Dining Hall Pranks

Staff pranks are hardly new. They range from small to large in scale and, sometimes, if they are done in the right way, they can be pitched as program related. Sometimes.

Here, we see a small pick up truck has been driven through the double doors by the chimney at Parnell Dining Hall. The truck has been accompanied by a castle of both milk crates and bread crates. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened.  However, as you can tell from the photo, the scope of the prank is impressive.

Before 1997, a set up like this would have been truly disruptive. However, as 1997 was the first summer of split shift feeding, only half the dining hall was ever filled, making this particular prank cumbersome, but not completely off the charts irresponsible.

Field Sports Director Diane Gregory’s truck in Parnell dining hall.

Murrey Cabin Dedications

Seen here are two pages from the 1974 Dedication Ceremonies booklet. The booklet was the program the Council provided for all the new buildings to be dedicated as a result of the 1972 Capital Development Campaign. And there were quite a few buildings! Not only Camp Craig, but the cabins at Stahlman and Parnell, the Health Lodge, and the Trading Post/Handicraft buildings at Stahlman and Parnell. Quite a list.

Also included are the original six Cabins at Murrey. There are 8 cabins at Cubworld today, with the 2 large ones built after the ’72 Campaign. Of the remaining six small cabins, five were all funded by the 1972 campaign monies.

So, what’s the mystery? Look at these pages. Unless our count is wrong, these pages dedicated not six but FOURTEEN cabins. That’s right, 14! And so there’s no question about this, the Parnell, Stahlman, and Craig Program Director cabins are not on this list.

Five of these cabins were clearly built (see below). What happened to other nine cabins?

Cabin #3–Dr. Walter R. Courtenay Cabin
Cabin #4–Harvey and Marie Freeman Cabin
Cabin #5–Dr. J. T. Derryberry Cabin
Cabin #6–Dr. and Mrs. E. K. Bratton Cabin
Cabin #7–James H. Stilz, Jr. Cabin

Pages 4 and 5 out of the Dedication Ceremonies program from July 1974.

Ittabeena… Snowy Day

Before there was Fehrmann Training Center, there was Akers’ Cabin. And before there was Akers’ Cabin, there was Ittabeena. Whatever the name, anyone familiar with the Reservation knows the location.

We outlined some of the history of the Cabin back in July 2014 after the Reunion. It is worth noting that the original cabin was built mostly from scratch by the ranger staff in 1967, renovated somewhat with the 1972 Capital Development Campaign, and renovated to the Training Center with the 1994 Campaign. Home now to weddings, wedding receptions, staff meetings, Scoutmaster suppers, Council Committee Meetings, and yes, actual training, at this point in time, it was strictly off-limits to staff.  Period.  Things have clearly changed!

Thus, there’s nothing really special about these two photos. Simply a view of the newly completed Cabin at the end of 1967 in the snow.

The newly completed Akers’ Cabin in 1967.

The newly completed Akers’ Cabin, 1967. Part 2.

Rock Island T-shirt

After a brief hiatus, we’re back! One of the areas of Boxwell history we haven’t dealt with too much, but we need to explore more are t-shirts. While staff hats have been a staple of the staff uniform continuously since 1976, t-shirts go back much further.

The shirt this week is the Rock Island staff t-shirt. As you can see, it is pretty simple. A white shirt with a blue and red logo in the middle. No staff hat accompanied this shirt, but all staff did have to wear this shirt (or one like it). This is a tradition that would carry on to the “new” Boxwell in 1960.

We’re going to be putting out the call for Boxwell t-shirts this year. So, start digging up your old shirts and photographing them. We’ll be trying to set up something similar to the Staff Hat Project (http://www.virtualboxwell.org/spex_staf_hat.php).

A Staff T-shirt from a Rock Island Staff member, Bob Alley.