Highfields Camp Alumni to Hold August 13-15, 2010 Reunion in Maine

Feb. 22, 2010 - PRLog -- C O N T A C T S:            
Neil H. Gray
Managing Partner
Healthcare Trends & Strategies, LLC
3 Coventry Square
Bridgewater, New Jersey 08807-1338
Phone: (908) 722-1843
graysters@aol.com
&
Henri L. Sans, Jr., Esq.
LeBlanc & Sans
213 School Street - Suite 201
Gardner, Massachusetts 01440
Phone: (978) 632-0011
fax (978) 632-0100
henri@leblancandsans.com


HIGHFIELDS CAMP ALUMNI TO HOLD AUGUST 13-15, 2010 REUNION:

Remarkable Reconnections Decades Later

Hope, Maine – February 25, 2010:  After decades of operations, countless campfires, war canoe races, and color contests, and the vivid memories of hundreds of campers, counselors, and unit leaders from all around the world, Highfields Camp for boys, situated on Alford Lake, finally closed its doors in August 1981.  Begun in 1947 by the late husband and wife team of Cleo “Colonel” and Pearl Goderre, and continued by their late son Larry and daughter-in-law Randy, the oldest operating boys camp in America was later sold (and resold), with most of its attendee records lost .  Most of the land that constituted Highfields has now been parceled among and sold to several current owners, and the current Hope Elementary School sits just adjacent to the land where many of the buildings that housed campers and counselors now lie silent under the watchful eye of current owners David and Cynthia Bowman, MD.

Today, literally scattered around the world, are Highfields alumni ranging from local Hope and Rockland residents who worked summer jobs at the camp ranging from counselor to kitchen assistant to maintenance worker to current senior executives at Fortune 100 companies.  From Thailand, France, and Italy…to Canada, Sweden, and Barbados, from the east coast of the US to the west, thousands of boys and young men spent two months of every summer in the woods of Maine and the waters of Alford Lake, enjoying a host of activities and learning countless skills and Indian lore that were pre-Ipod, pre-Blackberry, pre-personal computer, and pre-GPS.

Sadly when the camp closed, so then did many of the connections among the campers, counselors, and unit leaders.  And, as the alumni have aged, opportunities to reconnect have been few and far between.

“This is the primary reason we’re trying to plan for and organize the Highfields Camp Alumni Reunion this far in advance,” said Henri Sans, an attorney from Gardner, Massachusetts.  “One of our larger challenges, of course, has been alumni research as we have had to repopulate our alumni list predominantly from memory.”  Sans noted that one former unit leader and longtime Highfielder, Bill Bordow of Kingston, Pennsylvania, had tucked away in his attic an intact list of attendees from 1981 which added nicely to the research.  “We’ve remembered over 550 alumni, but despite internet searches, we’ve only verified just over 100 email addresses.”  

“And we’ve not had tremendous luck yet in locating any of our Canadian alumni to the north,” added Miami real estate consultant Gustavo Acosta Somoana. “But the work goes on…it’s worth it!”

The reunion is currently slated for August 13-15, 2010 on or near the site of the former camp, with a registration reception tentatively planned at an alumna’s home in Rockland and dinner in Lincolnville.  Additional activities are being considered, with a planning committee meeting to be held in New York City on February 23.

For more information, please contact:

Neil H. Gray
Managing Partner
Healthcare Trends & Strategies, LLC
3 Coventry Square
Bridgewater, New Jersey 08807-1338
Phone: (908) 722-1843
graysters@aol.com
or
Henri L. Sans, Jr., Esq.
LeBlanc & Sans
213 School Street - Suite 201
Gardner, Massachusetts 01440
Phone: (978) 632-0011
fax (978) 632-0100
henri@leblancandsans.com

# # #

Highfields Camp Alumni is the alumni organization for the former Highfields Camp of East Union, Maine founded in 1947 by Cleo (Colonel) and Pearl Goderre and closed in 1981.