Camp Nebagamon

Nardie Stein writes, “Losing Sabah Al Jadooa and Bendt Rorsted within weeks of each other leaves a real gap in our lives. Sally has written about Sabah, and many contemporary alumni remember and had recent contact with him. But Bendt also was so important, even seminal, in camp’s history as the founder of the orienteering program (see Alan Bennett’s article). Bendt and his wife Judith were close personal friends of ours, and we will miss them greatly. They hosted our Scandia groups and also hosted us on our three trips to Denmark.

Lene Rorsted, wife of Bendt’s son Kasper, mother of former camper Max and future camper Sebastian, recently wrote the following to Sally and me: ‘It was so sad to lose Bendt. He was indeed a remarkable person who has been a fantastic inspiration for us all. I am sure that you know it, but I still want to say to you and Sally that after Judith, his boys and family there was nothing that meant so much for Bendt in his life as America, Camp Nebagamon and all the time and experiences that you have shared together. Returning to something joyful (knowing Bendt would want us to do that), our youngest son, Sebastian, is 9 years old and we are looking forward for him to step in the footsteps in Camp Nebagamon of his Grand Pa, his Father, his uncles, and his older brother.’

Indeed, the loss of Bendt and Sabah this year has been a big blow.

To quote a Muggs Lorber saying: “We will always feel the presence of their absence.”

After expressing thanks for condolences about his father, Mikael Qvist Rorsted (Denmark, 78-82) offered a summary of his career in the music business: “I never really considered making a living out of being a concert promoter. Like many others in the business, I started organizing shows in high school—but that was just for fun. As for my formal education, I studied architecture and practiced for three years. Then, out of nowhere, I was offered the technical director position and the challenge of designing the new concert hall in Randers, Denmark. The managing director left his position just as we were about to re-open—and, suddenly, I was the youngest concert hall director in Denmark. Now I am one of the oldest!! I am happily married to Karen, who is also in the music business. And we have our daughter Laura (24), who studies architecture and makes a modest student living as a D-J. So, there again—music and architecture!

One of the perks of being a concert hall director is that you get to meet a lot of very interesting people. The high points include negotiating the Bolshoi Ballet’s first-ever tour in Denmark and presenting many of the rock acts and pop music artists I grew up listening to. People like Willie Nelson, Aerosmith, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Brian Wilson and Elvis Costello, among others. The best and most rewarding experience I have ever had was with the incredible maestro Daniel Barenboim. We did a concert celebration of Chopin in 2010, with Barenboim at the piano.

Barenboim is a keen soccer enthusiast, and our stage crew promised to keep him informed of the score in a World Cup game that was going on DURING the concert. He even managed to pass on information about the score to his orchestra using hand signals. Every major reviewer was in the hall, and all eyes were on Barenboim—and he was passing on soccer results, with no one noticing! The rest of the night, and way into the early morning, was spent drinking Danish Aquavit alone with Daniel Barenboim, listening to tales of his amazing life and upbringing in Buenos Aires and Israel. On a night like that, there is no business I would rather be in.”

Roger Goldman (St. Louis 52-56, 60-61, 63) wrote in with a memory of Sabah Al Jadooa: “I remember so clearly a lunch at a Lebanese restaurant in University City, Missouri, with Sabah, Shayma, a local photographer, and a friend of mine. As we were walking from our house to the restaurant, the friend whispered to me:  ‘Don’t mention to Sabah that I married a Christian, as he won’t talk to me.’ I responded: ‘You don’t know Sabah’ and then proceeded to tell her how my father asked Sabah (at the initial interview about becoming a ‘companion’ to the three Goldman brothers) whether he would have any problem coming to live with us, since we were a Jewish family. ‘We are all brothers, Dr. Goldman’, and he was hired on the spot.”

Bob Lenobel (St. Louis/Cincinnati 60-64) wrote to thank Nardie and Sally Stein for sending Nebagamon photos in response to a donation to the Camp Nebagamon Scholarship Fund: “I save the photos, which always bring back such wonderful memories of my days as a camper in the 60’s and later on of the five Family Camps Andy, Scott, Cissy and I attended in the 80’s. Cissy and I have been contributing to the CN Scholarship Fund and Camperships for Nebagamon for many years. I truly am fortunate to have had the wonderful opportunity of attending Nebagamon as a camper. Being a camper at CN truly is one of the highlights of my life. The world would be a much better place if more people followed the values taught at Camp Nebagamon, such as treating each other more respectfully and being more accepting of differences among people.”

Julie Milsten Halpern (Tulsa/Boulder, CO 80-82) offered this story about Nebagamon’s role as musical muse: “Ben Manis (Chicago/Houston 05-08) and Josh Halpern (Dayton/Philadelphia 05-08) first met at Nebagamon as Loggers in 2005 and – with a shared passion for music – made their GTC debut playing cello duets in 2008. Fast forward nine years, and these longtime best friends shared the stage once again in March, this time at Rice University in Houston with Ben conducting the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra and Josh as featured soloist performing the Dvořák Cello Concerto in B Minor. Currently, both are pursuing graduate degrees in preparation for careers as professional musicians – Ben is studying conducting at Rice, and Josh is studying cello performance at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. These two definitely know how to KTFB!”