Alumni Moonshiner online

Willsboro, NY                     December 19, 2007                      since 1905

   It is with regret, and great sadness, that Pok-O-MacCready announces the passing of a trio of camp alumna, friends and family members.

ALAN MADDEN

   “Of all of the institutions of education and higher learning that I’ve ever been associated with, Pok-O-MacCready is, by far, the best!”

   Alan Madden was sure to utter that sentence every year, when making his annual summer visit to camp, and the 1812 Homestead, where he contributed his talents and spirit right through the 2007 season.

   Madden passed away unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day, November 22, shortly after going for his daily run at his vacation home in the Catskill mountains. “Alan was an incredible man!”, recalled Jack Swan, owner of Pok-O-MacCready. “He was completely dedicated to the Homestead.” Madden’s specialty was the homestead gardens. Each spring he would travel to Willsboro for planting, and follow up with cultivating visits during the summer. “We plan on dedicating the gardens at the Homestead in Alan’s name,” said Swan. “He was also crazy about weather, so we’re looking to do something, in his honor, in that field as well.”

   Alan Madden, along with his brother Bruce, were campers during the 1950’s and 60’s. Alan returned regularly during the 1990’s and 2000’s to not only work at the Homestead, but to integrate with the summer camp. Long time camper and staff member Ken “Squeaky” Herz recalls: “Alan was an amazing man. Somehow the camper of long ago, became a legend at camp in the new millennium. People recognized his fervor for everything that was Camp Pok-O. He infused us with the traditions of earlier days. His enthusiastic ‘good-bye’ speeches when he left camp each summer were met with the loudest of standing ovations. He showed his Pok-O spirit as he toiled under his straw hat at the homestead.
 
“Alan was the quintessential alumnus.
 
“He'll be easy to find in Heaven, he's the one with the phosphorescent orange vest walking quickly towards you.”

   A service in Madden’s honor is scheduled for the 1812 Homestead during the spring of 2008.

DAVID WHITE

   Dave White, a former camper and a long-time friend of Pok-O-MacCready Camps died in November 2007. He spent summers at Pok-o from birth and his close connection with camp followed family tradition.. Grandfather Charles Alexander Robinson was the camp founder, Great Uncle David B. MacCready was an early counselor and headmaster, brothers

David White and relatives at camp’s 100th reunion

Thomas S. White and Stephen P. Elliott were campers, and stepfather David P. Elliott was headmaster and assistant director. Dave and his family spent many vacations at their family farm on Reber Road before he and his wife Mona retired there in 1990.

A graduate of Peekskill Military Academy and Middlebury College, as well as a veteran of the Navy, he worked in personnel and sales in the Boston area before entering the publishing industry there with Beacon Press. In the late 1950s, he and his family moved to Port Washington, New York. He worked in New York City for George Braziller Publishing and Pocket Books, Inc. before starting his own publishing company, David White, Inc. He later created Independent Publishers Group, a sales and distribution group for small publishers.

He is survived by his wife, Mona Smith White (1245 Reber Rd., Willsboro, NY 12996); three sons, David Westcott White, Jr., Samuel Franklin White, and Adam Nelson White; one daughter, Ann Robinson White Earls; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and his brother, Stephen P. Elliott..

RUFUS

   As much a “camp dog” is there ever has been, Rufus Leto came to camp on a visit in July, 2003 and never left, living happily until December 11, 2007, when he passed away at the age of 16.

   The hound-retriever mix was owned by former camper and staff member Matty Leto (pictured, with Rufus). After taking a job in New York City, Dr. Leto left the dog in the care of various year-round camp staff, including Jillian Debusk, Chris Durlacher, Drew Seitz, Devin Winter, Dana Beck, Thomas DeClemente and Fiona Dubuss. Each and every one of them fell in love with Rufus, as did scores of campers. Rufus lived during the winter at Camp MacCready, while spending his summers in Cabin 2 at the boy’s camp.

   “Toward the end of his life he was at his happiest,” said Leto. “I am so grateful that he had a chance to live the final part of his life in Paradise.”