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.

Call him Rabbi Unger, Dr. Unger, Professor Unger if you will but Mowglis brothers and sisters refer to him simply as Abe.

In 1977 Abe Unger joined the Cubs as a young movie celebrity - coming one week late because he had been starring in and shooting the "Bad News Bears in Japan" movie. Abe was barely aware of all the hub bub that occurred before his arrival, Mr. William Hart, Mowglis Director had manufactured that with newspaper clippings and promo photos but everyone at camp was aware that they were about to be joined by a "celebrity". Abe, however, treated the whole thing as just another life experience and he was soon fully immersed in the Mowglis experience, including starting the "Holt Elwell Memorial Band" with Tomo Nishino and Ian Brown, accompanied by Mr Hart. Their first performance was "Hello Dolly" and though we don't know if they were joined by Mr. James "Iggy" Westberg doing his famous imitation of the great Satchmo Armstrong, I'm guessing that at some point it all came together.

I caught up with Abe recently and our conversation was filled with fond memories and a good deal of the life philosophy as written by Kipling: "We be of one blood, brothers (and sisters) all."

Dick Backus came to Mowglis on the staff in 1965, introduced to the camp by his sister who had worked at Onaway. He joined an iconic staff that included the Boicourt Brothers, Robert Ulery, Stu Klein, John Gilbert.

Dick laughs when he describes coming to camp as the nature counselor with equipment his father, an amateur entemologist  and full time Doctor provided to him - including kill jars - and he was promptly told by Mr. Hart that killing our insect brothers and sisters was not the "Mowglis way" a point of view that Dick admired and adopted himself.

As a student at Harvard, Dick had already caught the acting bug and he was actively acting in college and stock circles but he was caught up in the Mowglis spirit and luckily for us he continued to return to Mowglis for 3 years when he could easily have been acting in summer stock.

Of course that didn't stop him from bringing his skills to Mowglis and in this podcast he describes a Sci-Fi play involving the camp dishwasher as time-travel machine with detailed costuming and makeup provided by the iconic Stuart Klein!

Dick went on to an illustrious career as not only an actor but also a writer. 

Julian Kingsley joined the boys who would one day be the Den of 2006 in his Baloo summer 2003. Today he has a young family, a career and a new patent!

EP 57 Mowglis Memories with Ted Mariner (Den 1995). Ted came to Mowglis in 1991 when he joined Toomai for the second half of the summer. He never looked back after that attending for five years as a camper and one year on the Jr. Staff.