Return to Memories

David Fisch

2011

First Memory of Deerwoode? Dropping my older brother off  when I was 5 and started crying because they wouldn’t let me stay…..

Greatest Achievement at Deerwoode? Beating Francisco Garcia in the wrestling tournament two years in a row after losing  two years in a row…either that or a perfect week in the kitchen twice without losing a bonus

Best memory of either the Rifle Range or Archery? “Just squeeze the trigger”

NATURE MAN – Best memory of Nature Class? panther hunt

Favorite River Trip Memory? Last year as counselor,last year of camp  .. saw Young Guns and turned every river trip into a wild west adventure… sold out trips for the rest of camp as all the kids got into it.


2012

Sight – Greatest visual memory? easy… getting out of the car when I was seven years old and seeing T.M. Stride across the parking lot with that Bill Mayes grin and hand held out for a firm first welcoming handshake 

Site – Best or top of mind spatial or physical location memory? Flag raising in the morning… all the camp gathering first thing in the morning… sometimes in the fog…

Sound – Most impressive sound memory?  THP said it best… the sound of that big blue bell…close second, I was a JCP and went to the dining hall about an hour before dinner, can’t remember who else was with me… may have been Wisler. But as we approached the back door, we heard the explosive sound of what were most possibly cuss words in Spanish. David Garcia was the head chef and Evidently, he had cooked the wrong kind of cake with lunch, instead of cornbread the “truck” had delivered some kind of sweet muffin mix… for cupcakes… Bill said use it but his intentions were for dessert. Not for cornbread… Any way it was an uneasy situation and they were about to hold emergency court right then and there in the dining hall. They told the JCPs to go away, but we huddled outside and listened to the court case… Needless to say, Garcia lost the case, but it was my first taste of black and white and The JC justice. Final fine. I think was loss of bonus which was 20 bucks probably and maybe a D.D.O.  another five…

Touch – Physical recollection?  The feel of the rope on the first day of camp at the homesick ditch….and the electric wire at the dining hall….

Smell – every time I go camping and cook breakfast, the smell of scrambled eggs of an open fire takes me back to being a farmer and cooking breakfast down on the farm….

Taste – What’s the best dining hall memory?   As a JC for four years, I spent more time in that kitchen than probably any other JC who went through the program…. Spent so much time in the kitchen that my taste is Not a dining hall memory but going to that steak house in Hendersonville as a JC. Big carcasses hangin’ on the other side of that plate glass window. Just Butchered. Fresh Meat. Damn, what was the name of that place?

 Fear – What scared you most? What scared me the most as a young camper was going to the bathroom at night… Little tepee or big either one…

Triumph – Third year in a row of being in the finals of the wrestling tournament with the same opponent, Cisco Garcia. My nemesis…After losing the previous two years to him, I did it. A pin by me in the second round. Champion…. Second place was getting all my bonuses in the kitchen for the first time and then subsequently an unprecedented second straight week…. Ruled by fear of the fine, I then followed it up the next week with another perfect week all bonuses. This with Bill after me. He pretty much told me he had gone easy on me the first week, but he would be there every day watching me. Black Friday was the dreaded day. Most all perfect weeks ended on Friday… Bill would look at whoever the head cook on Thursday was and give ‘em that T.M. sly grin and say … Tomorrows black Friday, and just leave it at that… But I did two weeks in a row as Head Cook. all bonuses I think I made 200 bucks if it was a perfect week…. Ha. 180 meals three times a day as a seventeen-year-old….