DEAR SUN SPOTS: As a young boy I remember my two younger brothers and I going to summer camp at Don Bosco Camp (for boys). I have determined that this may well have been in the mid-’50s.
As a young boy I of course had no idea of how far away from home I was and so had no idea where the camp was located. We were from Lewiston. The camp was run by the Sisters of Charity. I remember a main building where daily events took place from inside activities to feeding to sleeping. It may have had more than one floor?
There was a huge area behind the building for outside play and activities. I also remember having to cross a road to go down a path to a lake for swimming. If I ever knew the name of the lake/pond I have long forgotten.
I would very much like to locate the facility so as to visit it and recall memories for myself and my brothers. I would ask readers to assist me as I am certain others from this area went there also, or are at least aware of it.
Thank you for any help. — Marc A. J. Jalbert, goldenagers@hotmail.com
ANSWER: Sun Spots found a photo on the front page of the July 2, 1952, edition of the Daily Sun of Camp Don Bosco boys swimming in Lovejoy Pond in Fayette. The caption says that the Sisters of Charity, who operated the Healy Asylum orphanage in Lewiston (now senior living apartments), purchased the camp.
The accompanying story says that the sisters and boys ages 4 to 12 had just moved into the camp. Some of the sisters slept in the dormitory with the boys, while others had their own quarters. The sisters did the cooking and tended the gardens, but the boys had chores as well.
There are plenty of pictures with story, which you can read at http://tinyurl.com/8r5qd42.
Of course, this camp may not be the camp you remember, as the Catholic institution may have had more than one camp in the region.
The camps were named for St. Jean Bosco, an Italian priest who spent his life helping underprivileged youths.
According to what Sun Spots found online, there are still Camp Don Boscos in operation around the country, in places as far afield as Stony Point, N.Y., and Seattle, Wash.
Other former campers have similar good memories. Sun Spots found a string of them at topix.com (http://tinyurl.com/9k7gxhg) that you may want to check out.
DEAR SUN SPOTS: I remember a super singer named Barry White. I am trying to remember when he was around. I’m sure people can write to you and help me out. He was fantastic!
Thank you for the job you do. — No Name, No Town
ANSWER: Sun Spots found the following at Wikipedia and other sites online:
Barry White was born Barry Eugene Carter on Sept. 12, 1944 in Galveston, Texas, and grew up in South Central Los Angeles, where he got in trouble with the law during his teen years for stealing Cadillac tires. While in jail, he heard Elvis Presley sing “It’s Now or Never,” an event that he said turned his life around. He began his musical career in the early 1960s.
He actually got much of his start writing and producing songs for others, including “Walking in the Rain with the One I Love.”
The two-time Grammy Award-winner was known for his distinctive bass voice and romantic image. White’s greatest success came in the 1970s as a solo singer and with the Love Unlimited Orchestra, crafting many enduring soul, funk, and disco songs such as his two biggest hits, “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” and “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe.”
His music had a resurgence in the 1990s, when it was featured on the TV drama “Ally McBeal,” and he made two guest appearances on the show.
Overweight most of his life and suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure, he suffered kidney failure in 2002 and died of a stroke on July 4, 2003.
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