Memories of Ada

 

 

Ada was like that MOM away from home.  She was always available with a smile and a hug for all her girls.  Ada is remembered lovingly.                                        

               —Felice Goodwin

 

 

Ada was the kindest, gentlest soul.  We may have made fun of her peddle pushers and the prunes placed discreetly outside her door and the mandatory hair brush-washing, but we all loved, respected and trusted her.  I spoke to her a few times several years before she died, and she asked for so many of us by name.  She remembered our siblings and our parents and details about our camp experiences and life experiences.  She was an amazing woman and how happy I would be today to have her in my life.    

 —Ann Harlem

 

 

Pure love.  Ada loved her job and the campers.  Also she was the chairman of the CBT group.

                          —Patti Pike

 

 

Being a waterfront counselor, I remember Ada taking her daily "constitutional" swim in the late afternoon.  She did laps using a hybrid sidestroke/front crawl that was all her own invention.  I used to think of it as the Ada crawl.  It didn't look too sleek, but it sure worked!  But the thing I remember the most about Ada is the "underwear lecture" she gave to new counselors about how we were to make sure that the campers in our bunks changed their underwear on a daily basis and took regular showers.  She was always so no-nonsense sensible!

       —Sue Colburn

                   Waterfront, 1965-1968

 

\

My strangest memory is of “Campers, wear your joiseys.  It’s cold!” A Jewish mother for sure!

 

 

Believe it or not I was a Wenonah camper in the mid 40's for about 5 years and Ada was there for most of those years. I'm not sure when she started at Wenonah but she was certainly a REAL summer mother!  She not only was available for homesick campers (not me) but she was great at getting us out of the bunks and to our scheduled activity when we were more into hanging out on our beds!  She was a truly wonderful addition to the staff.  My memories of camp are all positive and she was part of that feeling.  I am 71 years old and would love to go back to those carefree days!  Too bad we appreciate our youth when it's gone.  My daughter (Marian Zweig Lansburgh) was a camper and I don't know if Ada was still there.

                       —Kathie Amster

 

My memories of Ada are...

          ...Nail cutting day when she came around to the younger bunks to cut fingernails and toe nails.

          ..."The Talk."  (Am I the only one who remembers the kotex demonstration?)

          ...Hard talking when there were bunk fights.  Quick laugh and smile when you needed it.

                         —Betsy Stern

 

 

My most salient memory of Ada involves a small measure of pain (of course).  It was a shock to me and my compatriots to learn that Ada took umbrage at our creative introduction of the Shaker Junior High fight song at meals.  We saw, at least I did, the competitive rounds of college songs being shouted out as, well, competitive.  And far less meaningful than the vocal tribute to our own true blue school that we actually attended.  In deference to the spirit of the assembled peanut-butter faces around the table, we sang the Shaker song with much greater reserve than the Dog and Cat songs.  So, with that thoughtfulness in mind, it seemed unjust that Ada called us on the carpet [was there carpet in her office?] for that minor offense.  It still stings—though a lot less now. 

                      —Peggy Freed

 

 

How to do her justice?  There isn’t enough time, particularly since she herself managed to be in five places at once. I always felt wrapped in cotton wool by Ada, and even at an age when one doesn't normally notice such things, I wondered at her patience.   She was simply a dear one and we were lucky to have her.

Ginger Weisman 

 

 

Gee, Ada always seemed so old, but in retrospect, she was probably younger than we are now.  A vivid memory is of Ada at our dances with boys' camps, doing her 'breast stroke' to move us apart if we were dancing too close together.

               —Dulcie Heiman

 

 

Ader [sic] was the constant at Wenonah.  She was there through a generation of campers.  She made sure that we had our weekly baths (no showers then) and our monthly shampoos.  I remember that she cut my sister Betsy's fingernails because she had fought with another camper and clawed her.  She knew all of the campers and their state of health and cleanliness.  We always looked forward to visitors' day when Saul would come and sing the Laughing Song. 

Ada was small in body but large in love and caring.  And I loved her back.

                        —Margie Levy