Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from VirtualBoxwell!
To celebrate, we give you the photo you thought you might exist, but were never quite sure about: Tom Willhite as Santa Claus. We don’t know who the gentlemen is on his knee, but that is Tom Willhite dressed in season appropriate attire for a Council Christmas Party in the 1980s.
Your holiday is now complete. You’re welcome. Have a great holiday and we’ll see you in 2018.
Tom Willhite as Santa Claus as a Council Christmas party
1999 Reunion Campfire
This is an admittedly bad photo. It is grainy and demonstrates the limits of technology in the late 1990s. Digital photography was in its infancy, so low light photos often looked this. Sorry.
That said, this photo is part of our recent nostalgic trip through Staff Reunions. For the last two weeks, we’ve looked at photos from the 2009 reunion. This week we jump back 10 years to the 1999 reunion. You can of course see all those photos on our Flickr account.
The photo here is of the 1999 Reunion Campfire at Camp Stahlman. You’ll note that the cross tie stage is still here. It would burn down in the not-too-distant future. On the stage is none other than Stahlman legend Web Webster. Web had served the meal earlier in the day and stuck around to MC the campfire.
Web Webster at 1999 Reunion campfire, Camp Stahlman Friday Night Campfire Area
Dutch and Tom, 2009
The photo of Carl Adkins at the 2009 Reunion caused us to dive back into the 2009 Reunion photos a bit. You can, of course, visit all the Reunions at our Flickr account or just read up about Staff Reunions (yes, shameless plug for both. Sorry).
In the digging, we came across this photo of Claus “Dutch” Mann and Tom Willhite. There’s not a single thing unique or special about this photo. It is just two older men who have known each other for years and been involved in Scouting for decades, chatting at the Cripple Crab during registration for the Reunion. Dutch worked at Boxwell on and off from the 1960s to the 1990s at Stahlman, Parnell, and Craig. Tom was a Camp Director at Parnell and Reservation Director from 1976 to 1994.
The only remarkable thing here is simply that neither man is still with us. Dutch passed away this year, in March to be specific. He followed Tom, who left us in September 2013. Two greats together in one photo. This is why we have reunions. Not just to celebrate the good times we had together, but to remember those who are no longer with us.
Dutch Mann and Tom Willhite at the Crab during registration for the 2009 reunion.
Adkins in Review
As a recognition of Carl Adkins’ retirement yesterday, we thought it worthwhile to present something about Carl’s time at Boxwell. From 2004 to 2017, Adkins served as Reservation Director. This 13 year period makes him the second longest serving Reservation Director, behind Tom Willhite. Thus, there are a few things to review!
During this period, Winter Camp took off, having just been introduced in 2003. A STEM Program and “Music Department” were introduced at Parnell. There was also a list of capital developments: the pool, the Josh Sain Memorial Gateway, the Zipline, the Boat Harbor Maintenance Building, the new Waste Water Treatment Center, as well as new water lines into the Reservation. And this list is just the big things.
Adkins also oversaw two Staff Reunions: 2009 and 2014. He is pictured here at the 2009 event–the 50th Anniversary of Boxwell at Old Hickory Lake–doing exactly what you expect a Reservation Director to do: stand in the back, trusting his people to run the program.
Reservation Director Carl Adkins at the 2009 Reunion, standing in the back of Stahlman Dining Hall, listening to the program.
Today is the last day for Carl Adkins to serve in the position of Reservation Director. He is officially retiring. A party is planned to give him a proper send off.
We at VirtualBoxwell would like to say thank you and good luck to Carl as he begins the next phase of his life. Serving from 2004 to 2017 makes Carl the second longest running Reservation Director and that is quite feat.
Congratulations Carl from all of us here at VirtualBoxwell!
2007 Staff ID photo of Reservation Director Carl Adkins. Photo by Carl Head.