Dwight Lindsey, John Hartley and Mark Swannie spent mornings delivering the Schenectady Gazette newspaper in 1967.
The guys had to recruit subs for a week in July — they had won five-day vacations in northern Maine. The carriers earned time off by signing up the most subscribers during a spring competition. Their overall performance as deliverymen sent them packing.
Lindsey, Hartley and Swannie, who lived in Elnora, Scotia and Rexford, respectively, were heading to Rainbow Lake on Sunday, July 9. Sports, cookouts and hikes were on the list for their week of relaxation. The guys had a chaperone, too. Carl Steinberg, a district circulation manager for the Gazette, was leading the away team.
Dwight, John and Mark could forget about sleeping late during their week away from newsprint. Camp leaders roused them every day at 7.
Kid stuff
Young people had other forms of recreation on their minds in 1967. Folk singers were preparing for August vocals at Hillside Elementary School in Niskayuna. Pony rides were popular at Brookside Park, off Hetcheltown Road in Glenville.
Kids who lived in Schenectady’s Germania Avenue neighborhood had their own “Tot Lot.” The playground had been established in 1966 and had a merry-go-round, slide, climbing wall and monkey bars.
Swimmers in Schenectady were logging 50 miles worth of laps in the Mont Pleasant pool. And, like the newspaper kids, other young men were heading to camp. The Guan-Ho-Ha Fish and Game Club in Glenville had presented 10 “camperships” to Camp Colby in the Adirondacks. Guan-Ho-Ha had been sending kids into the Adirondacks for camping trips since the 1940s.
Hopefully, Camp Colby leaders were not setting alarm clocks. Maybe they let their visitors sleep past 7.
Categories: Life and Arts
