FOR 95 YEARS
TAMARACK CAMPS
HAVE BEEN
PROVIDING SUMMERS
OF SWEET MEMORIES
FOR JEWISH DETROIT.

CTD
CO

THE DETRO IT JEWISH NEW S

Jim and Ruth (Nemon) Gray , left, on a swing together as Camp
Maas counselors and more recently at the camp amphitheater.

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

•win Shaw put 10,000 miles on his
1940s model Chevy. He had the
go-ahead from Federation to
spend .$25,000 on a new Fresh Air
Society/Tamarack Camps camp-
site.
He drove everywhere, saw plenty of
lakes, trees and clearings, existing camps
and places where, well, he'd have to do
some dreaming.
It was late in 1949 when he visited a
place not too far out of Detroit. A family

in a little town called Ortonville had 600
acres of land for sale. They wanted
$100,000.
In time, Mr. Shaw got it approved. But
first, there was a catch: the deal had to
be signed by March 23, 1950.
Worried, Mr. Shaw asked that closing
on the property be done as soon as pos-
sible; the option on the land was running
out in two days. When he drove the miles
along Woodward to Pontiac to the attor-
ney's office, he learned that the owner

preferred to back out of the deal. Still,
Mr. Shaw managed to get it approved.
Then, one more step. He took the deed
to be registered, just in case.
The land bought, the deed registered,
Mr. Shaw headed back home along
Woodward. Several snowflakes started
falling on the Chevy.
The next day, a major storm closed
down Detroit and its road system. It was
March 22, 1950, the last day of the Fed-
eration's option to buy the land.

Camp Maas was born.
Call it bashert.

A

t a pre-camp mixer for coun-

selors in the mid-1960s, Jim
Grey saw Ruth Neman for
e first time.
"She's the one," Jim said to a friend.
Jim and Ruth met at the bottom of the
Berman steps by the totem pole. They
became friends first. Later, they would
date.