Stories From the Brooklyn Scout Camps
The Finest Kind
Phil Nelson
After reading of the adventures of Bernie Lerner,
Bill Dixon, Marv Antonoff, Dick Weidman and Dan Riviera, I thought of the
many characters of the Brooklyn Scout Camps who also deserve to be mentioned.
Chief among them was my best friend and best man at my wedding, the incomparable
Jesse James Wolfensohn. Yes, James really was his middle name. Jesse, in
addition to being an Eagle Scout, Vigil member of the Order of the Arrow
and Shu Shu Gah Lodge Chief, was an expert in virtually all scouting skills.
He rose through the ranks to become Scoutmaster of Troop 256.
In 1944, Jesse was the Administration Director of
the (old) Division 2, one of the two kosher camps in the Brooklyn Scout
Camps, Division 1 being the other. I was the Program Director. At that time,
equipment, such as rope needed for splicing and other pioneering needs,
was difficult to obtain. Taking the challenge, Jesse and several of us drove
from D-2 to the QM shack in Tahlequah at 2 AM in his 1939 Dodge, affectionately
called the Flying Yarmulke. About that Dodge, the only way it could get
started was to have it parked at the top of a hill and have it roll down
as you stepped on the gas. Needless to say, the trip was successful in that
we managed to confiscate (as opposed to steal) enough rope to last that
camp season and possibly several seasons thereafter. Apparently it wasn’t
missed because we never heard anything about the break-in at the QM shack,
but we did learn there was a severe shortage of splicing rope in the other
divisions.
Jesse was an eccentric from an eccentric family. Rules
were not for his family. An example of this was his mother driving up to
visit him, along with his younger sister and brother, on a weekday evening
when visitors were not permitted. That evening, Jesse, in the garb of Allowat
Sakima, was at Rock Lake preparing for an OA first night ceremony along with
me as Meteu. We had planned an elaborate extravaganza using Rock Lake as the
background along with canoes. When we started our yips to signal the coming
of the candidates, we heard the responding yips from the service road side
of Rock Lake. This caused all sorts of confusion. It was Jesse’s family stopping
on the service road to investigate the noise and torch lights. They heard
the yips and answered with their own yips.
Jesse didn’t sleep on a bed. He rigged up a hammock
in the Iroquois cabin where he slept and renamed the cabin “The Casbah”.
The hammock had a history as well. It was obtained on a day off outside the
watering hole on the Pennsylvania side of the Lackawaxen bridge called Jungle
Jim’s. The bartender had been particularly nasty to us so the hammock was
confiscated as a reprisal.
In 1944, the camp season was a banner one, Division
2 was filled all four periods and our songs at the Tahlequah camp fires
were from the hit Broadway musical Oklahoma. Of course, we changed the lyrics.
When Mat-v Antonoff came to our 37th Brooklyn Arrowhead annual TMR Reunion
(the first one he attended) upon greeting me, he sang the lyrics to one of
the songs he remembered as a camper fifty-six years ago.
Getting back to Jesse, I never tire of telling the
story of Jesse’s tap out. It was 1942 and Camp Deerslayer was on an overnight
hike at the Old Ranger site. Everyone suspected that the tap outs for the
OA would be that night. All those who hoped that they would be elected felt
their chances would be slim by being away from the camp. However, the ritual
team sent Bert Becker, the legendary hikemaster of D-2 to tap out a candidate
who had been elected. Bert was the acknowledged master of all the obsolete
trails at TMR. The camp had a mini tap out ceremony at the Ranger site and
Bert in his Indian regalia, late at night, tapped Jesse out. Leaving the camp,
Jesse followed Bert, who seemed to lose his way circling various trails. Finally,
in exasperation, Jesse made himself understood in sign language and showed
Bert the right trail back.
As a camper, Jesse was the ultimate rebel. Although
he was an Eagle Scout and Patrol Leader of his bunk and likely got the most
votes in the camp for Arrow membership, he was not tapped out. It was evident
that he was not liked by camp staff. They considered him to be a wise guy
and he appeared to rub them the wrong way. They failed to recognize his worth
until his fourth year as a camper. He quickly earned his Brotherhood and
Vigil Honors in the minimum time and became a legend in the lore of TMR. Jesse
was one of the organizers of the Arrowhead group that celebrates its 40th
consecutive annual reunion at TMR this year. Jesse loved TMR so much he requested
that his ashes be scattered at the Indian Cliffs, which was honored at the
24th annual reunion. If you knew him or ever came in contact with him you
would never forget him. He was one of a kind - the finest kind.
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the Brooklyn Scout Camps
Last Updated: September 14, 2003
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