The Collections and Archives of Camp Kawanhee for Boys
The Secret Life of B.A. Altmaier
B.A. and John Morr hike Tumbledown in April 1973. B.A. had moved to Maine the fall before.
Before starting his lifelong career at G.H. Bass and Co. in Wilton, ME, B.A worked part time harvesting apples. He was a picker for two years and a foreman for an additional two. This photo was taken in 1974.
Kim Merchant and B.A. take a break from a game of baseball to pose for the camera. Though Merchant was not a counselor, he worked at the nearby Kawanhee Inn and often joined in on counselor baseball games.
B.A. and Carolyn “Candy” Crane hang out on the beach. Candy was the girlfriend of B.A.’s best friend, Robert “Zeke” Zechiel. The three lived together during their first years in Maine. Later, Candy and Zeke married, returned to Ohio and eventually moved to Douglas, Wyoming.
Huck Williams, Eleanor Williams, John Morr, Candy, Mark Standen and B.A. pose during a Christmas celebration in December 1973. Huck Williams served as a grandfather figure to B.A. when he first moved to Maine.
Candy and Zeke joke around in their apartment.
Candy and B.A. take a break while hiking up the Chimney Trail on Tumbledown.
Jackie Salatino, B.A., Penny Naples, Bruce Birch and Zeke pose for the camera.
Ken Chapman, B.A. and Tim Williams enjoy their first Thanksgiving in Maine at Mark Standen’s cabin.
B.A. and Zeke depart from the Auburn airport after visiting Maine in the off season for the first time.
B.A., Kate Estabrook and Chris Yardley relax on Center Hill in Weld.
Candy, Zeke, John Morr, Anne Havenver, Gail Havenver and Deb Bowland pause for a photo while hiking Coos Canyon in November 1973.
Deb Bowland and Gail Havener pose at Zeke’s wedding in Pennsylvania.
Mike Altmaier, Paulie Van De Honet, Kirk Niswander, Ken Chapman and B.A. show off their prize winnings at the Skowhegan State Fair in 1974 or 1975. The fair, which claims to be the nation’s oldest consecutively running agricultural fair, was a popular destination for counselors after camp ended in August.
Zeke and Candy relax in their apartment.
Gail and Deb sit in the chairs where camp founders George and Raymond Frank used to sit at Council Point.
Zeke holds a flag stolen from the Wilton golf course at Kawanhee’s end of the season banquet.
Campers meet with Ray Phillips in the early 1970s. Phillips, described as “the state of Maine’s most celebrated hermit” in his 1975 obituary, was the sole resident of Manana, a small island off the coast of Monhegan Island. Longtime Kawanhee Head of Tripping, Clarance “Bates” Bateman became a friend of Phillips, and occasionally brought campers to visit him.
B.A. ice skates on Lake Webb during his first winter living in Maine.
B.A. and Bill Yardley pose on Kawanhee’s swimming dock.
Chris Yardley stands on Lake Webb in February during the mid 1970s. Chris went to college in Naples, Florida but participated in an exchange program at University of Maine at Farmington. Later, he decided to move to Farmington.
Zeke, Candy, Mark Standen, Doug Ewing, Jimmy Estabrook and B.A. pose with a trail marker before hiking Tumbledown.
Anne Havener poses on Lake Webb in December 1973.
Patty Niswander, her brother Kirk Niswander and Zeke stand on Lake Webb as they prepare to walk to Bass Rock for the first time.
Zeke hikes up Tumbledown.
Penny Naples and Jackie Salatino snowshoe in the winter of 1972. This winter was the first time B.A. visited Maine in the off season.
Anne Havener, B.A., Candy and Huck Williams cut down a Christmas tree on Pete Ross’ farm in Chesterville, Maine. This was B.A.’s first winter in Maine.
Zeke and John Morr take a break while hiking up Tumbledown.
Tom Ruhle, a member of the Kawanhee tripping staff, poses for the camera during the summer of 1971. Ruhle died in a car accident later that year.
Candy, B.A., Gail Havener, Deb Bowland, Anne Havener and John Morr take a break during their hike in Coos Canyon.
The camp mother’s cabin weathers a winter in the early 1970s.
B.A., Zeke and John Morr hang out in a cabin during their first fall in Maine.
B.A. pretends to pitch during a winter visit to the Kawanhee baseball field in the mid 1970s.
Lorenzo Baker poses with a variety of baseball bats. This photo was taken in the mid 1970s, as part of a collection of Kawanhee counselor baseball cards.
Actor Zero Mostel signs an autograph for Kawanhee secretary Amy Jordan on Monhegan Island as Clarence “Bates” Bateman looks on.
B.A. waves as he hikes the Chimney Trail on Tumbledown.
Lorenzo Baker, Scott Leeper and B.A. pitch a tent on Mount Bald in 1974.
B.A. poses with the camp gas pump in the early 70s. The pump was located across from the woodshop, near where the camp vehicles are parked today.
George Frank poses with Andy “G.R.” Williams, a camper who often impersonated Frank in camp skits.
B.A. poses at the top of Katahdin. The Knife’s Edge trail can be seen in the background.
Marty Myers, Zeke, Jo Stockhausen, B.A., Adgie Hill and Hank Hiser pose at the premiere of their movie, The Turnstile. Filmed during the counselors’ days off, the movie was 16 minutes in length and directed by B.A., John Morr, Zeke and Tim Williams.
Kirk Niswander, B.A., Candy and Zeke take a break for a photo on one of their first walks to Bass Rock in January 1974.