’ by the Many Point Alumni Association Spring 2015 Vol. 29, Issue 2 S pring is here, and Many Point is gearing up for another awesome season. the weekend after camp is finished for the year. August 21st—23rd. The MPSAA will be hosting some different activities for all ages. This includes The MPSAA is stronger than having some sailboats out and trap ever and has several events for shooting at the range. Alumni members this season. For the most recent update to date Coming up in only a few weeks, information, please feel free to register we have the Spring Fling. This event on our mailing service. will be held at Gluek’s Bar and Restaurant on April 17th, 2015. Please You can do this on our home page come on down for some alumni fun. at mpalumni.org. We have the MP Alumni Work party is coming up on May 14th, 2015. Pleas RSVP to Doug Palmer if you are interested in participating. This event is free and is a great excuse to give back to camp. Lastly, we are looking for more participating leadership for the Alumni Board. Current positions include webmaster, newsletter editor, and event coordinators. As always, we’re looking forward to an awesome camping season. We also have the Many Point Work Party coming up on the weekend - Mike Kuklok of May 29th. MPSAA President Our Alumni Campout will also be Monday, December 29th, 2014 Holiday Party at Kips Irish Pub Tuesday January 13th, 2015 Board Meeting at Kips Irish Pub 6:45pm (Conversation at 6:00pm) Tuesday March 10th, 2015 Board Meeting at Kips Irish Pub 6:45pm (Conversation at 6:00pm) Friday April 17th, 2015—Spring Fling Gluek’s Bar and Restaurant 6:00PM to 2:00AM Tuesday May 12th, 2015 Board Meeting at Kips Irish Pub 6:45pm (Conversation at 6:00pm) More Dates? Check out your Calendar! Joe Anglim Pg. 2 Orly Thornsjo Pg. 3 2015 Spring Fling Invite Spring Fling April 17th, 2015 Starting at 6pm Joe Anglim - A Spirit to Remember It is with sadness that the Lantern’s Light notes the passing of Joe Anglim. Joe was a long term Many Point Staffer (1948-1958), a professional Scouter of nearly 45 years and a friend to the MPSAA. with the help of the counselor. In the Director of Camp 1949, Joe returned as a Provisional Development, where he enlarged Area Director, where individual the council’s camp from 150 to Scouts would arrive and be formed 4000 acres. This, and all other into Patrols and Troops for their camps Joe was subsequently stay at camp. 1950 found Joe as involved with, were modeled after Buckskin Area Director. From Many Point! Joe became the 1951 to 1955 he was the Assistant Assistant Scout Executive in the Camp Director. He was the Camp Chicago Council in 1964 and the oe graduated from De Director from 1956 to 1958. Joe Council Executive in Omaha in LaSalle High School and said that he followed the “master 1968. After positions as Regional served his country in the US Army via the military draft. plan” developed by Wint Hartman Executives in 1970 and 1972 Joe and learned skills that would serve became the National Director of Joe’s Many Point career started him throughout his Scouting career. Administration and Chief while he was studying at the Executive Officer of the National University of Minnesota. It was In 1950, Council Executive there that he met Maury Ostrander, Director, Bob Billington asked Joe BSA. He was instrumental in an early Many Point Camp to become a member of the Council moving the national office from New Jersey to its present location Director, who was a professor in Staff. After leaving Minneapolis, in Texas. the Physical Education his professional Scouting career Department. After an interview would take him to Chicago, where Many camp staffers fondly with Maury, Joe was sent to meet he followed Wint Hartman to remember Joe and his wife Reeta, and interview with Minneapolis become their Director of Camping. herself on the camp staff as the Area Council’s Director of When Wint moved on, Joe became Camp Secretary from 1955-1957. Camping, Wint Hartman. Sensing Joe’s great potential, Wint hired Joe to be one of three canoe guides for the 1948 camping season. Thus began Joe’s career in Scouting. That first summer, he was headquartered at the north end of Buckskin Bay, living in a tent near the railroad pilings. From there the canoe guides would tow the canoes by motor boat to each camp to take troops on overnight trips to Elbow or Icecracking Lakes. What impressed him about this arrangement was that they would show up and the Troop Counselor would have the Scouts prepared for the trip. All effort was made to have the Troop leadership function Joe Anglim (right) with long time friend Wint Hartman (left). J 2 Joe and Reeta maintained many strong friendships that started at Many Point. Joe attended the reunion at camp the summer that the Wint Hartman Trial was dedicated. Many stories were shared by Wint, Joe and others during the weekend. Joe assisted in the development of the MPSAA by sharing his knowledge of camp activities and history. He also shared many photographs and personal memorabilia. In 2012, staffers Jerry Downes (19511957) and Rolf Bjelland (1952-1959) did an interview with Joe that is now available through the MPSAA (check the web site). In it, Joe recounts his years at Many Point and the BSA. One thing that comes through in the interview is Joe’s love of Many Point and the traditions that did and continue to make it unique. He once commented that he had received a map of Many Point Scout Camp from the MPSAA and was pleased that after all these years “It’s still there!” Joe’s career spanned paddling canoes on Many Point Lake to being the Assistant Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America. He was undoubtedly pleased that a lantern still burns on the shore of Many Point Lake for Scouts one and all! Orly Thornsjo A Many Point Pioneer V irtually every camp staff member since the beginning has brought some skill, ability or spirit to Many Point. When their time at camp is done, they move on to other parts of their life, leaving a bit of themselves and taking away friendships, accomplishments and memories. One such person was Orly Thornsjo (19471950), one of the “founders” of Many Point Scout Camp. Orly brought many talents that helped nurture the budding Scout camp and worked hard to ensure that this dream, once started, would endure as long as there were Scouts to camp along its shores. psychology and sociology at the University of Minnesota. During World War Two, Orly joined the United States Navy. In the rank of Ensign, he was presented a group of 30 volunteers from the Sand Point Naval Prison and formed them into a fighting unit. Imagine standing in a cold, driving rain, at the Navy Base at Little Creek, Virginia, the home of amphibious operations during World War Two and being told that here are your men by their guards! He won their loyalty when he told them to “Get out of the rain” and took them into the Operations building for hot coffee. From this point, his unit and other similar units, trained for a very specific secret Orly was born in mission. Orly became Minneapolis in 1920 and extremely close to these men graduated from Washburn High during their arduous training. School in 1938. He studied June 6,, 1944 found Orly and by Brent Martin (1965-1969) For the audio interview with Joe, visit http://mpalumni.org/gallery_audio.php Orly, US Navy 3 his unit, the Operation Red Fox “Beach Jumpers” (later called Navy Seals) landing on Omaha beach two hours before the D-Day Invasion. Their mission was to destroy the tetrahedrons, guns, fortifications and anything else in the way of the Normandy Invasion. He survived the invasion, losing half of his group, only to be shelled in the Minnesota to continue his studies at the University of Minnesota toward a Master’s Degree in counseling. Maury Ostrander was on the faculty at the U and suggested that Orly talk to Wint Hartman about Scouting. He would soon commit to being on the first staff at Many Point. One of Orly’s goals here was to share his background in Scout camping with the new camp. Eventually, he joined the professional staff of the Minneapolis Area Council as District Executive of the Lake of the Isle District. He studied at the Schiff Reservation for Professional Scout Training in New Jersey. Troops landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day. In 1947 Orly became the first Here, Scouts learned many of the Program Director of Many Point Scout basics such as camping, Scout Camp. Orly, Wint Hartman, canoeing and swimming, but the Council’s Director of Camping leadership through the patrol/troop and Maury Ostrander, the Camp method was not a large part of the Director that first year were program. By stark contrast, Orly’s described as the “three legs of the troop, 187 from Mayflower Church stool” of camp operation. Maury in Minneapolis, had their own camp brought his years of work at Camp and operated on a fiercely Tonkawa to manage the day to day independent model. The tenets of running of the camp. As Program Lord Baden Powell and leadership Director, Orly’s job was to bring to development through the patrol life Wint Hartman’s dream of a system were applied strictly to all Scout Camp that operated so that camp activities. The Patrol Leaders every detail and the Senior was to Patrol Leader yield Don’t build the campwere the It should be noted that Orly and stronger hierarchy of the fire, get the campfire many other staff members share the troops and troop, being long tradition of military service stronger built”. - Orly. before, during and after their camp responsible for leaders via the day to day days! the Scout planning for and camping One of Orly’s first Scout operation of the entire camp. Orly experience. Orly found a way to camping experiences was at the learned this lesson well and was have “program” be the means to Minneapolis Area Council’s Camp able to apply it to many of his that end. Whether it was canoeing, Tonkawa on Lake Minnetonka. future activities. cooking or cleanup, the patrol Here, individual Scouts were In 1946, Orly returned to method was the rule. To Orly, this formed into “provisional troops”. invasion of Southern France, Operation Dragoon, on August 15, 1944. After being released from the hospital in Oran, in Africa, hitchhiking across Northern Africa and a thirty day leave, he entered Submarine School in December of 1944. He was assigned to Pearl Harbor prior to the end of the war. In 2005, Orly was a guest of the Greatest Generation Foundation and with other veterans, visited Omaha Beach and Caen, France, where they received the thanks of the people grateful for the sacrifices of these gentlemen! 4 Orly at Honeywell troubleshooting the Apollo Project was how his troop had operated for years. The point not to be lost is that Many Point was the first large Scout camp to operate in this manner in the country and it was Orly’s job to make it happen. Not to belabor the point, but it was not the ultimate goal to teach Scouts to be better cooks or hikers. Instead, getting them to become better cooks and hikers while developing troop leadership was paramount. It was about the process as much as the end result! As an aside, during an early MPSAA meeting with Orly in attendance, I, as president, was having difficulty accomplishing a certain goal and it seemed I would need to do whatever it was myself. Orly scribbled a note and passed it to me. It read, “Don’t build the campfire, get the campfire built”. I interpreted this to mean, be the leader! I appreciated what he said then and his continued support. It is perhaps no surprise that when Orly was bestowed the Order of the Arrow’s Vigil Honor in 1946 that his given name was Owoaton-“One Who Knows”! Orly helped lay the ground work for Many Point Scout Camp that operates on many of the same principles nearly seventy years later and has been replicated in many other Scout camps around the country. Orly’s return to civilian life also included a return to Mayflower Church and meeting Lucille “Lucy” Stephens, a University 5 of Minnesota student working on a degree in home economics and child welfare. They were married in 1948 and continued on at camp and Scouting until 1950. In 1951, Orly began a 31 year career at Honeywell, beginning as an Assistant Director of Personnel. Orly’s managerial skills continued to shine as his duties evolved into a manager/troubleshooter of the Apollo ethic. He maintained a lifelong loyalty to and admiration for Wint Hartman and many other staff, playing in the “Many Point Poker Club”. Orly was an early supporter of the MPSAA, signing the original charter. It was Orly that suggested that one of the tenets of our organization should include service back to camp. It gave our group a purpose! Orly was a lifelong Scouter. The gifts he brought to camp are still shared by us all today. He developed many of the traditions that we still carry on. And, until his passing in August of 2011, he maintained his many friendships begun on the shores of Many Point Lake. by Brent Martin (1965-1969) Space Program for Honeywell, getting and managing the right people for the task. This included work on the Apollo 13 avionics guidance system. Besides family, Scouting and the space program, Orly developed a love for wooden boats. He raced Canam cars at Donnybrooke/ Brainerd International Raceway. Orly and Lucy were long time members of the Sports Car Club of America. After retirement, he was involved in the formation of Project for Pride in Living, an effort to help people learn work skills and work Orly was a Many Point Pioneer:Orly (right) and friend, Wint Hartman 2015 MPSAA GIFT: SHOTGUN SPORTS OUTPOST F or 2015, we would like to have our members work towards one goal. Many Point and the Alumni Association will be working toward the construction and program development for a new Shotgun Target Sports Outpost. The goal is to open the program in the summer of 2016. The sooner we meet our goal, the faster we can release the program to Scouts. For a $40 or more donation, you can get one of these awesome—one of a kind—caps. Hats should be available at the Spring Fling!!! 6 2015 SPRING FLING WHAT: The Spring Fling is the MPSAA's annual member gathering. This year it is held in the heart of downtown Minneapolis in a private room at Gluek’s Bar and Lounge. WHO: All Many Point Staff Alumni - Past, Present Staff, Spouses, and Guests WHEN: Doors open at 6:00PM at Gluek’s. You are welcome to order off their menu. Visit Glueks.com for menu options. You could also meet up with your favorite camp friends prior to the event at other local restaurants. The MPSAA will be providing light appetizers and soft drinks. A cash bar will be available for alcoholic beverages for people 21 and over. WHERE: Gluek’s Restaurant and Bar 16 N 6th St, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403 How Much? $10 at the private room entrance. What to Do? Tons...we will have trivia, door prizes, great conversation, and live music.
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