Camp Pasquaney, New Hampshire
About » Bubbles Bio
The following text is an excerpt from a White Birch article written by Dick Beyer in 2001.
Bob arrived at camp in 1953, at age 11, and has only missed one summer since then, the one between his camper and counsellor years, a truly remarkable record! His over 50 summers on the council include over 40 years as waterfront director and over 30 years as coordinator of maintenance during the camp season. Bob is known to all in the active camp community as Bubbles, a nickname which dates back to Belle Island in 1959, and a whacky countoff system that could only have been devised by Bart Thomas. Many of his friends have probably thought that it refers to his exuberant personality.
Bob grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, graduating from Kingswood School and Yale University before receiving his masters degree in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University in 1966. He took a position teaching Middle and Upper School English and 8th grade Latin at Noble and Greenough School that year. After seven years there, he moved to the Gilman School, where he taught English in the upper school for the next 25 years. Bob coached various teams at Nobles and Gilman, most notably serving as Gilman’s Varsity Ice Hockey Coach for ten years. In his spare time, Bob did alumni work for Yale, helping with admissions, fund-raising, and serving as class agent over a thirty year period. His biggest extracurricular contributions have been in the area of substance abuse counselling. He has led numerous seminars, done extensive counselling, and has helped with many peer counselling groups. He served on the Governor’s Drug and Alcohol Commission in Maryland. He was among a small number of secondary school educators working with kids on substance abuse. That work led him into study of mood disorders. He finds that many doctors treat one problem or the other, while he feels they should be treating both disorders together.
Each summer for the past 25 years, Bob has led a campfire program at Pasquaney on substance abuse and mood disorders. He states, Pasquaney is a safe, comfortable environment where kids aren’t afraid to be open when they need to be. Nearly every year, one or two campers speak with him about a family problem after his talk.
Bob first came to Pasquaney in 1951 when his brother was a new camper. His father, Dick Bulkeley, an enthusiastic alumnus, had attended camp for four summers in the 1920s. His family stayed at a motel in West Campton, and Bob never dreamed that, fifty years later, he would move to Campton to live year-round after retiring from teaching.
On his first day at camp in 1953, Bob recalls thinking that he’d like to stay around Pasquaney for awhile. He did, first for five summers as a camper, winning crew and canoe races, the hiking cup, and being elected Most Faithful Boy in 1957. His early council years were spent instructing in canoeing, nature, and sailing, directing glade plays, and helping to lead many Long and Short Walks. In 1965, he succeeded Ben Wood as director of the waterfront. As Mr. Gem-John said in 1988, Bob filled this post with a magnificent combination of organizational skill, concern for safety, and humor.
Since 1976, Bob has been the coordinator of all maintenance activities during the summer. He has worked closely with four generations of the Adams family. He stayed back with Nelson Adams for a day and a half on the 1957 Long Walk due to illness. Bob adds, we have been good friends since then. He picked up many mechanical tips from Nelson’s father, Wilson, that he still uses today. Since retiring to New Hampshire, Bob has extended his summer maintenance coordination to the winter months, helping as a volunteer during the off-season.
Mr. Gem-John wrote in his 1988 summer newsletter, far more important than (his) specific assignments is Bob’s ability to teach values and to bring out the best in campers and counsellors. When the council is searching for an appropriate way to work with a camper, confront a problem, or make certain that sound educational philosophy is followed, Bob invariably will lead us to the wisest solution.
For about 20 years, from 1965 to the mid-1980s, Bob gave the final tree talk of the summer, often talking about how to apply Pasquaney values in the months away from camp. Since then he has delivered a chapel talk each summer. His subjects have centered on values and friendship. At the centennial celebration in 1994, Bob spoke of his many summers at Pasquaney: Each year keeps us young and fresh, forever growing in a marvelous interchange with a new set of campers. Each year presents its new challenges and surprises, new friends and a unique community. Shared experiences and values, common convictions and dedication make the camper/counsellor partnership natural and inevitable. If I were to detect any telling difference between the fifties and the present, it would have nothing to do with the both subtle and dramatic changes in the physical landscape, for as we have all been able to see, camp looks the same. And the feeling that we have deep in our hearts is the same. What seems different is the collegiality of the council which is fostered much more consciously by having it together for a week before camp. Bob and his wife, Ouisie, are enjoying their new home in Campton, New Hampshire. They have acquired adjacent land on their rural road bringing their property to over 100 acres. Ouisie has also had a long camping career, with Onaway, spending over twenty years there, beginning in 1960, as camper, counsellor, and trustee. Their three daughters, Tracy, Brooke and Leigh all attended Onaway.
During the 2006 Alumni Reunion, Bob was honored for his record-breaking tenure at Pasquaney: 53 years. We all hope he’s around for another 53!