Alumni Moonshiner online

     On February 2, 2006, former Pok-O-MacCready counselor Nevin Whiteley passed away, following a year-long battle with cancer.  He was 45.

     Nevin Whiteley first came to camp in 1979, from Yorkshire, England, as part of the BUNAC program. He spent three summers at Pok-O, where he was adored by campers and staff alike. In 2004, he returned to camp for the 100^th reunion, along with his wife Joanna and daughter Amelia.

     A memorial service for Nevin, held in Stamford, CT on February 7, was attended by approximately 200 people, including members of the Camp family. The following information was provided by Nevin’s wife Joanna for those who want to communicate their condolences:

Funeral Service: To be held in England in the Spring of 2006 at a date TBD.

Former Pok-O counselor and ADV Section Head Jody Edwards was asked by the Whiteley family to read a eulogy.  Excerpts appear below.

Nevin arrived to work at Camp in June of 1979 as a college student from England. I had the serendipity of being the first Pok-O counselor to actually meet Nevin – but I was by no means the only counselor, or more importantly camper, whose life Nevin deeply touched. For most of us, Camp’s 100^th season reunion in 2004 was the last place we saw Nevin’s glorious smile and twinkling eyes, heard his musical Yorkshire accent, and felt the warmth and wonder of his unique spirit.

Nevin taught us to love, to laugh, to hope, to forgive, to enjoy, to participate, and to uphold so many simple, but essential life qualities. But most of all he taught us that people were good and the world was a wonderful place. And if you just kept the right perspective and treated others with interest, respect, compassion and dignity, you could endure anything and have fun doing it.

Nevin also taught us how to sing English drinking songs – although I’m not sure any of us really understood what they meant. But it didn’t matter. We loved them all the same. He even brought to Camp a song about climbing what he called “Moonshine Mountain” (see below) - which he bravely premiered on the last day of Camp in 1979 while casually eating a bowl of ice cream between each line. The applause was thunderous. It was vintage Nevin and an instant Camp classic, sung to this day by campers and counselors as a whimsical ode to hiking with friends in the beautiful Adirondacks.

Nevin had a quiet, witty humor and uncanny comedic timing. His witticisms were nothing short of brilliant. And they resonated; not for minutes, but for weeks, months, and for some, literally years.

Nevin viewed the world and life with an easy, relaxed manner and radiant smile that conveyed a convincing assurance that no matter how bad things were, there was always something good to be found in the situation. And that happiness was always within your grasp if you simply chose to maintain that view. As hard as today is for all of us – and it is without question one of life’s hardest days for all of us – I am certain Nevin would not waver in his view.

God bless and keep you Nevin.

CLIMB, CLIMB UP MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN, FACES ALL AGLOW;

CLIMB, CLIMB UP MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN, WHERE THE BREEZES BLOW;

CLIMB, CLIMB UP MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN, REACH UP FOR THE SKY;

CLIMB, CLIMB UP MOONSHINE MOUNTAIN, YOU AND I.