hiding in the rafters and pretending fall from them on unsuspecting campers as they searched for dead suspects in the Clue night game.
The gazebo is also where I first met Tim Bock, who was teaching a class at Memorial Camp. The reason why it was so memorable was because one of the first things he did in the class was show us a photo album of his scars from his bike accident. From that point on, I knew we would be great friends.
Turtle,
I was in 9th grade in 1979 … wow I’m old. 30 years is pretty good considering the gazebo was built with cedar trees taken from the wood behind the lake and boards were all “scraps” that Rev. Farrell found around the camp.
I don’t know this for certain, but I’m guessing his budget for the original gazebo was $10. Haha, another great challenge for the new gazebo team … build a gazebo for $10. :0)
By the way, JD has a picture of me killing the original Wompus. You should ask him about it.
Confessions of love, memories of Tim Bock. I’m getting all emo over here.
Mike, I remember that class with Tim Bock in the Gazebo.
Hands down the Gazebo is the best place at camp to have a class.
I remember Brian Bodine as a little kid telling Matt Lutz and I that he caught Wompus Junior Junior. We figured it was just a regular snapping turtle, but when we looked in the big green trashcan, much to our surprise, it really was wompus junior junior.
the gazebo is where i first found god two summers ago at jr high 3!
i go back every time im there and just sit and praay.
it was also where i kissed my boyfriend for the first time at june project reunion
The gazebo for me was always a great spot to fish and or catch turtles (with a net of course) I also remember when my church was out at camp for a weekend having what we called the turtle olympics and one of the “challenges” was how far can you throw the turtle into the lake from the gazebo and one of the kids accidentally threw the turtle all the way across the lake.
Also I would love to sit on the gazebo early in the morning before most of camp was awake and enjoy the sunshine and how pretty the morning fog was coming off the lake!
I am sure their are more but can’t think off the top of my head.
Being jam packed on the gazebo looking for Wompus.
…and I believe a very holy game of spin the bottle was also played there a few times too.
1st time kisses, spin the bottle. I’m getting all nauseous here.
I suppose someone was right when they said the gazebo should be better lit 🙂
My favorite memory is sitting with a bunch of junior camp girls on the gazebo for prayer group and the intensity of their screams when the original Wompus (caught by Rick Court and Paul Toth?) stuck his head out of the water… There has never, ever been a bigger Wompus, no matter how many Jrs. are attached to the name!
That someone would be Momma Ralph. If she were a one-issue voter, it would be for more gazebo lighting.
MATT RALPH
is there ever going to be another amazing Ralph CAMP??
Laurie! Thanks for remembering the 1st wompus ever caught. JD has pictures of it somewhere. And yes, it was me and Paul Toth.
We spent the summer trying to figure out how to preserve the shell. We hid it on top of the retreat center roof all summer. We’d go to the roof to see if it had “bleached properly”. Eventually we had to throw it away because each dean was complaining of the “dead smell” and why couldn’t we find the dead animal that was somewhere around the retreat center.
Ah, good memories.