Comments on: Camp Pasquaney

By: George Fitz-Hugh

George Fitz-Hugh — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 02:07:37 +0000

Tom,

Happy belated birthday. When I think of Tom I remember horticulture and Camp Pasquaney. The only place I had a formal education to horticulture. It’s the last time the Orioles and Brewers were both relevant and even relevant at the same time. Good memories, Thanks!

George Fitz-Hugh

By: Neil Russakoff

Neil Russakoff — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:24:00 +0000

My best friend from Birmingham, AL, Barksdale Maynard, introduced me to Camp Pasquaney and to Tom during my first year as a camper. I really latched on to birdwatching that summer as Tom helped me pass my “Basic Ornithologist”, and was excited when I got back home to continue filling out my list of birds seen.
But Tom left an impression on me in a different activity. He was actually a pretty good tennis player. So on one of the rare occasions at camp when he was giving tennis instruction, I remember hitting with him and having trouble getting my serve in consistently. So he came over to my side of the net and said, “Look you’re a good baseball player, right? (that was my main camp activity) So the serving motion is exactly the same as throwing a baseball.” He demonstrated a couple times, I tried it and almost immediately was able to get the serve in, and with more power than ever before. Soon after, I was able to upset the 2 seed in the camp tennis tournament and sneak into the semi-finals. To this day, whenever I’m having trouble with my serve, I think of Tom and go back to that throwing motion to correct it.
…Oh and I still enjoy a little birdwatching every now and then.
Happy Birthday Tom!

By: Howie Baetjer

Howie Baetjer — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:37:40 +0000

I was lucky to be Tom’s counselor at Pasquaney, and then his colleague on the Council. It was a privilege both ways. I still chuckle to think of the summer when Tom was educating us on the problem of acid rain, and Gordon Adams cooked his sample with a little baking soda after one rain, turning it from acidic to basic. (I think I have the chemistry right.) What was really memorable is that when someone “innocently” asked Tom about the acid reading on the last rain, he never equivocated, despite the embarrassment and blow to his campaign he must have anticipated: he answered, puzzlement visible on his face, that in fact the last rain had not been acidic at all. It was a small but inspiring instance of Tom’s thorough-going honesty. Of course he also took the joke good-humoredly, too. I haven’t seen him in decades, probably, but Tom is a valued friend.