1979 - Bruce, Lessons in Friendship

 

(Fifty Nifty Years in United States Series)

Want a lesson in what a best, best friend is? And how to be one? Call Bruce.

We met at Science of the Dessert (1977 - mentioned briefly in that BLOG about Nude Wash). I was walking past the port-a-potty and out came Bruce flying across the way. He knelt down and puked. to this day I can still faintly recall the smells of that port-a-potty.

Anyway, that was in ’77 and by the time spring and summer of 1978 came around, I was spending most of my time off school with Bruce and his family. Bowling league with his grandfather, weekends at the Pasadena Glen where he and his mom lived. He took me to the King Tut exhibit in Los Angeles when it came through the United States in the late '70s.

And then later, down to Dana Point where he ended high school a year early. I would ride the train down and we would ride all over Orange County on the Orange County Transit District (OCTD) buses. We would meet often at King Arthur’s pizza in Arcadia and talk about everything under the sun.

Did I mention he was and is one of the smartest people I have ever known? In college and beyond (While he was in the Army in Korea) he worked on a system that allowed a computer connecting to a satellite to pin point a person within three feet of their location on earth. This was before cell phones and GPS. (Yes, I know he was testing the military application precursor to GPS)

We had fun and we would listen to comedy albums and individually listen to Dr. Demento on Sunday nights. That was always the topic on Mondays at school. (Just to be clear, there were no cell phones then and we did things and then talked about them after wards. Kinda like Instagram, but without the pictures or instantaneous results, or likes - Okay, it was nothing like Instagram). We listened to the Smother's Brothers and he taught me the Jerry Lewis "One Hen, two ducks, three squawking geese..." bit.

We talked a great deal about so many things. He was that friend that I good share everything and he was the first friend that listened...really listened. Our conversations would meander around and be about so many different things.

Bruce told me once that if you could have just one or two good friends for the rest of your life; that would always be more than enough. He introduced me to the book Illusions by Richard Bach. (More of him later at a later BLOG).

In the book, Bach says, "The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.” That was our relationship and Bruce always modeled that for me. I have to admit that I lost my way and lost the connection for a few decades.

I learned so much from him on how to be a friend – from his example not mine. I am so grateful for those lessons and for sharing his family with me. As I think about the past 50 plus years in the US, I am so fond of his friendship and memories of how he shared so much. And as Richard says after all, "they give you a book to read."

Thanks Bruce.

1989 - Stewardship – Leadership Lessons in Investing and Re-investing

 

Split trunk of the Champion Lodgepole Pine
(Person in blue standing near the base helps with size perspective)

(40 Summers 40 Lessons Series)

Stewardship - It’s an old fashioned word. It does not come up in normal conversation. I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of volunteers and only once in a blue moon (That’s a full moon twice in one month - which occurs on average every 2.5 to 3 years).

I heard the term from several mentors in my early days at Camp Bluff Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains of Southern California.

Each week during the summer, several hundred youth traveled to the camp and each Wednesday was hike day. Some 10 or 11 weeks of each summer, one of the hikes was to and past the Champion Lodgepole Pine which is said to be the largest of its species in North America. (Check out the hike for yourself next time you are in that area. Here is a link: Champion Lodgepole Pine)

Some 10-12 youth could hold outstretched hands and while holding hands wrap around the base of this tree. We would hike past the tree to a neighboring meadow where we would look back and have a somewhat unobstructed view of the entire tree. About a third of the way up, the tree split into two different trunks. It was estimated that the tree was hit by lightening at the time of the Revolutionary War and grew in the split trunk format from that time forward.

During my last year as a program director at the camp and while I became the Director, a logging project was started at the camp. A thinning that took many of the trees throughout the center of the camp facility. Those trees, (Ponderosa Pines, seen around the Lodgepole picture above), were a huge part of the vista as you drove into the facility. Their bark also smelled like vanilla.

It was quite a site that these huge trees would be felled into the exact spots that the lumber jack would determine. Sometimes narrowly missing buildings or falling between two cabins. The sound was tremendous and if you are curious, while I was there, it was always heard. (Considering that fact that someone was in the woods.)

It was one of these trees that as it fell and landed in its precise spot that its top and middle branches brushed another tree and it fell in an unintended direction. That second tree landed towards a cabin and it’s top took out the front porch and most of the roof. The owner of the logging company determined that the road traveling just past the base of that tree had eroded the root system for decades to the point that the tree was compromised and was bound to fall.

True to his word, he replaced and repaired the porch and roof of the cabin. Fred Ford, the logger, was one of those who used the word “steward.” He often proceeded it with the word, “good.” He talked to me about doing what had to be done to make sure that the saplings would grow and get enriched from having additional sunshine and room as the bigger, older trees got out of the way. Fred was captivating in the sense that a five minute call or talk always ended up in a half hour lesson or story. 

I heard that from others as well. People, like George Finnerty (Previous Blog subject) and countless other long time volunteers and leaders. It was one of those early leaders that said that we (as directors) had to hire and train our own replacements. Those volunteers who talked about how the earth and ground would get in and under your skin to make you want to come back again and again to serve.

Those big trees and the funds that came from the sale allowed the camp to persevere for several more years. The funds were reinvested in another portion of the facility that had been neglected and became an urgent problem and need. Some 25 or 30 years earlier, a dump was established on the property and those in charge at that time neglected to file a permit with the county.

It was during the cleanup of the timber harvest that a county inspector discovered that dump and investigated the permit less problem. The funds helped us clean up and restore that portion to its original state (or as close as possible). Decades of waste were hauled away and re-landscaped to what the forester determined it may have looked like.

We applied for Tree Farm status and in the subsequent two years, planted over 3500 new saplings in different areas. I feel like the right things all lined up in order for a problem from a previous generation was being solved and moved forward to restore balance. Our original intent to reinvest in the property became an effort in cleaning up what others had caused. And it was a reinvestment.

Those hikes after that season also added a talk to the youth, staff, and volunteers about what had happened. I felt that the care and responsible management of something entrusted to my care also meant teaching a new generation that they had be “careful and responsible” in their management of something entrusted to their care.

The lesson I gained about stewardship I have applied at every level of my work. Taking care of land, property, individuals, equipment, culture, history, and every aspect of the organizational work. I know I have fallen short and I know I have had some success as well.  

Stewardship is often intended as a way to treat the environment. I believe that it is also a way to look at economics, health, possessions, theology, information, culture, and individual relationships.

I do find that today’s dialogue about how we manage the world a bit presumptive and narrow minded. It is difficult to believe that humans can change what has been set in motion and that somehow we can manage our way out of something so huge. It is also narrow thinking that presumes we shouldn’t try.

 

Post Script: According to the Center of the West, “wood from the tall and slender, Pinus contorta, or lodgepole pine, was preferred for tipi poles because of its resilience to weather and rot. The hide or canvas of the tipi was tied to a pole to the rear of the door and wrapped around the frame.”

 

 

 

1978 - Lessons in Orchestral Maneuvers

It's All About the Bass

 (Fifty Nifty Years in United States Series)

(This entry I wrote as a letter of gratitude to my orchestra conductor and leader.)

Dear Mr. Hoolihan (Emmett Hoolihan) - I am writing today because this year, I am celebrating 50 years (now 52) in the United States since coming from Brasil when I was 4 years old. I am challenging myself to write to different people who had a great influence in my life for each different year.

So in 8th grade, I was accidentally placed in Orchestra class at Oak Avenue School (in California) by some fluke of the modern computer era. You thoughtfully told me to hang out for a week or so until the back log of folks got thru the office with changes.

I am not sure if this was deliberate on your part or not, but I did and in that short time you convinced me to take up playing the bass. I was challenged and was accepted into the group. 

Bill Heinen and Reed Gilchrist helped me along as well and later Rich Hollinger as well as Mike Perini and Sue Brown.

I am so grateful for that welcome and being a part of something that allowed me to express myself in a way I had never had before. I always had an appreciation for music and you helped me learn how to grow through that appreciation. If it where not for the experience, I would never have been able to know what it is like to get lost in the music.

To this day I have that feeling of immersion that you so skillfully allowed me to find. Our time together ended and I look back at that time as one where a teacher pushed me into a area that I would never had thought I would go – the lesson of a teacher that has inspired me in so many ways.

I have had the opportunity to spend the majority of my adult life teaching (through experiential education in camp settings and music has always been a big part of that) to over 53,000 young people.

I aspire to have an influence on just one of them like the influence you had on my young life. For that I am grateful. And I thank you – and think to myself, how wonderful to be in America.

Warmest regards, Al Ferreira

Post Script - Bob Ross said it best. "There are no mistakes, only happy accidents."

When I wrote this I believed I would use this format for each of my folks who influenced me on a 50 year journey. I quickly changed the format to the format of having an idea, which led to a story and the "solution" that I found in the lessons. As the song stated "I need you now like I need you then" and each lesson and individual has been a reminder of the work as well as the journey. I know that it references a love song and I know that if I could I would do it all again and would not let go of these memories at any price. I remain grateful to the computer error and to Mr. Hoolihan and the other individuals mentioned above.

Emmett Hoolihan

 

1977 - Lessons from A Scout Leader and A Librarian

Oak Avenue School Library - Temple City, CA

                            (Fifty Nifty Years in United States Series)

Jim McClaren and Mrs. McClaren. We went to Science of the Dessert with him and she was the librarian at Oak Avenue Intermediate School. He was my first Scout leader and camp enthusiast that set off a path of camping.

If you don’t know Mr. McClaren, just think of Ward Bond, the character actor from many John Wayne and John Ford movies. That was Mr. McClaren (More about him in a bit). Mrs. McClaren gave me so much time in the library at Oak Avenue School. I had moved to the area the spring before 7^th grade to the school district and was subjugated to the library by the administration while they determined what classes to put me in.

I had become disenchanted with everything and felt somewhat isolated. It took a toll on my self esteem and I had always stuttered through my English. I would panic in meeting most new people and would have a difficult time even saying someone's name. 

Needless to say, Mrs. McClaren saw my struggle to adjust and started to coach me on speaking to groups. Over a many after school sessions, she suggested that I sing things in my head and then say them aloud. It was brilliant – I went from stuttering to sing/thinking and then it made it easier to talk to people.

Anyone who has been in 7^th grade knows how tough it can be and she helped me get out of my head by focusing on thinking differently with the other side of my brain.

As for Mr. McClaren, those of us who went on Science of the Dessert that next year all remember the great and hilarious happenings at Nude Wash in Anza Borrego. Mr. McClaren was tall and always seemed to be focused on something and had a great wisdom about him.

Pictured - Ward Bond - not Mr. McClaren

My best memory of him was in our 7^th grade Science of the Dessert trip to Anza Borrego Dessert in San Diego County, Calirfornia. We were at a place called “Nude Wash” and as we hiked up sure enough there were several people there who were in fact nude.  As our chaperone, Mr. McClaren of course had to diffuse the situation and went over to explain to them that they should cover up because we had 50 or so 7^th graders hiking through.

The situation got hot (yes, we were in the dessert) very quickly and in my recollection, their voices got louder and the next thing I knew one of the “gentlemen” was pushed into a cactus. So, this prickly situation is just one lesson I have learned at Summer Camp.  (LESSON -Bonus) “There is always a place for a pun.”

I am so grateful for their influence. I know they both have been gone for at least a decade and I want you to know that they are a big part of who I am today because I learned about organized camping and I learned to think in different ways. They are part of the 50 plus years that I have been in the US with my family and I am eternally grateful.

1976 - John Mauvezin - Leadership Lessons in Creativity

 

Oliver Hardy, I presume. (John is out of frame)

(Fifty Nifty Years in United States Series)

John was a friend that was/is so creative. John and I were always the last two in line. We were the shortest in our class at Holy Family School in South Pasadena, California. From year to year, we traded places in the line-up. We always ended being at the very back of the line. Not sure if it was the nuns or just school policy that we line up by height with the shortest at the very back. We got to be friends. 

Best friends. We were altar boys (that’s what they called it then) together. We got paired up far too often. His was the first overnight sleepovers that I got to do as a child. Fort building, Lego collecting (he had thousands, I had one 140 piece set).

I recall that during recess in 4^th grade, we used the length of outdoor lunch benches to be the length of the tunnel’s that we dug out from our POW camp. John was always the Steve McQueen (Ref. The Great Escape - 1963 Mirsch Company)  character and we enlisted 7 or 8 others to be the various other parts. This led to bigger and better things.

We were Laurel and Hardy for two years at the school talent show. (Olly seen in photo above). He was often Captain Kirk and for whatever reason, the short Portuguese kid played Scotty. I could wrangle out a Scots, "Ayee."  We did radio plays on his dad's tape recorder (Google that if you don't know).

Google Map of those Woods - still there today.

He lived at the base of Monterey Hills and we had this entire 200 acre woods behind the church just above his house. It was a great place for imagination and play. We had the woods and a small stream; and hours of war battles, Star Trek, Emergency, and The Great Escape (John’s favorite movie).

In those woods, we found so many things. We shot up Nazi's, hid from aliens, and dug up treasures. Hide and seek was amazing when you could hide, take a nap and then sneak up on someone who had also fallen asleep to tag "it" again. The trails traveled up and down and in a loop. The backyard wall to John's house was the drive way up to the property. We often walked a few houses up to a spot where the wall was lower and had a block or two missing to just hop over.

The woods behind the church were epic and led to further endeavors later on by ringing a gigantic bell at the front of the church. By late high school and into early college, several of my friends and I would compete for the maximum number of times we would ring that bell before running off into the woods. 

He went with our family the summer before sixth grade to Lake Arrowhead to spend a week at a cabin. It was on those TV less (and please note there was no public internet in 1975) we would do small act plays. John would often monologue and we were inspired by Tim Conway and Harvey Korman from the 1970's Carol Burnett shows. We tried to make each other laugh. 

John went into one monologue while we talked about being in a fox hole. It was stunning to watch him and all I can remember was that it was almost like he was not acting. He told a story and there was a small lesson to learn. This coming from sixth grade minds might have you think, "What do they know." It was a free flow of creativity. 

Both our families ended up with movie cameras and we started making movies together. I wanted to create a space epic worthy of 2001 A Space Odyssey. John was always into the effects and war battles. We collaborated on the Hindenburg and several other pieces.

And then my family moved 11 miles away to another town. We stayed connected for a while and in fact completed the Hindenburg after I moved. New home with a pool that made for epic flight over the Atlantic Ocean scenes of the model Hindenburg that I had made.

John was and I am sure is still one of the most creative people I have ever met. We would do shows for our family when on vacation together. He always had stories that had a little lesson and I would try and tell jokes and puns.

He showed me that play was a great way to think. We determined our roles in life from play as children. I became a lover of outdoors and creating spaces that were safe, fun and engaging for children. 

I am so ever grateful to John for those lessons in creativity and imagination. Cardboard boxes that became forts and star ships and eventually grew up to become tents and cabins' in the woods. Thanks to John and those amazing moments that I am forever grateful in creating as we have spent over 50 years in these United States.

 

1975 - Mrs. Fox - Lessons from a Teacher Who Loved the Dodgers

 

(50 Nifty Years in United States Series)

You always remember that teacher who looked and smelled great. As an 11 year old, in 5^th grade, we had Mrs. Fox as our Catholic School (non nun) crush teacher. I believe it was her first year teaching and we were her first class.

We knew she was special – by the last week of September, she was letting us watch the Dodgers in the play offs. An at the same time she was teaching us about math by calculating batting averages. (Okay statistics were never my thing – as some may know, I liked it so much in college I had to take it twice.) 

I learned so much that year especially about 5^th graders.  They are not too cool to learn – there is an enthusiasm about new things still. I have worked with thousands of 5th graders over the last 40 years through outdoor environmental education groups at the different camps I have served. And 5th graders are the best. By 6^th grade it’s a 50/50 shot and hormones start to kick in.

Mrs. Fox knew that and taught to that principle. I remember lots of hands on science stuff, SRA reading labs and different hand made projects. Those labs were all about persevering and moving along at your pace. That lesson alone is a great take a way in fifth grade. As is asking for help. I know that as I moved through those projects, sometimes, I would get stuck. I recall having to do a take home airplane model. I worked on that for hours after school and I just did not know how to make it look right. I had a paper towel holder and  model paint. It was frustrating at best and I had to ask my parents for help. 

At the end of the school year we had a BBQ at her house in Pasadena – this was the first time that I felt part of a community other than in school – she made us all feel welcome and I have used that as a filter til today. Of course her husband was there and he tended the BBQ and just seemed beyond cool, especially since he was married to Mrs. Fox. 

Learning how to be part of a group and being inclusive – she mediated several conversations throughout the year between students – Eddie and Ray where part of our class and I am grateful for the lessons that she brought to me personally and how to stand with others who may not always be like me. It really is a time when you learn about being different and that it starts to matter to those around you that we all have differences. 

Inclusivity (sp?) has been a major theme in my life and the work at camp has always been about creating community and learning along the way. I am in a great deal of dept to teachers and mentors along the way who not only talked about it, but they also led with action. John Maxwell says it best. "Your talk talks and your walk talks, but your walk talks louder than you talk talks."

Thanks to Mrs. Fox and her community as well as the dozens of teachers who have influenced my life that I have spent the last 50 plus years in these United States.

1974 - Joseph - Leadership From a 14 Year Old Altar Server

 

Altar servers - not an actual picture of Joseph or myself

(50 Nifty Years in United States Series)

Joseph – To be honest I cannot recall his last name. He was in 8^th grade at Holy Family School, South Pasadena, CA (I know that because that is the highest grade one could attend at that time. He was a blonde guy who towered over us and over the school. I remember that he was the school student body president. He was an altar boy/server as well and I want to say I had served once with him on the schedule and it may have been after this story had occurred.

I seem to recall he played baseball as well and was a catcher. He was a Scout as well because I recall times that he wore his uniform to school. He was also the first tangible representation of servant leadership that I can recall.

Historically, altar servers go back to the third century in the church. As a 12 year old, St. Tarcisius (later named patron saint of altar serves) endured persecution and ultimately died from injuries when he refused to desecrate the Blessed Sacrament (Bread and Wine) while carrying it to those who had been imprisoned for their belief. An early servant leader.

It was during Holy Thursday mass during the Easter season. I remember walking in and seeing a row of 12 chairs at the base of the altar – which was different to start since I had never seen that before. I was intrigued since Joseph was wearing a different robe; as the priests and others involved were lined up at the back of the church.

It was a large crowd and I wanted to sit closer to the front so I could see. I dragged my grandmother to the port side of church and as close-up front as we could get. I had a view and I kept an eye on Joseph all along thinking “this is different.” At the end of the homily there was quiet as everyone was still seated.

The twelve folks who had processed in at the beginning were now moving to the front and seated in the chairs. Joseph went up to the podium and talked about the supper and about service. Then he did an amazing thing and washed the feet of the twelve. I know many of you know the story and at the time I recall hearing about how it all happened.

I was astounded and amazed. I remember feeling pride that I knew him and we were in the same school. I thought that maybe someday I could be more like him. Perhaps in a few years, I could be chosen to be the one who did this at that mass as well. I recall the talk that week in school. Joseph had proposed doing the part of the service.

Not an actual picture of Joseph or a priest who is a Dodger

He was destined for the priesthood. Perhaps he would play for the Dodgers. I remember passing him in the hallway at school and he would actually acknowledge us with his smile and encouraging voice. Everyone wanted to be like him.

I do not know what became of Joseph. I do know that it made an impact on my young life and I am here recounting those moments of that hour over forty some odd years later. How grateful to be part of a community that allows for freedoms like the one that was shared with me at an early age. How grateful for Joseph’s voice on that one evening so many springs ago. 

An example of what it meant to be a leader; a servant leader that I did not even consider I would need to know and what an influence it would have as I have spent these years in these United States.

SUPPLEMENTAL: For practicing Catholics reading this; I choose "Joseph" as my confirmation Saint.