Report to the UU Rowe C&CC Annual Meeting

10 September 2006

This report may turn out to be personal, because I am turning 60 in two days.

Long ago, I learned that I am “Camp Counselor Material.” When I need to, I can energize the whole camp. I don’t usually do so because I prefer to allow the energy to build naturally and let the wisdom of the group emerge. I actually believe in democracy, which is one of the seven principles of the Unitarian Universalists.

If I had kids, I would want them to run free, and if I had campers, I would want the same. I was influenced by A. S. Neil, the founder of Summerhill School, which inspired the Free School Movement. When I came to Rowe Camp in 1971, I felt it was in sync with my own values and loved it here. Watching two-thirds of the junior high campers cry for two hours on the last night of camp was enough to tip off even a dense WHAM (White Heterosexual Adult Male) that something special was going on here.

When I founded the conference center three years later, influenced by Esalen Institute in Big Sur, the leader of the Human Potential Movement, I was really just offering the Spirit of Rowe Camp to adults and families. A more dignified name than Rowe Camp was needed, so Rowe Conference Center was born.

I’ve had a wondrously fulfilling life, with a lot of help from a lot of people. I’m good at getting out of the way and letting folks do what they want here. Prue has been with me most of my time here, helping make the magic happen alongside me and adding her special genius, which is love-in-action. We are partners and I am very lucky she agreed to marry me.

Last year, I went through my own process, perhaps some kind of late-onset mid-life crisis. Around Christmastime, I decided to leave Rowe. I told Prue first, then Felicity. It was exciting to think about doing something else, and I asked Mel Toomey, a corporate consultant, to help Rowe with the transition. He said he would, but first I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

Prue and I went down to his home in Connecticut for a couple of days and talked about what I wanted to do. I said I wanted to win the Nobel Peace Prize, like the woman from Vermont who worked with banning land mines, though I was aware that was highly unlikely. As is often the case, I was being facetious, as well as honest.

After talking for a couple of days, I realized that a lot of people would love to be doing what I am doing and that I really liked what I was doing. Perhaps I could keep riding this wild horse for another six or seven years. The Maya calendar ends in 2012, which seems like a good time to stop. And if I were to work one final year, I could retire with forty years of service, though I’d rather get a Mini-Cooper than a watch.

I’m really pretty old fashioned and believe in small-town values and the small-town way of life. The baker, the doctor, and the banker didn’t stop what they were doing until they retired, so maybe I’m destined to be like them. My grandfather was a Methodist minister in British Columbia, and that denomination moves its ministers every three years. This policy always seemed horrible to me, since it takes a long time to get to know another human being. I’ve heard that IBM stands for I’ve Been Moved and I believe one of the primary reasons our country is so rootless and lost is that people move so often that they don’t really know where they live.

I like working with Felicity. She is sharp, attends to details, does what she says she will do, and has become a good friend. I thank her for the Oak Grove story she wrote for my 60th birthday and I thank Eclipse for her portrait of me.

With the help of Alan Goldsmith, we redesigned the Rowe catalogue. We shortened the workshop descriptions by 100 to150 words, changed the typefaces, left more white space, and generally brought it into the 21st Century. People are saying very nice things about it and we will see if the new design helps attendance.

As usual, it’s been an exciting year with a lot of wonderful people, conferences, experiences, and camps. I love living in this vast forest that stretches up through Vermont into Canada, and I’m looking forward to several more productive years.

I thank all the wonderful people in this room and those not here for all they’ve done to make Rowe Camp and Conference Center the amazing little place that it is. My blessings upon all of you.

--- Doug

Doug Wilson directed Jr. High Camp from 1974-1983 and Sr. High Camp 1984-1989

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