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Comments and Correspondence 2004

Dayman 12/09/2004 - I had the good fortune to spend Thanksgiving, for the second year in a row, with Todd and Donna Mulvenny in Maryland. Tales were told, your good health was drunk to.

Steve Cunningham 12/09/2004 - The gravitational pull of hydebay.net attracts yet another “alumnus” from cyberspace! Steve Cunningham here, requesting permission to establish orbit around the web site.
Ah, the memories of paddling against choppy waves; horse ligament and saddle soap; sail fabric snapping in the wind; eating bacon on Nebo; bleeding on the rocks of Trenton Falls; having to pee in the middle of the night but being too scared to leave the tent for fear of “The Monkey’s Paw;” peeing out the side of the tent; paddling against relentless winds; fresh milk in a glass tumbler with cookies; ripping the pages from comic books for toilet paper; blood blisters from improper use of “Big Bertha” on the shuffle board; bruises on the wrestling mat; Mouldy City; paddling against the current; being bitten by green “deer flies;” staring transfixed into the heart of the bonfire; sneaking to the girl’s camp down the road at night; droplets of condensation forming on metal pitchers of ice cold red “bug juice;” the candy line; setting off cherry bombs with time-delayed cigarette fuses; the solid heft of a wooden tennis racket; flacid tennis balls; looking everywere for the “Hot Rock;” mowing the outfield; trying to grasp a greased watermellon; waiting for the next reel of 16mm films to be queued; the Cardiff Giant; crunching on rock candy at the Farmer’s Museum; cold hands and snowballs at Snow Gulch; having to (ugh) write home…
The only person I have seen since the Good Ol’ Days is Frank Pine, who wandered into a music store I owned and operated in the ’70s,’80s and ’90s. Frank was my counselor in 1959 (Tent #5). I still see his name from time to time associated with the health of the local environment and Chesapeake Bay.
My brother Bob and I attended Hyde Bay Camp from 1959 through 1965.

Bob Cunningham 12/08/2004 - Yesterday my bother (also a camper at Hyde Bay) ran across the hydebay.net web site and forwarded me a picture of a group of guys getting ready for a Trenton Falls trip 40+ years ago. Because I was in that picture, my curiosity got the best of me and a good portion of the afternoon was spent poking around the site. What wonderful memories (locked away for too long) surfaced. I know that somewhere in my attic there is a box that may have home letters from other years. If there is still an interest, I would enjoy hunting for the box.
Please include me on any mailing list or email list of former campers and councilors from Hyde Bay. It appears that another reunion is planned in the future. Count me in! As I reflect on the experiences and memories from Hyde Bay, it is easy to recognize how many aspects of my life were influenced. My continued love for the outdoors and adventure, sailing, camping, etc. can be linked back to the experiences gained at Hyde Bay. The interaction with new people during camp helped develop skills that I credit to whatever success I have enjoyed in life.

Rusty Pickett 08/22/2004 - Great to hear from you again! Fred [Gale], the Fat one [Peter Black], Jolly [John Schmick] and I again made our camping pilgrimage to Cooperstown staying at the HBC Campsite – #9 at Glimmerglass and commented that we severely missed the Mercer updates. We hope that you will be more prolific!
On that Saturday we decided it was time for a Trenton Fall trip. First stop was Ohio Gorge where we found that a new bridge had been constructed about 15 feet closer to the falls than the old one – thus preventing (along with a huge fence) anyone from jumping off, and the rocks are much closer to the surface. As we were wandering around, we were besieged by a local who climbed out from under a rock, smoking a small stogie, and updated us that everything is now private property. A lawyer owns the side that we used to camp on, and she and her family own the west side. She offered us permits to fish anytime we wanted! We then headed to Prospect where the general store is gone, and after significant work and wandering, found the bridge we used to put the canoes in. We also found two State Police officers who were rounding up a bunch of teenagers along with a bunch of adult beverages and agriculture that had ventured into the traditional swimming holes. The area is strongly controlled by the police, and the power company has severely limited where you can legally go. (the secret seems to be not going there on a weekend!) We also stopped briefly at the third day canoe pickup spot and paid homage to Iwo Hinkley on this 60th anniversary year of D-Day.
Photo’s of the adventure are attached in this and a few additional emails!
Looking forward to more Mercer Writing projects!

Jim Main 08/21/2004 - Dayman, Dayman, my records are so incomplete at this point, but I think Jerry McKenna was in my tent one summer … It must have been around ‘59 or ‘60 … gosh, I wish my memory was better … What great memories they were. Ciao for now.

Jerry McKenna 08/21/2004 - I was waxing nostalgic this morning and did a Google search of Hyde Bay and, lo and behold, discovered this wonderful web site.
Although I don’t remember the exact years that I spent my summers on Lake Otsego, I did find my name listed in the Hyde Bay Home Letter of July 30, 1963 when Bob Rockwell took a group of us to a local horse show on a Sunday afternoon. I believe that I was a camper there from 1958 -1963. Some of the names that come to mind as tent mates were Blake Goldsmith and Doug Cornish.
Wish I had more to offer in the way of photos. If you have created a mailing list, please add my name to it.
Thanks for the memories.

Margaret McGown 01/17/2004 - I am aware that there is a Hyde Bay website but unsure how to access it. I wanted to tell you that my father, Fred McGown, who used to tutor at Hyde Bay Camp in the early 40’s and lived in Cooperstown all his life, died on January 16, 2004. He was a Yale classmate of Herb Pickett, and we, his children, remember many of the Hyde Bay “boys.” He also taught at Cooperstown Academy while Mr. Herbert Pickett Sr. was the Headmaster. Memorial services will be in Cooperstown on February 19 (we think) and further details will be available by email to me if anyone is interested. He is survived by his wife, (my mother) Elizabeth, and three children, Margaret, Fred III and Lenore. Also 7 grandkids and 4 greats.

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