Mowglis Memories

Jeff Gilfoy came to Mowglis in 1962 and graduated from the Den in 1965  

Living at the time in Needham, MA and Jeff and his dad went to a Mowglis presentation, probably by then-director John Adams. He was enthused by what he saw and signed up immediately. The following summer he beganis Mowglis years in Toomai when it was the second youngest dorm in the pack.

Den 1965:  Jim Edwards, Sam Bettle, Jon Feuer, Worthy Johnson, Robert O’connor, Scott Gibbs, Sam Hertzler, Chris Howard, Jeff Gilfoy, Chris Spindler, John Ross, & Dave Beall

Will Scott is part of a long Mowglis Legacy. Both his father and his uncle attended Mowglis as did his cousin Jon and his nephew Ethan. 

His first visit to Mowglis found him sitting at the “Household Table” under the watchful eyes of Irene Gibbs with John Woods (Den 1969) as table boy.

While today Will is an avid hiker he did not start out that way and he recounts the journey from reluctant hiker to Washington Squad in this podcast.

Will has returned to Mowglis regularly and has served as a member of the Holt Elwell Board of Trustees most recently. 

Woody Merriman comes from a long line of Mowglis men. His dad and his uncles all attended Mowglis and his father (also Lockwood Merriman) was a member of the Holt Elwell Memorial Foundation Board of Trustees, as was Woody.

Like many Mowglis alumni Woody can rattle off all of the important, and prestigious, institutions with which he has been associated in his life and adamantly states that Mowglis was the most important source of who he became as a person.  Who he became as a person is a fellow that everyone is fond of, who still hikes and camp but eschews the limelight (if you wondered why we used a 1961 Red Racing crew photo for this podcast it’s because Woody is a very private fellow and shies away from having his picture taken!). 

We caught up with one another at the Mowglis work weekend where I interviewed Woody, with some “help” from my Belgian Shephard Kodi - no, all that panting you hear in the background isn’t Woody, but he was kind enough to say that it helped create an air of authenticity so we went with it.

Jay and Sandee Brown

Cub Parents 1977 - 1987

Sandee's family - the Wooleys - were close friends with legendary Mowglis Director William B. Hart Sr and his college roommate Harvey Russell who wrote the Jungle Song and the Mowglis Goodnight song.

The Browns came to Mowglis in 1977 and were Cub parents for 10 years. 1977 was not their first visit to Mowglis which came in 1963, on their honeymoon trip. 1963 was year 1 of the Holt Elwell Memorial Foundation and Director William B. Hart. 

Sandee and Jay had 25 Cubs in their first year, likely a record number and those numbers remained fairly consistent throughout their tenure.

Sandee was named US Conservation Teacher of the year in 1990, she credits her Mowglis experience with inspiring her understanding of the natural environment and her love for it that led her to receive this national recognition. 

Mowglis' first female Tripmaster Kate Burgess established a reputation as a leader from the moment she began her tenure at Mowglis and she has continued in that vein as she has moved on in her life. Today Kate lives in Boulder Colorado and is Conservation Coordinator at the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators an organization that works with legislators from all over the country - irrespective of party or state - to help them craft policies in the best interest of their states and of the natural environment.

Dwight Shephard Came to Mowglis in 1963 from his hometown of Wellesley, Massachusetts, as a result of a visit from Jim Hart and his father, Mowglis Director William Hart Sr. He came as a cub under Cub Parent Brooks Benjamin. He was on the Gopher Squad in his Den year and graduated in 1968.

Dwight was an avid swimmer and rarely missed a soak at Mowglis. When he wasn't in the water he was ON the water. He rowed crew at Belmont Hill because of his exposure to it at Mowglis where he rowed on the Blue Racing Crew.

Arthur came to Mowglis in 1976 a few years behind older brother Tom on the recommendation of Mowglis Icon Attorney Allyn Brown. A winner of the Senior Tennis tournament and member of the Mount Washington Squad, his fondness for Mowglis runs deep.

Today he is a personal trainer with his undergrad degree from the University of Maryland and an advanced degree from George Washington University living back in his old home state of Connecticut.

Taking a page out of the Mowglis' playbook, Mowglis graduate Chris Kriesen has just released a new game called "Kindred" that is worthy of the Mowglis - "unplugged and authentic" label - to borrow a phrase. When it came across my desktop my first thought was that this game would fit easily in a backpack or a back pocket and electricity was not just optional but unnecessary.

Knowing Chris, I presumed that both the name and the purpose of this game were very intentional and I was not disappointed. 

If you've been drinking from the firehose of bad news and dystopia that most of us have faced, this game sounds like a great way to get people communicating with one another again.

No APP, no phones, Just communication, pure and simple . . . and perhaps some real community building in the process.

Reinhard "Reiny" Rother came to Mowglis in 1964 as a Cub, joining a group of Cubs that would eventually become the Den of 1969 including future director Bob Bengtson. Though he missed his Panther year because of a family trip to California due to a short-term job his father had taken. Reiny returned for his Den year by mowing lawns and doing odd jobs to earn his plane fare back for his Den year - a condition imposed by his father if he wished to graduate from Mowglis. His father kept his promise and Reiny returned to achieve admittance to the Inner Circle, make the Gopher Squad and row #5 on the winning Blue Racing Crew. He followed his Den year with two years on the Junior Staff before moving on to his post-Mowglis life.

He returned to Mowglis for the first time in 1998 when he brought son Christian to Mowglis and then again in 2017 at the invitation of Charlie Walbridge who took him along on the Red Ribbon Trip. His son Christian would follow in his footsteps cutting his own path in the Mowglis story.

Ted Frantz came to Mowglis in 1969 as a Balooite and graduated from the Den in 1972. 1971 was a huge year in Ted's life as he was one of the very few Pantherites to ever be chosen for the Mount Washington Squad and he won a spot on the Blue Racing Crew as the Stroke. That crew would go on to set a course record that still stands today.