jews in the d
Celebrate the
holidays and the
New Year with
friends and family
at Joe Muer Seafood.
From the Ashes
Former Tamarack outdoors pioneer
lost all in California wildfi re.
With fresh, artfully
prepared seafood,
premium aged meats,
impeccable service and
unparalleled ambiance,
Joe Muer Seafood is
Metro Detroit’s best in
fine dining since 1929.
DETROIT • BLOOMFIELD HILLS
Joemuer.com
22
December 13 • 2018
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JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
PHOTOS BY MATTHEW CHILDS
I
f you went to Tamarack in
the mid-1970s or ’80s and
participated in pioneer skills,
the ropes courses or a nature center
program, you met Randy Childs.
You may not remember his
name or even recognize his face
— campers at the California
camp where he subsequently ran
the outdoor adventure program
called him Gandalf because of his
resemblance to The Hobbit and The
Lord of the Rings character.
Childs, sans the long white
beard, was a beloved fixture at
Tamarack Camps for more than a
decade. He built the first building
at Pioneer Village and many other
structures there as well with the
help of his brother Brad, another
outdoor enthusiast and former
Tamarack staff member. Randy
Childs also built the camp’s ropes
courses. And the climbing tower;
yep, that was his, too.
Childs, who lived and worked
year-round on the camp’s property,
left Ortonville in 1986 when he
and his family moved to California.
There, Childs worked again
with Brad, who ran an outdoor
education company. He also started
his own business, building and
maintaining ropes courses and
consulting in outdoor education.
In 2004, one of the camps where
he built and helped maintain
the ropes course, JCA Shalom in
Malibu, enticed him to work full
time as the director of outdoor
programming.
Childs accepted the job and lived
comfortably on the property in a
large yurt, a tent-like structure.
His home, which had electricity as
well as the comforts of a modern
home, was destroyed last month
by the Woolsey fire that devastated
part of Southern California. Childs,
who was out of town at the time
of the blaze, returned to find his
possessions, including many rare
collections, all gone. The camp
also suffered a devastating loss
with almost all if its structures
destroyed.
Over the years, Childs had
accumulated a unique collection of