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My father Gil Roehrig was an enthusiast with remarkable energy for his
professional specialty of work with boys which he pursued for some forty
years, twenty-six of them with the Boston YMCA. While developing camping
facilities as part of the summer program for boys, his special interest
and hobby became camping and I know that his happiest years in the YMCA
were those in which he initiated the ideas for, made the plans for and
directed North Woods Camp. They were happy years because they called into
play his very real talents as a leader of boys and put to work in a clear
and successful way his professional ideas and ideals. The contacts campers
maintained with him long after his retirement and with my mother long
after his death bear witness to the importance their North Woods
experience retained in their memories the older they got.
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In planning for North Woods Dad was interested
in reaching out to a larger constituency than particular neighborhoods of
Boston itself. The “Y” already had camps that served that purpose. It
needed a camp to appeal to the whole YMCA of Greater Boston and beyond. He
felt that the camp should provide a variety of programs that would help
young people tap and explore talents both physical and mental under
circumstances more informal and less competitive than provided in school.
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He felt that getting closer to nature might
help young people tap and explore talents both physical and mental under
circumstances more informal and less competitive than provided in school.
He felt that getting closer to nature might help young people become aware
and understand the natural world, its beauty and the limits it places upon
us. He believed that young people exposed to talented older brothers
learned many lessons more enthusiastically than from other mentors.
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He believed that getting away for a while from
the tensions of civilized life gave them a chance to find and understand
themselves in ways helpful to their development. These were some of the
principles he tried to follow as he created the camping program. I think
he succeeded unusually well. Though not all campers took to camping
easily, they in fact did learn much about themselves, became more socially
adaptable, grew in strength and physical competence, developed some
knowledge not available to them elsewhere in their lives, some skills not
demanded elsewhere, became less dependent on civilized comforts.
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It is my impression that people and trying and
exciting experiences are what we remember. Along with situations that help
us develop some sort of competence, they are the meat of learning. They
used to be and, I believe, still are at the heart of North Woods.
Carl Roehrig, 1978 |
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