“Memories of Arowhon Pines” by Lucia Saja

 

It was a hot June day in 1964 and I was crammed inside a crowded bus, full of screaming, singing, excited kids heading to camp.  I wasn’t one of the campers.  I was about to turn 17 and about to start my first fulltime summer job.  I thought I’d be working in the kitchen at Camp Arowhon, but when the bus got there, the kids got off and a small group of us were told to stay on.

The next stop was the sublime opposite of the camp.  Arowhon Pines was a luxury resort nestled among tall pines on a peaceful lake.  The rustic setting was spectacular and completely foreign to me.  I was 100% a city girl.  I’d never even gone camping, and, here I was in the middle of Algonquin Park.  Little did I know, I was about to start the adventure of a lifetime.

We were shown to our quarters in what is now called the “L”.  The girls were on the left side, the boys on the right.  The communal washrooms were in the junction of the two wings.  I was so self-conscious.  I’d never shared space with so many people before.

We got our rooms and assignments.  My first shift was in the laundry at 7am the next day.  The good news was, I would have afternoons off.  The bad news was, I had to earn them by working in the steamy laundry, washing bedding in huge machines, putting sheets through the mangle (a giant set of cloth covered rollers that pressed the sheets and pillowcases flat), and ironing campers’ shirts.  The work was hot and repetitious, but I loved my new-found freedom.

I remember that first morning at Arowhon.  It was 6 a.m.  The air was cool and fresh.  A pale gray mist covered the ground and swirled around my legs as I walked.  The only sound was that of leaves rustling and a lone chickadee somewhere in the woods.  

As the weeks passed friendships formed and the “L” became a community.  Like any community, it was rife with characters.  The matriarch and owner, Lillian Kates, was a small solid woman with tanned skin, snow-white hair and a commanding manner.  She visited on a regular basis, even though she’d passed on most of the responsibilities to her son Eugene.  When she was on the property, we all knew to look smart and look busy.  Her philosophy was that everything should be done correctly at all times.

Then there was Aunt Sarah.  She was as fiery as her bright auburn hair and fire engine red lipstick.  Aunt Sarah ran the snack shop.  She kept everyone supplied with junk food and entertained us with outrageous stories about her life.

My boss in the laundry was Mike, a large man in overhauls, who revelled in the noise and steam let off by the giant machines in his kingdom.

There was also a rotating crew of short-term workers.  They were unshaven, older men who sat behind the staff cabins drinking on Saturday nights.

Lucia and Melinda

My real education came from Melinda.  She was from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and she’d graduated from Penn State.  I thought she was the smartest, most exciting person I’d ever met.  She owned a motorcycle.  She read poetry for pleasure!  

She talked about world affairs and literature and religion.  No one I knew talked about that stuff.  She had joined the Peace Corps and worked in Afghanistan for two years.  In 1964, I didn’t even know where Afghanistan was.  

All I knew was that I wanted to be like her.  I wanted to go to university, read poetry and change the world.

I learned so much that summer.  I learned to be independent, to make beds properly, to mangle sheets, to work collaboratively, to open my mind to ideas and possibilities. I developed a lifelong appreciation for people in the service industry.  

I also learned that meals could be more than overcooked meat, boiled potatoes and limp veggies.  The generous chefs at Arowhon informed my palate,  offering me exotic, delicious foods that sent me into waves of rapture.  I learned to paddle a canoe on my own and discovered that not paddling and just floating on a silent lake could be transformative.

I returned two more summers and became one of the veterans.  I cleaned rooms as chambermaid and eventually worked as waitress.  I remember the giant fireplace that dominated the dining room even then and the linen covered tables filled with guests “dressed” for dinner: men in sports jackets and ties and ladies in cocktail dresses and heels.   

In September 2023, just shy of sixty years later I returned, as a guest, fulfilling a promise I’d made to myself decades earlier.  Wonder of wonders, little had changed.  It was perfect, just as I remembered.  And the food, it still set off waves of rapture.  Instead of getting treats from the chef out the back door of the kitchen, I had my choice of fresh exciting meals with sublime flavours.

The greatest impact was when I walked over to see the former staff quarters.  The building sits on a little hilltop surrounded by trees.  It is now used for storage.  As soon as I saw it, I felt a rush of emotion.  The years disappeared; the cabin doors flew open and the ghosts poured out.  I saw us bustling back and forth to the bathroom, getting ready for work.  In the evening, sitting at the edge of the walkway swinging our legs and joking.  The cabins were alive again, filled with laughter and talk.  We sure did talk and talk and talk.

The summer of ‘64 was a magical time, one that helped shape the adult I became.  I did keep learning and never stopped being curious and open to new ideas and experiences.  I didn’t change the world, but spent most of my life reporting on global events as a news writer.  A few years ago, I searched for and found Melinda.  She is in her eighties and living in Hawaii.  She said she still rides a motorcycle.      

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Lucia visiting former staff quarters at Arowhon in 2023

Lucia Saja spent most of her professional life with with CTV New. She started in the News Library in 1979 and over the next 30 years she to learn every aspect of news production, including video production, story development, line-up, and script writing. 

She retired as Senior Script Writer for CTV News, which meant she edited scripts for accuracy and grammar before going to air. She also trained new writers and worked on all the news specials over the decades.  

This past September, Lucia returned to Arowhon Pines Resort for our annual end-of-summer writing retreat. Our next retreat at Arowhon is scheduled for Friday, June 7 – Monday, June 10. Details to come here {and scroll down}.

See Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.