MOUNTAINS OF MEMORIES : ALUMNI TO REVISIT CAMP REUNION IN SAN BERNARDINOS TO MARK GETAWAY'S 60TH YEAR.Byline: Carolyn R. Saraspi Daily News Staff Writer Lorna Dewey remembers well her childhood summers at Camp Wasewagan, singing under pine and cedar trees in what she and other campers called their ``green cathedral.'' ``I basically grew up there,'' the Glendale woman recalled Wednesday. ``As far as my individual personality, that pretty much developed there, since I would go to camp and spend all summer there.'' Dewey and other former campers hope to rekindle re·kin·dle tr.v. re·kin·dled, re·kin·dling, re·kin·dles 1. To relight (a fire). 2. To revive or renew: rekindled an old interest in the sciences. the memories during a reunion from Friday to Sunday at Camp Wasewagan, a getaway in the San Bernardino Mountains San Bernardino Mountains, part of the Coast Range, S Calif., extending c.60 mi (100 km) NW and SE through San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Notable peaks are San Bernardino Mt. (10,630 ft/3,240 m) and Mt. San Gorgonio (11,485 ft/3,501 m). for Camp Fire boys and girls Camp Fire Boys and Girls, American organization for boys and girls from birth to age 21, originally the Camp Fire Girls, for girls 6 to 18 years old. It was founded (1910) by Luther Halsey Gulick (1865–1918) and other educators "to perpetuate the spiritual . The reunion will coincide with the 60th anniversary of the camp's founding, said Helen L. Cloer, a reunion coordinator. Camp Fire Boys and Girls, formerly Camp Fire Girls, has operated Camp Wasewagan since 1936. Wasewagan, which means ``camp of the torch'' in Cherokee, is the only remaining camp in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, sponsored by the organization with a full summer program of five one-week sessions, Cloer said. Cloer, who first attended Camp Wasewagan in 1941 when she was 11, said organizers hope to re-create the ``green cathedral'' for the interdenominational in·ter·de·nom·i·na·tion·al adj. Of or involving different religious denominations. interdenominational Adjective among or involving more than one denomination of the Christian Church Adj. worship service under the trees and the Great Council Fire. ``They still have a fire at the end of camp, but it isn't done with the ceremonial gowns and Indian drums, the same pageantry as the old days,'' Cloer said. Camp Fire is similar to the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts Girl Scouts, recreational and service organization founded (1912) in Savannah, Ga., by Mrs. Juliette Gordon Low (1860–1927). It was originally modeled after the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, organizations created in Great Britain by Sir Robert Baden-Powell during . Instead of Scout patches for uniforms, Camp Fire children perform tasks to earn beads for American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. capes or vests, Dewey said. But Cloer said most of those who attend Camp Wasewagan in the 1990s are not Camp Fire members and are not familiar with the organization's tradition. ``Camp Fire was so Indian-based that I think they had a hard time incorporating that,'' Dewey said. Cloer said she hopes re-creating the Grand Council Fire and other events during the weekend reunion will revive the spirit of the camp. For more information about the reunion, call the Camp Fire Council of the Foothills at (818) 305-1200. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO Lorna Dewey of Glendale shows some of her mementos fr om years as a Camp Fire Girl and a counselor at Camp Wasewagan. Tom Mendoza/Daily News |
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