Wednesday, March 5, 2008
a postcard home...
On the same day my Uncle Chuck wrote his mother (my Grandmother) from the Ft. of Mt. Meeker, Former Vichy prime minister Pierre Laval surrendered in Austria. Just six days later, and probably three days after she received the postcard from her eldest son away at Camp St. Malo, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. I was thinking about my son Patrick, who if the camp was still open, would be the third generation to enjoy the St. Vrain Range. He was born after 9-11, which is our modern benchmark in terms of the world deteriorating. Still, some 80,000 civilian lives were lost on August 6, 1945 compared to our 3,000 or so during the Al-Quida attacks on our country.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Welcome Campers, Camper Workers, & Counselors...
Camp St. Malo was a part of my life experience from when I was age seven till fifteen (1971-1979). I would fly out from Chicago, where I grew up, and spend six weeks at the foot of Long's Peak with about 100 other boys. I learned to hike and camp in the St. Vrain Range, shoot a rifle, bow and arrow, tool leather, play dodgeball, capture the flag, ride horses, and drink "bug juice." Fr. Bob Gerrard was in charge back then as well as his mother, whom we all called "Mom." We rose every morning to the bell ringing that would call us to mass at St. Catherine's Chapel (more popularly known as "The Chapel on the Rock." I'm now 43 years old but have fond memories of the place that was so much a part of my childhood. The camp closed in 1985 and was turned into a retreat center by the Diocese of Denver; this was a sad development for me personally as my children will never get to go there as I did. The intent of this blog is to provide a place for others to share their memories of their camp experience, to understand how many generations went through there, and to create a virtual discussion about those experiences. Please feel free to post your comments, questions, memories here. Thanks, and may God bless you! - Deacon Pat
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