My Falcon Story: Nurse Lynne
By Lynne Rodrigues, Director of Health at Falcon Camp
In October’s blog, we heard from Dave about how he bought camp from a man named Jack Hardman. Dave shared how his love for Falcon began as a camper in 1964. He shared how he started as a camper and became a camp staff member before ultimately purchasing camp in 1984. I was asked to share with everyone a bit about my family’s history with camp as it starts way back in 1953 before Falcon was little more than a glimmer of possibility.
In 1953, Bill and Majorie Lorimer were already operating Camp Roosevelt for Boys in Perry, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie. My grandfather A. E. Hackenburg operated an insurance business in Cleveland and was already providing personal and business insurance for the Lorimer family. Bill Lorimer contacted my grandfather and asked him to travel from Cleveland to evaluate a piece of property with him near Bowerston, Ohio. Mr. Lorimer explained to my grandfather he was hoping to open a summer camp for girls. Families who were sending their sons to Camp Roosevelt had been inquiring about a camp for their daughters. My grandfather was interested both as the businessman who would underwrite the insurance for a new camp but also as the father of three daughters!
Lynne’s uncle Bill Trethewey is next to the nurse on the right and her dad is standing behind him.
On the designated date, my grandfather left Cleveland to make the trip to Bowerston. He took his son, my father, along for the ride. In the spring of 1953, my father would have been 7 years old. My dad remembers after briefly walking around and discussing insurance, Mr. Lorimer and my grandfather decided they would mow the very tall grass in the open area near the lake front. My dad remembers being handed a pair of shears and instructed how to trim the grass around the three buildings standing on the property at that time. He remembers thinking how fun trimming the grass was!
That summer, my grandfather sent his oldest two daughters, my aunts, Susan and Eleanor to Camp Firebird for its inaugural season. The second summer of operation, my aunt Pat joined her older sisters as a camper at Firebird as well. Spending the summer at Firebird became a long- standing tradition for the Hackenburg girls. All three spent many summers at Firebird and much like Dave, progressed from camper to senior staff members.
Back to my dad. Five years later, Mr. Lorimer called my grandfather again. He had purchased another property on the Leesville Lake and was planning on opening a camp for boys! The glimmer that was Falcon Camp in 1953, was now a reality! Falcon opened in 1959 and my dad was sent off to camp along with his sisters for the first time. Mr. Lorimer had hired Jack Hardman and his wife Jeannine to be Falcon’s first directors. My father, Richard Hackenburg, has many great stories from the first summer at Falcon. The only building was the current lodge. Campers stayed in “bedrooms” on either side of the dining hall. There were four bedrooms for campers. Two were on the side of the dining hall where the Robins and Cardinals eat and two were on the other side where the Eagles eat today. Dave tells me you can still see some of the marks in the dining hall where the original bedroom walls stood. The current staff lounge was a private bedroom for Jack and Jeannine. The current Health Office area was another private living space for Ed and Lois Basch who would join Jack and Jeannine as co-owners and directors
just a few years after Falcon’s first summer. Part of the current Health Office was also camp’s main Office space. The first camp Health Office or Infirmary as it was called back then was a platform tent erected just up the road from the lodge. Today, Falcon’s Summer Office sits at the site of the first Health Office/Infirmary. The first bathrooms at camp were just up the hill on the other side of the Lodge where the Cardinal/Robin indoor bathroom is today. They called the bathroom the HOL for House Of Lorimer! Dave likes to use the term HOL for an early camp trivia question so now I have given you a trivia answer for next summer’s games!
Staff photo from 1962 with Jack, Jeannine, Ed and Lois. Ed is holding Patty and Jack is holding Janice.
One of my father’s favorite memories from that first summer was staying after camp with some other campers and staff at the end of camp to help cut down over 100 pine trees to make a baseball field for the next summer. He said it was hard work but great fun! My dad, Richard Hackenburg, came to visit camp during the summer of 2018. He stood at the top of the hill in front of the Eagles unit and looked out over the ballfield, commenting, “I helped make that field!”
These first summers of both Firebird and Falcon began a long-standing tradition for my family. My dad and his sisters attended and worked at camp for many of these first years. Firebird and Falcon began a relationship as brother/sister camps. Each summer, there were several activities planned and the two camp communities would get together and enjoy games, dances, talent shows and skits and even a horse show! Boat mail traveled each day between the two camps so siblings, friends, and staff could stay in touch. My Aunt Susan met a fellow counselor from Falcon who ultimately became her husband. I believe my Aunt Sue and Bill Trethewey were one of the first couples to marry after meeting at camp. They began a tradition that has seen many couples marry after meeting at camp.
By the time I was a child in the 1970’s, Bill Lorimer had sold Falcon to Jack and Jeannine Hardman and Ed and Lois Basch. Jack Hardman also purchased some land up at the farm that remains in the Hardman family to this day. Jack took some of the land and made it into camp sites. My parents and siblings would all pile into the family station wagon with our tent and equipment and camp on Falcon grounds for the weekend. We could venture down the hill to swim at the lake or go for a trail ride on a horse. I have great memories of those family camping weekends at Falcon.
Susan and Bill Trethewey were often at camp during those years in the 1970’s supporting Jack, Jeannine, Ed, and Lois as they ran camp. Sue and Bill’s kids all spent several summers at Falcon with a couple of their sons ultimately becoming Falcon staff as well. Sue brought many additional groups into camp from the Pittsburgh area for private camp gatherings as well. Sue and Bill introduced many families from the south hills of Pittsburgh to the value of camp at Falcon.
Lynne outside her summer home, the Health Center!
As a girl in the 1970’s, I could not attend Falcon as a camper but did attend Firebird for a few summers along with my cousins Sue and Bill’s daughters. I remember the boat mail, the dances, the horse shows, and my time at Firebird fondly. I believe in the value of the camp experience for kids. All four of my children have attended Falcon as campers. The value of camp for kids is what keeps me coming back to camp each summer to work at Falcon as well. Falcon is simply good for the soul!
