camp romances turned to marriage.

Detroiters recall how summer

M

ark and Leslie
Rosenwasser's first
home after they
married in 1975 was staff
housing at Camp Tamarack
in Ortonville. A "Just Mar-
ried" sign decorated their
door.
The accommodations were
fitting, because Mark Rosen-
wasser and Leslie Brownstein
met at Tamarack in 1971.
They are among a number of
Detroit-area couples who
began their relationships
with summer romances at
camp.
What's so special about
summer camp that leads to
romance, love and, often,
marriage?
It's the closeness engen-
dered by the very nature of
the beast, said Leonard
Baruch, acting director of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
and former owner of Camp
Petosega near Petoskey.
In fact, Baruch met his wife,
Ann, in 1950 at a Jewish
camp near Chelsea. He was
head counselor; she was a
counselor. They married in
1951.
"My personal feeling is that
a summer at camp is equiva-
lent to 10 years of knowing
someone," Mr. Baruch said.
"It is an intensive relation-
ship. Life centers on camp.
You work and live in the same
setting. There is a certain
semblance of informality."
Leslie Rosenwasser agreed
that the atmosphere at camp
is made for intense
relationships.
"You're away from home for
the first time and you can
really get to know someone,"
she said. "You see the person
in every situation, in bad
moods, when you're feeling
ugly. It's not like getting

The Eismans show their children an old photograph.

ready for a date. It's romantic.
And there are no parents
there.
"Camp is something that
binds you together forever.
It's something you don't lose.
It gives you an emotional at-
tachment, a sense of belong-
ing."
The Rosenwassers also met
while they were still in high
school. Longtime campers,
both were working as coun-
selor aides in 1971. One
night, Leslie started telling
Mark about problems with
her boyfriend, who was on
staff at Brighton. Soon, the
other boy was out of the
picture.
Mark and Leslie broke up
for a few months after return-
ing to high school, but were
reunited at a camp reunion.
They married before their
senior year of college and now
have two sons.
"We kept working there
after we were married," Mark
said. "Leslie ran the senior
adult camp at Butzel from
1979 until 1982. I worked at
camp for a month while I was
in medical school in 1979 and
was camp doctor from 1980 to
1982."
While Mark Rosenwasser
was camp doctor, Kathi Blum
came to Tamarack as a camp
nurse. That was where she
met David Moss, who was a
counselor at the time. Mar-
ried for five years, they have
a daughter.
"The whole staff basically
knows each other," Kathi

LISA JACKNOW ELLIAS

Special to The Jewish News

Moss related. "I knew David,
but there was nothing signifi-
cant going on. We started
dating second session. In fact,
the night of our first date, we
took an ambulance ride to
Pontiac General because
David was having chest
pains.

together and continued the
relationship after Paula
returned home to Toronto and
Danny to Southfield. Married
six years, they have a son.
"When camp started, all
the girls talked about having
a boyfriend who was on staff,"
Paula said. "I picked Danny.
We liked each other and went
out the whole summer. After
the summer, we decided to
stay together. By the time I
started college, we knew we
would be married someday.

"I think a lot of people,
especially girls, go to camp
looking for romance," Paula
added. "You can be with a
person as much as you want,
with no hassles from parents.
You can spend so much time
together it's almost like
you're living together, but
you're not. Two months at
camp is like a year in the ci-
ty. By the end of the summer,
I felt like I had known him for
years."

Jeff and Nancy Eisman

"A few days later, we had a
lunch date. We stole sloppy
joes, potato chips and bug
juice and ate at the lake.
After camp, I didn't think I'd
ever see him again, but he
called the first day I got
home."
Paula and Danny Lipnick
met at Camp Ramah in 1978.
She was 16 and a camper; he
was an 18-year-old counselor.
They spent the summer

Bill and Elaine Serman
were working as athletic in-
structor and senior girls
counselor, respectively, when
they met at Camp Playfair
near Charlevoix, the current
site of Camp Michigania.
That was in 1944. They have
been married 45 years and
have two children and five
grandchildren.
"I went to camp every sum-
mer of my life until I got mar-
ried," Elaine Serman recall-
ed. "We had a summer
romance and then I went

back to the University of Il-
linois. We saw each other in
December, became engaged
and were married the follow-
ing summer."
Jeff Eisman met his wife,
Nancy Benchell-Eisman, at
Camp Nahelu in Ortonville
when they were in their early
teens. They knew each other
for three summers before they
began dating.
"It happened our last sum-
mer there," Jeff Eisman said.
"Nancy was a counselor-in-
training and I was a
dishwasher. Camp had just
begun, and we looked at each
other and said, 'This is it.' I
was 16 and she was 15:'
The summer before their
romance began, they formed
a good friendship that re-
mains the foundation of their
relationship, Nancy said. But
because Nancy was from
Beachwood, Ohio, and Jeff
was from Detroit, their path
was not always smooth.
From 1970 until 1977, the
longest period we spent
together in camp was one
week," Nancy said. "We didn't
talk for three years; then I
asked a friend about him and
we got back in touch. We met
again in 1976 and that was it
— the relationship just spark-
ed itself again."
The couple wed in 1977 and
today are the parents of three
children.
Would the couples who
found each other at camp like
their children to find mates
the same way? Benjamin
Eisman, 9, is spending his
first summer at Camp
Tamarack in Brighton.
"Camp can be a real bond,"
his mother, Nancy said. "But
I told him, 'Have a great time
but don't bring home a wife
yet. " ❑

TWP

nruniT .IFWISH NEWS

79