Condolence: Hello everyone.

I'm sorry I couldn't be with you all but I'm with you in sharing the sadness and memories that overwhelmed me when I heard the news about Steve.

While I haven't been back to camp all that often since my last year as a counselor, some of you may be aware that I was there this summer visiting with my wife, Danielle and my two boys (griffin 8 and Beckett 4) to see if my older son was prepared to follow in his dad's footsteps (still in negotiations!).

We actually did the full tour...because my wife, from Los Angeles, had no real understanding of what camp was all about (despite having heard every story I repeat over and over)...and she needed a more objective overview.

Obviously, I didn't need the tour...and as a result, wandered off...and to my surprise bumped into Steve.

Funny enough, i HAD seen Steve since the last time I had been in camp...and oddly enough it had been backstage at wembley stadium in london during a Bon jovi concert.

I was there with some friends and Steve was there...if I remember correctly...because he had won the lottery...or a lottery...to be backstage w Bon Jovi in Europe. Or it was something like that...

...but what recall from the conversation was how happy he seemed and how lucky a guy he was...I mean...who actually wins a lottery or a contest like that??

Well, as I approached Steve this past summer in camp he seemed exactly the same as I had remembered him...in camp...and at that concert - very very happy.

And as we settled into a conversation about whether my boy would be attending camp this coming summer (did I mention that's still in negotiation?)...we also talked about how lucky we were to have shared camp equinunk.

I told him that it was tough for my wife to understand that camp wasn't just a place I spent my summers but that it was an intrinsic part of who I am. First kiss, first smoke (I won't say of what), greatest personal sports memory...just hanging out on the porch on a rainy day, etc...all of it...

Steve looked at me and smiled and said..."this place is a part of us and we are a part of it...that's hard for someone else to appreciate for sure. It's just a fact".

And with that, he looked off at the hill in left field below the old hotel and asked me if I used to play "the hill". And I said, "you bet I did!"

And he said..."I knew it...I could see you there running to catch a ball like it was yesterday..."

I countered that I remembered playing him a game of horse on the outdoor basketball court one day after he caught me sneaking over to blue ridge the previous night. He didn't remember the game nor could he understand why I remembered something so seemingly insignificant.

I told him why.

I had been busted sneaking over to girls camp the night before and Steve had made me a wager afterwards. If I played him a game of horse...and won...I could get out of being docked at all from the next social...and if I lost I would be docked for two socials.

Steve interrupted..."and you won, right!" And we laughed hysterically together at the silliness of the memory, and looked back at the court where the game had occurred...each in our own recall of that event and many others that occurred in camp.

And, he was right, I did win...

But sitting here now in Los Angeles, writing this, I realize that what I had won...the lucky lottery ticket that had been punched in MY life...had been punched by Steve Gelobter and his family. And that was why I remember that moment so well.

Steve...and his family...have given me cherished memories of a place, of a time and of people that I hold in a special place in my heart always...whether I physically walk those hills in Pennsylvania or in my mind.

And regardless of when where or how I spend my time in equinunk and blue ridge...I will always be sharing a laugh or a basketball game or a memory with Steve.

And as result of that...he will never be all that far away.

I am so glad to have reconnected with him this summer...it seems like it was ordained somewhere to have happened given the reality of today. I miss him more as a result...And I miss all of you more too...and I miss camp equinunk...then and now.

Chanting hymns of your praise, Steve. God bless you all.

Kevin Misher

Condolence: I cannot imagine my children and grandchildren growing up as complete as they are without Steven's love, kindness and life lessons all these years. I knew him as a boy and watched him mature into a wonder of a man! We are all lucky to have had him for however long it was.

Condolence: You will be missed MCW
There will be a space next to me when we are va
called out

Condolence: You will be missed MCW
There will be a space next to me when we are va
called out