For some reason I decided to take a quick look at the Whitsett  
website today. The last time I had checked the site was a few years  
back after the devastating fires threatened the camp. I happened to  
click on the "New picture of old building link" and ... Yikes! That's  
Me! Nothing like stepping back in time about 50 years. Wow! That  
picture was probably taken in 1956. I was 13 years old and that was  
my first year working at Whitsett. I had been hired only for a two-
week stint as a kitchen helper in the staff dining hall. For some  
reason, I was allowed to stay on for the rest of the season as the  
Handicraft instructor. I ended up working at Whitsett for the summers  
of 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, and 1961.

At that time the photo was taken, the building was used both as the  
Trading Post and the Commissary. The Trading Post was in the front of  
the Commissary and is the unpainted addition on the front of the  
building. The area where I'm standing was the handicraft area and the  
two old military field desks were used for storage of paint and the  
few tools that we had. I'm not sure why I'm not wearing a uniform but  
I suspect it's because I had only planned on being in camp for two  
weeks and probably had run out of clean uniforms.

On the right side of the building was a porch where the commissary  
issued food to the campers. Each troop was issued enough food for the  
number of campers in their troop. I don't know how meals are handled  
now, but back then each troop cooked their own meals and washed their  
own dishes and cooking utensils. The staff had a dining hall with  
food prepared by the Camp Ranger's wife.

During most of the years I worked there, the Camp Ranger was James B.  
Davis and his wife Marge. There were a wonderful couple and treated  
all the staff like sons. We all learned a lot from "Smokey" as he was  
known. In the evenings they taught us leather-work and let us use all  
their leather-working tools. Smokey was an exceptional archer and fly  
fisherman. I remember him dropping a fly into a tea cup from 60 ft.  
away just to prove it could be done. He also made his own bow strings  
from dental floss and was a whiz with a router, making most of the  
signs around the Camp. Smokey and Marge lived at Whitsett year-round.  
Sometimes during to winter months he would snowshoe into Johnsondale  
to pick up supplies.

The old campfire circle looks familiar, but during the years I was  
there we had rocks for the fire rings. I still have wonderful  
memories of all the time I spent at Whitsett, and I'm glad to see the  
tradition continues. Somewhere I have some PR photos that were taken  
one summer. I'll scan and send them to you if I can find them.

John Henry
Camp Whitsett Staff  '56, '57, '58, '59, '61
Covington, Louisiana

Back To Memorabilia Page