 |
|
     |
|
|
Multiculturalism: A blonde Californian doing Spanish dance in Taiwan? That would be Catherine Diamond ’75, who studied Chinese painting and literature at Cal while learning to
The Shasta Lair Thousands of Cal alumni and their families have made camping at the Lair of the Golden Bear in Pinecrest a favored summer tradition, but few of them know that the precursor to today’s Lair was established near Lake Shasta, a vision made real by a few dozen men and women who literally built the camp from the ground up.
On February 28, a number of those adventurous souls met for a reunion at the Orinda Country Club, where they recounted the origins of the camp and many of its traditions. It all started in 1948, when Bob Sibley ’03, concerned that California’s booming population was making it increasingly difficult to find wild land for recreation, gained approval from the CAA board of directors to run a camp that summer, as a trial. The only problem was that they had no campground, no tents, and no budget. But Sibley was an enterprising man, and he recruited Dick Bahme ’40 to manage the construction and development of the alumni camp--the first of its kind in the country. Bahme, a forestry major and an experienced outdoorsman, had recently returned from service in World War II, where he had gained experience in setting up camps for as many as 800 soldiers. The men scouted out a location between the Sacramento and McCloud rivers, a gently sloping site with a spring-fed creek and commanding views of Mount Shasta in the distance. They hired Jack Pruyn ’39, a mining engineer and builder, to be the on-site construction supervisor, and Dick Salinger ’52, an energetic freshman who wanted to work. Army surplus supplies were acquired for free or at minimal cost. By chance, the engineering dean offered up 100 canvas tents that had been used for the department’s student summer camp.
In less than three months, a campground took shape--cabins, a dining hall, bathroom buildings, and a campfire area and stage. There were no supply lines for electricity, water, or gas, so Bahme and his crew set up a boiler and generator, and converted industrial ovens to burn propane. “I knew from my Army experience how important it is to have good food and plenty of it, and good hot and cold bathing water,” Bahme says. Bahme was in charge of managing the staff as well--as the Lair does today, he hired Cal students: Al Thode ’50, Cliff Dochterman, M.A. ’50, and many others; Bahme’s wife Anna served as social director, and James Lyon, a recent medical graduate, was the camp doctor. “Our staff was terrific,” remembers Bahme. “Where we had some turnover was in the kitchen. I tried to tell them they’d be roughing it at the camp, but they didn’t really know what roughing it meant.” Some of those first campers were surprised by the rustic retreat, too. “I had grown up camping, so I was used to sleeping in a tent--but my husband wasn’t!” laughs Jean Dobey, who with her husband Jim ’40 was one of the first alumni to attend. “But we made great friends and had great fun.” Football coach Pappy Waldorf and artist Chiura Obata were among the faculty lecturers that summer, and the staff created many of the traditions that continue to this day: They welcomed campers with a glass of cool lemonade, entertained children in the Kub Korral, and, of course, performed songs and skits around the campfire. At least one of those original staffmembers says the experience changed his life. Dochterman had just completed his second year at Boalt Hall when he signed on to work at the Shasta Lair. “I decided that I didn’t want to continue in law; I really preferred the college atmosphere,” he says. Dochterman went on to work as an assistant to Clark Kerr, became president of University of the Pacific, and then president of Rotary International. In the 55 years since, generations of staffers and campers may have had similarly formative experiences at the Lair--and it’s all thanks to that brave bunch of pioneers. --Linda Schmidt
Ship-shape: Carolyn Sheaff ’58 traveled to Germany recently to help christen Travel Dynamics’ new expedition ship, the Orion. Sheaff was picked to swing the bottle because of her highly successful career at the helm of Bear Treks, the Alumni Association’s travel program. Under her direction, the program has grown from 9 trips and 231 passengers 20 years ago to 40 departures with 1,300 participants scheduled this year. The long Blue line: Katharine Wallace Thompson ’48 (second from left, below) celebrates with three of her daughters (left to right), Vandy O’Reilly ’70, Derry MacBride ’73, and Betsy Dixon (the red sheep of the family: a Stanford grad),
|
 April 2004 Keep in touch with fellow classmates through California Monthly's Class Notes. Become a member of the California Alumni Association now to receive your own copy of the magazine. Call the Monthly at 510 / 642-5781 for Class Secretary names and addresses, or submit your own Class Notes now.
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| About
CAA Contact
Us
Update
your Address CAA Career Opportunities Privacy Policy |
©2008 California Alumni
Association. All Rights Reserved For questions about CAA: info@alumni.berkeley.edu Technical inquiries: web@alumni.berkeley.edu
|
Alumni House Berkeley, CA 94720-7520 Toll-Free: (888) CAL-ALUM Phone: (510) 642-7026 Fax: (510) 642-6252
|
