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Our Community A Year in Review 2025

Our Mission, Our Community 2025 Camp Widjiwagan Year in Review

Widji exists today because generations of alumni have carried its values forward. This Year in Review is meant to keep you and the community connected to that ongoing work offering a snapshot of the year behind us, the decisions shaping our future and the role alumni continue to play as stewards of this place. As we move toward our centennial, we share this

“At thousands of feet of elevation and with 1,001 mosquitoes surrounding us, we sat cross-legged in a circle, a sunset of every color we could dream of in front of us. In the short time we’d shared together, this group had become family.”

- Eleanor Pitts, Camper

As we wrap up another incredible season at Widji, I want to take a moment to share my gratitude with all of you. This community has a remarkable way of making people feel at home, and my family and I have experienced that firsthand. From our very first days, you have welcomed us with openness, kindness and a spirit that truly reflects the heart of Widji.

This summer was nothing short of amazing and was full of growth, adventure and the kind of connection that defines this place. Whether through stories at Closing Campfires, alumni support or the quiet ways you continue to uphold Widji’s values, your presence is felt every day.

Thank you for the warmth you’ve shown my family, for the legacy you’ve built and for the energy you continue to bring to the community. We’re grateful to be part of it, and we’re excited for all that lies ahead.

Ben Hoffman Executive Director of Camp Widjiwagan

2025

BY THE NUMBERS

This year, 1,470 adventurers of all ages joined us across our seasonal programs — making Widji a year-round destination for connection, challenge and discovery.

107 staff members who completed more than 120 hours of training, building the skills to deliver safe, high-quality experiences.

8600

2400 miles canoeing miles backpacking trips to the BWCA

100+

And $150,000+indonor-fundedscholarships ensuredthat more than50summercampers and 200+Outdoor Learning Program participants

could answer thecall , regardlessof cost.

Finding It

By Gwyn Jarrett

Before we left camp, my group made a plan: hike up to a beautiful alpine lake in the Wind River Range and spend the day there. We knew it would be difficult. We had no idea.

After hours of hiking, we reached a spot on the map where it looked like we could just walk through the woods to the lake. Forty minutes later, we still weren’t where we were supposed to be. At one point we had to hop across wet, slimy rocks over a river. I didn’t think I could do it, but my group encouraged me, and we did it!

After even more hiking, we came to a huge boulder field. It was getting late, and we were all tired and hungry. Somehow our counselor found another way around — still a challenge, but after another hour we finally reached the lake.

I will never forget how satisfying it was to set up our tent and relax. Hard day? Yes, and absolutely worth it.

This was my fourth Widji trip. Going through hard days together creates a bond with your group that you can’t get anywhere else. I know I’ll use what I learned out there in my everyday life.

When I have to make a tough decision now, I think about that river crossing. Not just that I made it across, but that I trusted myself to try.

2026 Widjiwagan Full-Time Staff

Ben Hoffman | Executive Director

Jake Cahill | Property Manager

Kevin Mike| Kitchen Manager

Tom Grant| Canoe Master

Clara Pena-Hanson | Summer Program Director

Abby Mans | Fall, Winter, Spring Program Director

Brent Saxton | Wilderness Program Director

Maureen Martin | Business Administrator

Explorer Canoe Trip in Canada with my frie

Summer 2025 - Staff Training Trip

Learning to cook in the BWCA

Many Hands, Many And’s: Tom Grant Brings a Lifetime of Skills to the Canoe Shop

By Tom Burket

Tom Grant doesn’t believe in either/or.

“My life has always had many and’s,” he says.

“Instead of ‘or,’ I’m asking, how do we make this work? What else can I do.”

It’s a philosophy that has shaped a career spanning wilderness education, emergency services, youth development and master craftsmanship, and it’s the mindset he brought to Widji when he stepped into the canoe shop in March 2025.

Grant’s path to northern Minnesota wound through the mountains of North Carolina, the ski slopes of Colorado and two decades working with young people in different contexts. At Camp Mondamin, he spent roughly twelve years progressing from camper to canoeing instructor to head of mountaineering. On his days off, he paddled local whitewater rivers like the Nantahala, the Ocoee and the Chattooga.

After college, he landed in Steamboat Springs, drawn to what he calls “a real town” — year-round, somewhat isolated, far from the party scene of Vail or Aspen. There, the and’s kept multiplying. He coached swimming. He joined the volunteer fire department, the ambulance squad, search and rescue. He learned to telemark down black diamond runs. Small communities, he found, will teach you if you show up ready to learn.

“In a small community, you get to grow and they teach you and they take you under their wings,” Grant says. “There are many people who were willing to teach me.”

That willingness to learn — and to teach — defined his next chapter. For 20 years, Grant worked in a youth detention center, teaching science and running certification programs in low-voltage wiring, fiber optics and home theater installation. The approach was always hands-on.

“Everything had to somehow relate back to a hands-on activity,” he explains. The young people he worked with had often struggled in traditional classrooms. Grant’s job was to help them succeed — and then succeed again.

“The big mystery now of teaching young people is resilience,” he says. “How do you build up resilience? Stack up the successes, so that they have a little more resilience.”

Alongside all of this, Grant built boats. For years, he’s crafted custom cedar-strip canoes, selecting from hundreds of hull designs and customizing every detail. He built Greenland-style kayaks. He exhibited at boat shows and learned from master builders who shared their secrets and formulas. The craft became a through-line, a way of working with his hands that connected teaching, patience and precision.

The connection to Widji came through that world. At a boat show, a conversation with a fellow builder led to new introductions and more conversations. Soon there was a question, why don’t you take the Widji canoe shop job? Grant thought and prayed on it for three weeks, telling no one. His wife was retiring. The timing aligned. He said yes. And a new “and” moment opened.

What he inherited was both a challenge and a gift with a fleet that needed attention, a shop that generations of staff and volunteers had built up, and a tradition stretching back decades. Grant speaks with gratitude about everyone who came before him — the vision, the tools, the systems.

“There are so many hands that I see,” he says. “I couldn’t have done any of this by just walking in.”

His first summer was intense. Grant describes working in “problem-solve mode,” losing track of time and four hours passing by in fifteen minutes. He set a personal benchmark for “Zero Day,” the moment around July 10 when peak demand met supply and he had zero boats in-camp for about four hours. Everything was out on the water. The next morning, he finally took a paddle himself — only his third of the season.

Today, Grant is ahead of where he expected to be. Boats that sat for years are coming down for canvas. He’s opened the shop doors wider, inviting campers in for canoe talks, planning classes and builds. The mystery of what happens inside is becoming a shared experience.

He’s still learning, of course. About ABS repair. About Kevlar. About reading wood. About the particular magic of canvas-on-wood canoes, which is something he never fully explains, insisting that campers have to experience it themselves.

“It’s not just the boat as an object,” Grant says of the fleet. “It’s the experiences and the growth you do in that context. It’s pretty magical.”

For all he brings — the credentials, the skills, the and’s — Grant remains a student of this place. He’s reading the old histories, listening to how things were done, slowing down from the 60 mph pace of his Colorado life.

“Teach me,” he says. “What is it? What’s the knowledge that exists here? I have to know the skills and knowledge and go from there.”

“The big mystery now of teaching young people is resilience.”

The Caretakers: Continuity, Change, Commitment

By Tom Burket

Joe Smith is telling a story about a Canadian trapper over breakfast in his kitchen. It still feels like a new kitchen because, after 38 years of living at Camp Widjiwagan, he and his wife Lindsay retired to a house in Ely in 2024. Many days, though, he still drives the Echo Trail back toward the North Arm to take care of things.

But first, there’s the story of the trapper, Jim Spence. Back when Joe was in high school, he spent a wintry sojourn near Churchill, Manitoba, working with this Canadian legend, an old-timer who’d become better known to the wider world. On occasion, researchers would show up with tape recorders, eager to document his knowledge and insights.

“All these young guys keep coming to me with that box you talk into,” Jim told Joe, “and they ask me, ‘Well, what was it like in the older days?’ And I can tell they’re just so proud of themselves with all of their inventions and everything.”

The trapper paused and then said, “So I just tell them all kinds of whoppers.”

Joe laughed recounting this as an iPhone on the breakfast table recorded his recollections. PhDs were probably built on that trapper’s tall tales, Joe noted. But Joe and Lindsay are different. As caretakers of Camp Widjiwagan, they saw more of the place than anyone ever, both change and continuity. Memory and future merge freely.

Joe Smith arrived in 1968 as a 14-year-old camper when Armand Ball was director. Joe paddled the Dubawnt River on his Voyageur trip, 39 days and 775 miles to Baker Lake. When Bob Rick hired him as caretaker in the spring of 1986, Joe was 32. When he stepped back from full-time work in June 2024, he was 70, having served under six directors and watched generations of campers come

“A lot of people — Widji means so much to them — they would really like to see it stay the way it was when they first experienced it,” he said. “And it’s not gonna happen. The world keeps changing, and the way to safely provide that Widji experience has to change along with the world.”

When Joe arrived in 1968, campers had no access to flush toilets or showers. Three-seater biffies were standard, and there was a definite pride in roughing it. Now there are drain fields and building codes and fiber optic lines running through camp, a big change from when the only link to the outside world was a radio phone.

And yet ...

His wife Lindsay, who first came to Widji to work at the North Woods Resource Center (NWRC) in the mid-1970s, remembers her first night at camp. She got a ride up from the Twin Cities with the NWRC director, arriving around 10:00 p.m.

“I opened the car door and stood up by that little hill above the athletic field,” she said. “My ears hurt because it was so quiet. I’d never experienced that before.”

She smiled. “That’s still the same.”

Joe sees the constancy too, though he finds it in motion rather than stillness. Last summer, back at camp for his part-time forestry work, he watched the organized chaos of staff and campers packing up and leaving for their trips.

“I could see young counselors just running back and forth with enthusiasm because they’re heading out,” he said. “And I thought, OK. Some things still stay the same.”

That pull between old and new was already there when Joe took on the caretaker role. That first summer, he walked down Cabin Row with his daughter Molly, then three years old. She’d seen him at logging sites before near Grand Marais with heavy equipment and trees coming down. But as they passed the big pines near Moose Cabin, she stopped.

“I think you should just leave these trees standing,” she said.

Joe still tells that story today as if hardly a moment has passed. A toddler who’d watched her father’s chainsaw work recognized immediately that this place was different. It’s the same feeling Joe had as a 14-year-old camper. It’s the same experience generations of Widji kids have been having for nearly 100 years.

That’s why a big part of his post-retirement work focuses on the forest. These days, Joe is doing fire mitigation and climate-adaptive management, tending to an ecosystem that looks ageless but in fact is always shifting. The boreal forest of his first summer isn’t quite the same forest today.

“With a forestry background, I’m paying attention to the larger property. It matters to people that you can walk and see bluebead lily and the native stuff,” he said. The understory, the wildflowers, the particular character of the north woods — they require attention and forethought, not just preservation.

After breakfast, Joe readied himself for the day and more winter work in the woods. There’s still dead balsam to thin and fuel loads to reduce. Lindsay had plans to ski on fresh new January snow.

No whoppers here. Just two caretakers, committed as always.

Remembering Armand Ball

By Phil Bratnober

It would be impossible to remember Armand Ball without remembering his magical closing campfires.

In a darkened room full of expectant campers and guides, Armand would invite his musical counselors to lead us in four or five well-chosen anthems. Then the focus would shift, gently and spiritually, to the solitary figure of Armand as he sat before the burning candles and logs.

In his rich baritone voice, he would gratefully remember “those who had come before,” including Julian Kirby and the other Widjiwagan founders. Then he would turn to us, the intimate, interdependent trail groups who sat before him, having just completed our wilderness journeys.

Always a dedicated student of literature, Armand would connect the Widji experience to the prose of Thoreau, reminding us how we, like Thoreau, had “gone into the woods to live deliberately.” He loved Wordsworth, too. The misty mountains of the Lake District informed many of his lessons. And there were times he playfully invoked Winnie the Pooh, reminding us that Pooh, Eeyore or Piglet, could be just as important as the larger, more assertive characters.

Then came the moment I remember most vividly. Armand would encourage us to bring the Widji experience back to our lives in the Twin Cities. The adventures of the canoe trail could be applied to our lives in town. Widji’s philosophy of kindness and respect was not limited to our weeks of wilderness camping. We could live by those values wherever we went.

I spent 11 summers with Armand, Bev, Kathy and Robin Ball, from 1963 to 1974, and I’ve been a close friend of the family ever since. These memories flood in as I look back at those splendid years.

How could any of us forget Armand’s signature belly laugh — a booming, musical release of unadulterated joy? Or the countless Widji banquets, where he stood and flawlessly rattled off the first and last name of every far-flung dinner guest?

Armand was a scholar of English and religion, not a stereotypical burly canoe-country athlete. Yet our love and admiration for this kind, seasoned, deeply intelligent man knew no bounds.

Of special importance to Armand and Bev was their determination to make Widji inclusive. They went out of their way to hire a diverse staff, and a special point of pride was creating the Fall-Winter-Spring program, which allowed campers from many backgrounds to attend Widji with their teachers and classmates.

Less famous, perhaps, were the times Armand stood tall on behalf of his college-age guides who faced the military draft. The Vietnam War loomed large in those days, and Armand was right there with a letter, wise counsel and personal appearances at government offices in downtown St. Paul, patiently supporting Widji’s young men as they sought legal alternatives to military service.

In these and many other ways, Armand Ball was a fierce advocate for those who worked for him.

Memorial Contributions may be made to Camp Widjiwagan’s Annual Fund or to the Armand and Beverly Ball Family Endowment Fund

Others will bring their own perspectives to Armand’s gifts as a speaker, as a YMCA executive, as a role model. These are mine. Armand was a second father to me, and I will cherish to the end of my days my memories of his poetic talks before the roaring fire in Kirby Lodge.

Armand Baer Ball, Jr. | 1930–2025

Armand Ball served as Widjiwagan’s director from 1962 to 1974, succeeding Armin “Whitey” Luehrs. He died November 15, 2025, at age 95.

Born in Louisiana, Armand earned master’s degrees from Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and George Williams College in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. During his tenure, he opened the camp to new communities. Armand quadrupled campership aid, brought the first African American campers to Burntside Lake and hired the camp’s first Black staff member. He also launched the international exchange program, sending more than 100 campers and staff abroad. After Widji, he served as CEO of the American Camp Association from 1974 to 1988.

Beverly Jane Hodges Ball (1927–2021) worked alongside Armand, her husband, as dining hall manager and Girls’ Program Coordinator. Under her leadership, 1972 became the last year male guides accompanied girls’ trips as standard practice.

The Balls are survived by their daughter, Helen Pound. The family endowment fund, established after Beverly’s death in 2021, continues to support Widji’s mission.

Armand and Beverly Ball

Investing in What Lasts

Every generation of the Widji community has invested in the next. The Annual Fund carries that tradition forward, ensuring campers can attend without financial barriers and supporting the day-to-day operations that make programs possible.

Operating costs rose 10.5% in 2025, driven by increased counselor pay, co-led trips, expanded staff training, and inflation across gear, travel and flights. Widji invested $97,971 in camper equipment, up more than 200% year over year. Despite these increases, a 17% rise in Annual Fund giving and a 7.3% increase in program fees kept net operating income in the black.

$165,317 IN CAMPERSHIPS AWARDED TO CAMPERS IN 2025

TOTAL 2025 REVENUE: $3,305,671

Growing Participation

One of the most encouraging trends over the past several years has been a steady increase in the number of individual gifts to Widji. This growing participation reflects a community that believes in the mission and continues to show up for it as donors and as volunteers, across generations.

Widji’s endowment provides long-term stability and supports camperships, canoe building, advanced trips, environmental education and general operations. These funds represent decades of community investment, each one established by individuals and families who wanted to ensure that future generations would have the same access to wilderness experience that shaped their own lives.

THE WIDJI ENDOWMENT CURRENT MARKET VALUE: APPROXIMATELY $11 MILLION

From the Board Chair

Last summer, a canoe trip my family took along the border route from the Stairway Portage to Sag reminded me how deep Widji connections run. Three sons and a daughter-in-law came through camp as campers and staff. As I begin a two-year term as board chair, I’m grateful for the community that shaped them.

I’d like to thank Bob McKlveen for his leadership of Widjiwagan during 2023-25, and all Widji volunteers who serve on the board, committees and work weekends.

At our annual retreat, the board explored whether to enter a conservation easement and will formulate a recommendation later this year. Other priorities include endowments, financial analysis, camper demographics, alumni engagement and planning for the 100th anniversary.

Mark, Sam, Jack at Sag Falls (August 2025). Photo: Emily

Financial support from Widji donors remains strong. Our fundraising campaign for the new sauna culminated in a dedication ceremony last fall. We hope you’ll see it at a future work weekend or alumni gathering. The 2025 Annual Fund campaign was a huge success, exceeding our goal. Like volunteer time, these gifts advance our mission of providing growth for the youth touched by a Widji experience.

After a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, Widji’s “Year in Review” is back. We’ll update the Widji community annually on the year behind us and what lies ahead. Please contact me, board or committee members, or Ben with ideas or questions. Thanks for your support and love of Widji.

- Mark Schroeder

Board Members for 2026

Andrew Barker

Kendal Bergman

Siri Berg-Moberg

Jake Berkowitz

Bonny Birkeland

Tim Brown

Jeremy Burns

Leigh Currie

Alison Flint

Norah Garrison

Alec Hamer

Kelsey Hunt

Emma Ingebretsen

Katja Lange

Kevin McNellis

Eric Orhn

Hatie Parmeter

Kayla Sawyer

Mark Schroeder

Peter Skold

Lucy Soderstrom

Julie Sonier

Gwyn Jarrett (Camper Rep)

Eleanor Pitts (Camper Rep)

Caleb Farwell (Staff Rep)

Zach Danielson (Staff Rep)

Colleen Maloney (Staff Rep)

The Widjiwagan Forest as Relative

By John Saxhaug

Wiijiiwaagan, the Ojibwe word that gives our camp its name, means “a friend, spouse, ally, partner, companion on the path of life.” Ojibwe linguist James Vukelich reminds us that in Anishinaabe understanding, a relative is anyone — or anything — you have a relationship with. That includes stones, water, wind and trees.

Over the past five years, the Widjiwagan community has deepened its relationship with the forest surrounding the camp. What began during the 2020 pandemic as fire risk mitigation — removing dead and dying balsam fir devastated by spruce budworm — has grown into a comprehensive stewardship effort. Volunteers have planted more than 1,500 seedlings across 12 acres. EQIP grants will enable balsam removal on 160 additional acres. The century-old red pines behind Moose Cabin have been carefully thinned. And this past September, juniors from Open World Learning High School spent three days learning forest care while protecting young trees for winter.

All of this work follows the Camp Widjiwagan Forest Stewardship Plan, developed with the St. Louis County Soil and Water Conservation District. As we approach our centennial in 2029, we’re not just maintaining the forest. We’re accompanying a relative through the next hundred years.

[Read the full forest stewardship story at widji.org]

Jane Adams

Jim and Julia Adams

2025 Endowment Donors

Thomas Ajax and Jan McElfish

David and Amy Anderson

Robert Anderson

Alan Bahr

Eric Bailey and Laurie Zettler Bailey

Robert and Ruth Baker

Peter and Lauren Bakker-Arkema

Anne and Joseph Barnes

Katherine and John Bartholomew

Ann and Jay Behnken

The Bell Family

Mark Bixby and Keelin Kane

Galen and Mary Brelie

Sally Brown

John M. Burke

Patrick and Twiss Butler

Shelley and John Butler

Heather Irvine Capuano

Carolyn Caswell

Margaret and William Celebrezze

The Cheney Family

Timothy and Kelli Commers

Karen and Alan Crossley

Elisabeth Culligan

Dottie and Dale Cummings

Carol and Donald Damman

Sandy Davis

Alice Dickinson

Wendy and John Doane

Mairi Campbell Doerr

Brooks Donald and Karen Mackenzie

Timothy and Tracy Dunnwald

Katherine and Arthur Eddleston

Kerwin and Doris Engelhart

Liz Flinn

Aaron and Janet Folsom

James and Robin Friedlander

Richard and Kathryn Friedlander

Friends of IPWSO

Joan L. Gardner

Susan Gardner

Lisa Gilliland and Zachary Herringer

Paul and Mary Sue Godfrey

Robert and Susan Greenberg

Ann I. Guhman

Amy Hadow

Tom Hiendlmayr and Jan Ormasa

Steven and Elizabeth Hill

Judith A. Hillger

Geoffrey and Linda Hirt

Christy and Doug Hlavacek

Patricia Hook Virnig and Arden Virnig

Ruth and Alvin John Huss

Harriette T. Irvine

David and Judy Jerde

Erik Jerde and Elizabeth Doty

Sarah and Mark Jerde

Charlotte and Donald Johnson

Sara and Kris Johnson

Barbara Jordahl

Eleanor Kinkead and Martha Babcock

Thomas and Cheryl Kranz

Jon and Beverly Kronstedt

Robert Lotz

Jo Ann Lucas

Kent and Barbara Lyford

Thomas and Judith Mackenzie

Hilary and Fritz Magnuson

Virginia G. Magnuson

Penelope Maines and Knute Johnson

Dave and Sherla Mayer

Elspeth and F. William McClelland

Andrew and Alison Mellin

Sharon T. Merritt

Lynne Meyer and Mary Walser

Joan and Andrew Moylan

Theodore and Ann Naegeli

Chad and Laura Nicholson

Thomas Noyes and Joyce Nakamura

Tim and Francine O’Brien

Jade Oh

Phyl Ostergren

Joanne K. Oyen Rick

Thomas Paper and Eleanor Bigelow

Ned Patterson and Susan Schloff

Sara Pitt-Van Buren and Jim Van Buren

Roxanne M. Port

Nicholas Puzak

Tom Racciatti

Linda and Dominic Ramacier

Lou Ann and Larrie Reese

Catherine Reeves and Steven Utne

Marjorie and Randal Rettler

Gary and Gale Rick

Jeff and Rocky Rick

Bethanne Rochlin Fry

Gwyneth Rochlin

Sandra and John* Roe

Gary Rohrer

Lois S. Runyon Kadlec

Donna Runyon

Judith Ryan

John Saxhaug and Lyn Rabinovitch

Frances and Henrik Schutz

Patricia Shaulis

Lansing Shepard and Gayle Thorsen

Ms. Linda A. Silver

Bill and Ginger Simek

Joseph and Lindsay Smith

John and Marsha Soucheray

Sandra Soucheray

Court Storey and Pam Neary

Kathryn Storey

Bob Stubenvoll

Kurt and Susan Sundeen

Rolf Thompson and CJ Jacobson

D. Andrew and Juliet Turnbull

Joell Tvedt

James and Marianne Ude

Carolyn Vitek

2025 Annual Fund Donors

Mark and Diana Abbott

Elizabeth Ahrens

Elizabeth and Robert Andersen

David and Virginia Anderson

Martha and David Anderson

Julie Andrus and Jeff Thorkelson

Thomas Arneson

Albert and Lisa Arthofer

Sarah Asch and Evan Schnell

Paul Aslanian

Dick and Pam Backstrom

James Bailey

Ann Bancroft

John Barber

Andrew and Angela Barker

Lauren Barry

John and Rebecca Bartlett

Anthony and Abigail Basile

Mr. Robert J. Beaudoin and Ms.

Linda A. Unsworth

Patricia Bemis

Mara Benjamin

Kendal Bergman and Jeffrey Schiller

Siri Berg-Moberg

Jacob and Robin Berkowitz

Sheldon Berkowitz and Carolyn Levy

Chris Bewell

Emily and Dylan Bijnagte

Bill Scherado Construction LLC

Bonny Birkeland and Leif

Vandersteen

Shelley C. Birkeland

Mark Bixby and Keelin Kane

Tim Bixby and Heather Myers

Janet Bliss and James Hands

Nate Blumenshine

Megan and Ryan Boatman

Thomas and Teresa Boatman

Paul H. Boening

David Booth and Ann Tobin

Helen Booth-Tobin and Carl

Peterson

Heidi Brantley

Philip Bratnober

Gerald and Karen Bren

Victoria T. Broadie

Roger and Ronnie Lee Brooks

Timothy and Susan Brown

Wade Brown

Christina and William Brunnquell

Lisa and David Bruns

Thomas and Heidi Bryson

Emily Buckner and Sam Schroeder

Christine Buetow

Anna Bukowski and Chelsea Harris

Jennifer Bunce

Allison and John Burke

Jeremy and Amanda Burns

Kay and Nicholas Cahill

Mark and Mary Cahill

Patricia Callaghan

Cesar Carmona

Emily Carroll and Daniel Groll

Cathy Casey

John Cassady

Elizabeth and Richard Charbonneau

Katherine and Alexander Chinn

Jane K. Clements

Kathleen and Douglas Clock

Jeanne Cochran and Andy Wallace

Timothy and Kelli Commers

Hilarie and Caitlin Conboy

Anders Conway

Alexander and Sarah Cook

Adam and Elizabeth Courville

Anne Cowie

Peter Cowiestoll

Paul and Rachel Craighead

Michael and Pamela Crane

Karen and Alan Crossley

Sam Crossley

Teresa Cryan

Mary E. Cunningham

Andrew Currie

Peter and Leigh Currie

Michael Deeble

Judith and Bruce Derauf

Daniel Dobler and Julie Brown

Dobler

Samuel and Melissa Donaldson

Steven and Terry Dondlinger

Lisa Downie

Katherine and Jerold Drake

John and Jodie Duntley

Elizabeth and David Dutcher

Donald Eddy

Thomas and Barbara Elliott

Nancy and Rolf Engh

Ann E. Ericsson

Steve Euller and Nancy Roehr

Mark, Sara, Addie and Liv Fabel

Jennifer Failla

Caleb Farwell

Elizabeth and Andrew Fena

Louis Fink and Pamela Grich

Earl A. Fleck

Ronald and Nancy Fletcher

Alison Flint and Adam Pierre

John and Kristen Floberg

Kathleen R. Floberg

Nora Flynn

Patricia Fontaine

Jacqueline and David Forbes

Thomas France

Marilyn and Greg Franzen

James and Carol Fruehling

Deborah Fulton

Manitou Fund

Jodena and Patrick Gallagher

Cindy and Jamie Gardner

Leslie D. Gardner

Susan Gardner

Richard Gaynor

William and Ann Geery

Robert and Susan Gehrz

Patrick and Martha Gerkey

Gregory Gilbert and Tammy Kellen

Barb Gipple

Elizabeth and Lee Glascoe

Charles and Mary Glenn

Jeri Glick-Anderson and Charles Anderson

Ann and Tracy Godfrey

Paul and Mary Sue Godfrey

Katherine G. Goodrich

Deborah Gottner-Grant

Thomas Grant

Michele and Robert Graves

Kathryn Greenberg

Timothy Griswold

Leah Gruhn and Jere’ Mohr

Carl Richard Guiton

Greg McNeely

George Guthrie and Suzanne

Stamatov

Mary Gutknecht and Guillermo

Azucena

Amy Hadow

Christian and Susan Hagestad

Katherine Hale

Jay Hambidge and Melissa Driscoll

Alexander Hamer

Elizabeth Hand

Mark Hanninen

David and Cynthia Hansen

Richard W. Hansen

Tom Hardel and Jan Ostergren Hardel

Paul Hark and Elizabeth McInerny

Patricia Hauser

Mark Hawkinson and Carol Anderson

Dana Hazel and Michael Vespasiano

Gregory P. Heberlein

Meike and Robert Hengelfelt

Reuben Henriques

Leah Hiendlmayr

Tom Hiendlmayr and Jan Ormasa

Arthur Higinbotham

Tricia Hipps

Christy and Doug Hlavacek

Patrick Hlavacek

Sarah Hobbie and Jacques Finlay

Frederick and Julia Hoeschler

Ben and Christine Hoffman

Daniel Hoffman

Megan and Philip Holleran

Mark Holloway and Briley Brown

Holloway

Mya Honeywell

Daniel Hoolihan

Jan and Katherine Horak

Jason Horn

David Hottinger

Sandra and Steven Hunt

Ruth and Alvin John Huss

Emma Ingebretsen

Gus Ingebretsen

Jim and Debbie Ingebretsen

Sarah Jackson

Francis and Sally Jo Jefferson

John H. Jeffery

David and Judy Jerde

Dwight and Pam Jewson

Andrew Johnson

Charlotte and Donald Johnson

Eric Johnson

Frank and Meredith Johnson

Jacque Johnson

Jacquelyn and Arne Johnson

Martha Johnson

Nancy Johnson

Anita Jones

Darla and Samantha Kashian

Nicholas Kastenholz

Peter and Deb Keenan

Mary Keirstead and Edward Swain

Joe and Joanne Kellogg

Kathrine Kelsey

James Kerwin

Stephen and Jane Kilgriff

Philip and Virginia Kilpatrick

John and Amy Kimberly

B. Kivel

Douglas Kleemeier

Melissa Kleemeier

Lester and Janice Klos

Thomas and Cheryl Kranz

Lucie I. Kroschel

Barclay Kruse

Jan and Robb Lageson

Kevin Lagos and Mai Lagos

Manuel and Sarah Lagos

Vanessa Laird and Timothy Raylor

Jeffrey and Gretchen Lang

Mary and Steven Langlie

Jean and Mark Larson

Caroline Lauth and Brian Quarrier

David Lauth and Lindsey Thomas

Katherine Lauth and Christopher

Sewell

James Lee and Jean Miller

Joyce A. Leibman

Eric and Laurel Lein

Margery Lerner

Barbara Levine and Sara Lynn

Newberger

Beth Levine

Shifra Levine

Cedar Lewis

Karen Lindig and Gary Bond

Margaret Little

Susan Lloyd

Karl and Joslyn Luebbe

Sally Lund

Lawrence Lundy

Alan and Jeanne Maclin

Sara Mairs and Daniel Steinhacker

Daniel Mammel

Mark and Nancy Mammel

Kristine Maritz

Maureen Martin and Craig Schimnich

Sara Martin and Timothy Kohls

Elizabeth McAfee

Sean McCauley and Joselyn

Raymundo

Daniel McConville

Joan McGonigal-Staska

Edward McKlveen

Bob McKlveen and Ellen Jones

Mary McNellis

Hilary Mead

Jessica Melville

Lynne Meyer and Mary Walser

Jean and Paul Michelson

Elizabeth and John Miller

George and Rita Mills

Bjorn and Margot Monson

Elizabeth and James Moore

Richard and Valerie Moore

Kirk Morgan and Shernan Holtan

Sheryl Mousley and David Goldes

James and Nancy Mulvey

Christopher Murray and Shannon

Riley

Phil and Lynda Murray

Sallie Neall

C. Roger Nelson

C. Roger Nelson

Penny and Paul Nelson

Emily Newhall

Chad and Laura Nicholson

Richard and Nancy Nicholson

Mark and Janell Niemann-Ross

Julie A. Nordwall

Melissa and Jesse Nykanen

Tim and Francine O’Brien

Catherine O’Dell

Carrie Ohly-Cusack and Thomas Cusack

Eric Ohrn and Elizabeth Hoel

Judy Olsen

Leigh and Alexander Onkka

Phyl Ostergren

Elizabeth Page Burr

Potter Palmer and Margaret

Groening

John Patterson and Julie Sonier

Beth Pearlman

Mickey and Keely Pearson

Kathleen Perkins

Patti and Steven Peterson

Rolf and Carolyn Peterson

Karen Pick and John Pierce

Katherine Pierce

Anne and Mark Plichta

James Pojman and Patricia Bradley

Susan Pollock and Carla Bates

Matthew and Kristen Poppleton

Poppy Design

Robert and Karen Porter

Robert Power and Connie Ford

Amy Powers

Samuel Pritzker

Molly Quigley

Nancy and Roger Ralston

Linda and Dominic Ramacier

Emily Ranta and Zachary Via

Darlene and John Regan

Peggy Ann Reichert and Carl Ohrn

Sima Reid

Jamie Lyn and John Reinschmidt

Andrea Reising

Elizabeth and Christopher Renz

Marjorie and Randal Rettler

Stephen and Marietta Rice

Philip J. Rickey

Winthrop and Barbara Rockwell

Margaret and Thomas Roe

Sandra and John* Roe

Susan J. Roe

Donna Roles and Terence Neavin

Rebecca Rom and Frederick Carron

Donna Roost

Charles Rossmann

Scott and Teresa Roussin

Jessica and Samuel Rubenstein

Ginner Ruddy

Kurt and Lesley Ann Rusterholz

Paul Rusterholz and Barb Lomas

Rusterholz

Sandy and Jim Rutzick

Jennifer Sahlin

Joan Sample

Constance and Kenneth Sansome

John Saxhaug and Lyn Rabinovitch

The Saxton Family

Lee Schafer and Tanya Bell

William and Suzanne Scherado

Jennifer and Troy Scherer

Michelle and Thomas Schlehuber

Mark and Mary Schneider

Tom Schooley

Cedric and Janet Schrankler

Mark and Lisa Schroeder

Kathy and Fritz Schwarz

Kurt and Erika Schwarz

Sarah and Robert Schweitzer

Sally A. Scoggin

John and Sheilah Seaberg

Thomas Segura

Jeffrey Shaw

Elizabeth Sheehy

Daniel Siegler

Kurt and Fay Simer

Gretchen Sjoholm

Peter Skold and Anna Racer

Anne Slaughter Perrote

Henry and Donna Slawson

Christine and Todd Smalley

Susan and Thomas Smegal

Emily and Peter Smith

Helene Smith

George Socha and Erica Perl

Sarah and Conrad Ryan Solberg

Joan Sorenson and Wayne Jennings

Elena and Ken Sparling

Elspeth Springsted

Alexander Starns

Connie and Byron Starns

Robin Steans and Leonard Gail

Leo and Christine Stern

Mary and Mark Stoick

Kristen Stone

Jesse and Sarah Stremcha

Christian Stumpf

Mark and Elizabeth Sugden

Cynthia Sutton

Thomas and Laura Swain

Judith Swanson

Erin and Steven Tarnowski

Rolf Thompson and CJ Jacobson

Brian and Danita Thyr

John and Amy Tillotson

Kirsten Tinglum Friedman and Richard Friedman

D. Andrew and Juliet Turnbull

Katherine Turnbull

Kirk and Susan Vadnais

Joseph Van Clock and Lisa Van Clock

Karen and William Van Schyndel

Danielle Vanderhoef and Alan Yanny

Gary and Judy Vars

Joyce and Anthony Vavoulis

Becky and Robert Vercollone

Bruce Casselton and Linda Wainio

David and Monica Walsh

David Walsh and Renee Campion

Erin Walsh and Katie Fritz

Carol Godfrey Warren

Marcus Waterbury and Sarah Hart

David and Sara Wellington

Steve and Kathy Wellington

Timothy and Elizabeth Welsh

Carla West

Peter and Lisa West

Mark and Mary Westra

Janice and Michael Weum

Nancy Wheeler Handlon and Chuck Handlon

Amy White and Nicholas Johnson

David and Suzanne White

Philip and Christina White

Barbara Williams

Dan and Ruth Willius

Jeffrey Willius and Sally Gibson

Earl Windahl and Guri Kirkeng

Andrea and Heath Winters

Andrea and Michael Witt

Wendy Youngren

Your Authors

Emma Brophy | Graphic Designer

Emma is an artist, ski patroller and outdoor educator in Colorado. Her journey at Widji began on a Quetico Canoe Trip in 2016. She worked as a trail counselor for four years and co-led Voyageur Trips on the Thelon and Coppermine Rivers. Since working for Widji, she has taken the lessons she learned as a couseor on to guiding for the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center and the National Outdoor Leadership School. | emmabrophy.com

Tom Burket | Editor

Capital Gifts

Nate Blumenshine

Megan and Ryan Boatman

Peter and Leigh Currie

Cindy and James Gardner

Paul and Mary Sue Godfrey

David and Judy Jerde

Erik Jerde and Elizabeth Doty

Lynne Meyer and Mary Walser

Heidi and Kris Nordwall

Tim and Francine O’Brien

Kathleen Robbins

Mark and Lisa Schroeder

Philip and Christina White

Elyse and Tyler Wied

Tom Burket is the editor of this year’s report. A writer specializing in business communications and verbal wayfinding, he worked on Widjiwagan’s year-round staff in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He lives in Seattle and paddles the waters of the Pacific Northwest by sea kayak and outrigger canoe. | wordcairn.com

Drawings shared by Kiera Sullivan. Photographs from Widji counselors, campers and friends.

100 YEARS ON THE TRAIL

In 2029, Camp Widjiwagan marks 100 years on the trail. Planning is now underway for a year-long celebration honoring the community, traditions, and lasting impact that have defined Widji since its founding in 1929.

Rolf Thompson, camp director from 1990 to 1999, and polar explorer Ann Bancroft, Widji Voyageur camper 1974, are co-leading the centennial planning committee. Alumni and friends interested in helping shape the celebration can contact the camp office or reach Rolf directly at rolf.m.thompson@gmail.com.

If interested in supporting either in person or remotely please use the QR Code above!