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Hej Ladies! Episode 02—Ron and Kathy Berggren
53 Plays1 month ago
Few couples are as connected to Mission Springs as Ron and Kathy Berggren. Both of them grew up spending their summers at Mission Springs—Ron’s family has enjoyed their cabin since 1931 and Kathy spent her summers at the trailer park until her dad built a family home up the hill in 1980. Both their parents and grandparents were a part of Mission Springs for many years. Then, at one fateful 4th of July service at Cathedral Grove in 1990, Ron and Kathy met each other, went on a few dates, and later were married in the Worship Center the following summer. Both their daughters have enjoyed camps, the pool, parades, and friends since they were little and are now starting to bring their own little ones to keep the memories going at our “happiest place on earth.”
If you have questions or comments about the episode, please contact us at jenny@nwrtw.com. Thanks for listening!
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Hey Ladies' Podcast
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi there, this is Calla and Jenny Holmgren, otherwise known as the Holmgren or just Hey Ladies. Hey, Hey Ladies. We have been coming to Mission Springs for our entire lives. So as part of the Centennial Celebration, we decided to start this podcast to talk Mission Springs memories. We invite you to listen and share in 100 years of what's been happening at Mission Springs.
00:00:27
Speaker
Welcome to Hey Ladies. Hey Calla. Hey, Jenny. Well, we're back.
History of Mission Springs
00:00:33
Speaker
Hey, ladies, it's back with another podcast episode, and we are so excited to bring some more tales of Mission Springs to all of you. But to start out this episode, once again, I'm going to introduce a bit of history to Kala that she may or may not know about one of our favorite places, Mission Springs. Before we get to that, I thought we'd go back to the previous episode and just give you an update about the springs, since we seem to have some...
00:01:01
Speaker
you know Confusion. i think confusion is a good word about where the springs were located and what was all involved with that. So i have found a written a piece of history by Vi Martinson and Esther Anderson that was written, I think, for the 50th anniversary of Mission Springs. So 50 years ago.
00:01:22
Speaker
And as part of this, and so i so I was doing my research. this was I thought this was good. That's great. um They said that This is what one of the quotes was. Water was the first priority at Mission Springs. And this is important because.
00:01:37
Speaker
used to homestead rescue. Homestead rescue. Yeah, it's important. hey keep Keep going. Okay. The springs, quote unquote, from which the property was receiving its water supply were across the creek and above what was then called the auto camp, now known as the trailer park. Okay. So that's where the springs are.
00:01:57
Speaker
They're back there. Okay. Now I don't, the only time I've ever been back there is when I worked on housekeeping and had to clean the bathrooms back there. Otherwise I don't remember, well, because the boys, the, the flat staff boys, that's where they were supposed to live.
00:02:13
Speaker
Right. So we weren't supposed to go back there. So I know I'm back there, but anyway, that's where the Springs are. We might have to investigate that this summer. Well, not if there's still rules about who can go back there. No, I don't think there are any rules. I'm just curious because dad seemed to think that the springs were down like closer to like wild oak.
00:02:34
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah. Well, how would dad know? I know. I think maybe we trust by Martinson more than we trust dad. asked for Anderson and by Martinson than dad. It says also in there a reinforced concrete tank with a capacity for about 8000 gallons was built below the springs. And then that's how they got water.
00:02:55
Speaker
Sure. Okay. So that's the first bit of history for everybody who was like like us and didn't know where the springs actually were. The next bit of history I thought would be fun to share is also from this same source.
Rustic Roots of the Camp
00:03:08
Speaker
And it is all about how in the early days of Mission Springs, when it was still like a ah camp, it felt more like a camp. It's it's a camp now, but you know what? it felt more like camping. Right. little more rustic. I think the word's rustic. Okay. Rustic. um That...
00:03:26
Speaker
The Covenant Women's Auxiliary setting set up the cafeteria. Oh, OK. And I don't know if that just falls into some gender stereotypes, but the Covenant Women set up the cafeteria. And um as part of that, they would get the meals and serve them.
00:03:44
Speaker
which included a lot of peeling of potatoes, which is probably, I mean, everybody eats potatoes, but the Scandinavians really like their potatoes. No, it makes sense. And then here was my favorite part, was that the coffee was cooked in a boiler. And this this piece of history, this writing, goes into very specific things about how the coffee was made. So I thought I would read that because I thought it was kind of humorous. Coffee's important, and I have no idea what a boiler is. like
00:04:15
Speaker
I know i don't cook. but Is that like a steam cooker? like ah I have no idea what this refers to. I'm going to have to see a picture of that. I think this podcast could just be, what do Cal and Jenny not know about basic home ownership? Clearly, we should not live off the grid. too new tosils Don't know what a boiler is. Don't know where the water source live a city. You know that show Alone? I'm not going on that show.
00:04:44
Speaker
ah You know, I i saw a commercial, a bear showed up. I'm like, really not going on that show. Okay. So coffee was cooked in a boiler. Do you know the recipe for cooking coffee in the good old days? That's actually in the in the writing.
00:04:57
Speaker
First, you made a sack out of a clean bleached dish dish towel. You made a sack out of a clean bleached dish towel. You used a salt sack if you cooked only a small amount of coffee.
00:05:10
Speaker
I think it's funny that they felt like that distinction needed to be made. What's a salt sack? Oh, I don't know. Okay. Gotta look that up too. Okay. Keep going. I'm going to have to have a legal pad. But this is things i'm sounding like the filter.
00:05:24
Speaker
Okay. so filter Then you measured out your coffee, broke egg or two and added that. No. Yeah, that's what that says. Shells and all. It says shells and all.
00:05:37
Speaker
Okay, why? To the coffee grounds, put it into the sack and place it into the boiler full of water on the stove and let it cook. Oh, so a boiler is like a pot? Okay, pot.
00:05:48
Speaker
Okay. A boiler full of water on the stove and let it cook. If it got pretty thick and brown at the end of the day, you added water to dilute it. At the end of the day? So they just had this boiling the whole time. Oh my gosh.
00:06:02
Speaker
Well, coffee's important. It is important, but holy cow. Like, okay. Yeah. Okay. So that was, that's a bit of Mission Springs history. What the women used to do to make the coffee on the grounds for the people that were camping there. They also did a whole lot of other things, but that was one things. the centennial, somebody ought to set that up and show it.
00:06:22
Speaker
Because I'm kind like, when well, the coffee comes out of the carafe when you push the button down and the coffee runs into the cup. So we're going to like a coffee taste test. Let's compare. I just would like to see what's with the egg. Well, I'm sure somebody knows what's with the egg. I don't know what that adds to it. Maybe it makes it seem more hearty.
00:06:43
Speaker
Oh, we got to get some information about it. Yeah, this is this podcast, I don't know anything. but No, you don't either. i think there are also a lot of eggs in Sweden, so maybe they came up with it? I have no idea. I don't know.
00:06:56
Speaker
All right. Well, that's our bit of history to start out this podcast.
Interview with the Berggrens
00:07:00
Speaker
In our next segment, Cal and I are going to be talking to Ron and Kathy Berggren who are two people who have been longtime ah have long-time affiliations with Mission Springs. They are cabin owners. They have a lot of memories tied up with the place. And so we talked to them about those experiences. So that will be next. We hope you enjoy it.
00:07:30
Speaker
All right, everyone, welcome back to Hey Ladies. And we are joined today by Kathy and Ron Berggren, who are longtime Mission Springs patrons and have graciously agreed to talk to us about their experience at Mission Springs in honor of this centennial. So welcome, Kathy and Ron.
00:07:50
Speaker
Hey, good to be here. Well, Let's start out with just kind of a basic question. Describe your first memories of Mission Springs.
00:08:02
Speaker
I'll turn it to Kathy first. All right. Here's what came to my mind. And it's not an official first memory, but my dad helped build the pool.
00:08:13
Speaker
Awesome. And it was finished around the summer that I was born.
00:08:24
Speaker
And my mom felt ah it necessary to bring the guys that were helping build the pool lunch every day.
00:08:35
Speaker
And so she brought lunch and she brought me to the pool while they were, you know, digging and doing whatever they did. And I took my naps there every day. That's awesome. So that that's kind of my official one that I don't remember, but they do.
00:08:54
Speaker
And then, um let's see, i think to this day, besides the porch at our cabin as being a favorite place, the pool is my favorite place.
00:09:08
Speaker
Just because of all those memories. And yet, I also remember going to camp really early on and hanging my counselor's underwear on the flagpole once with some friends. I think that a lot, that flagpole saw a lot of underwear. Yeah.
00:09:31
Speaker
So you got to do something with it. You don't need too much of it. And then I was there. I was a camper at the first year of Frontier Ranch. Okay. Wow.
00:09:42
Speaker
Okay. So I remember that and just an overall sense that camp and being at Mission Springs has been and continues to be a really significant event.
00:09:56
Speaker
place where my faith became a lot more of my own over the years from my parents to my very own through camps, through conferences, through significant conversations with people. So, oh, and then just the last thing is that before my dad built our house across from yours, we spent all of our summers at the trailer park.
00:10:24
Speaker
Oh, wow. In the back corner. Then um trailer space number eight. And my mom would take us down for the week. My dad would come on the weekends and hose down the trailer park. And me and my friends from Oakland Cub and San Jose and Sacramento Cub, we put all of our cots together and had what we called love-ins.
00:10:45
Speaker
And we had birthday parties on the bridge between the you know the showers and the trailer park. And those are some of my fondest memories growing up. So when did your ah parents build that cabin?
00:10:59
Speaker
What year was that? Your cabin. Our place, it was finished in 1980. Okay. Okay. Because I remember it, but I couldn't place a date to it. I'm like, I remember it happening, but. Yeah.
00:11:11
Speaker
I was pretty little, so. Yeah. As far as I can remember, it was just always there. Across from the yellow cabin. I kind of don't remember it not being there. So. Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:23
Speaker
Well, I am going to add, I go back a little further. Um, not that I was there at the beginning of mission Springs, but close to it. Um, the, um, my grandfather had our cabin build at two 43 cathedral last one on the left before cathedral Grove, um, in 1931.
00:11:40
Speaker
wow. in nineteen thirty one oh wow And, um, So, and it was definitely built as a summer cabin. His name was Friedolf, but they always call him Fred. And he was down there a bunch of times and and talking to the construction workers and they go, Fred, don't worry. It's just a summer place. It's just a summer place.
00:12:03
Speaker
It's why I won't go there now. brings my butt off. um But I think my earliest recollections of Mission Springs are,
00:12:14
Speaker
you know, going down there for the summers and staying there for week after week after week with my father driving back and forth, going back on Friday, or coming down on Friday and going back on Sunday night to go to work. And then we would just stay there. And if we needed quart of milk or something, we'd walk out to the little white store on Lockhart-Golch Road and then walk back. So, and then spend the rest of the time up at the pool.
00:12:43
Speaker
And that was, but, Here's the interesting thing. my um My father grew up in the, my my grandparents and he were in the Berkeley Covenant Church.
00:12:55
Speaker
um And, but my mother grew up on the East Coast in a, what was the Swedish Baptist Church. And when they got married, all I remember is that we grew up in a Baptist church.
00:13:11
Speaker
So I had always asked my mother and you know, she, she it's just She made it to 102, but she would never answer this question of, you must have won the argument about which church we're going to go to because we lived in Berkeley.
00:13:30
Speaker
And we went to the church in Oakland, not to the Covenant Church in Berkeley. so But she she said, oh, it was just an agreement between the two of us. But anyway, i I remember there was another um family that was in the Baptist church and they had a cabin down Samuelson and Johnson we used we we used to um to hang out a lot together and then I heard later that there were rumors that mothers were telling their daughters don't go out with the Baptist boys
00:14:03
Speaker
Oh, no. Why? and I have no idea where that came from. Because then you become a Baptist? so No, no. Then I got rid of the Baptist label.
00:14:14
Speaker
go no But he's still recovering. No, yeah. no Well, we were Baptists in Utah when we lived there because there wasn't a covenant church. There was, the yeah. It's still not a covenant church the state Utah. were Baptists, though. We weren't Swedish Baptists. i think Oh, this wasn't the Swedish. Yeah, that might be a little closer.
00:14:32
Speaker
yeah yeah southern baptist was pretty far i joke still at my church that there are about 16 verses of just as i am in the baptist seminal and they made us sing them all every single sunday that's right that's right yeah yeah the thing is my my parents knew everybody it seemed like they knew everybody at mission springs knew the people from the from oakland covenant and san francisco covenant and and Turlock and San Jose. And so they all had friends down there. So it was just, ah it was a great time for them as well. So it didn't really matter which
00:15:07
Speaker
you know, place we were going to. But anyway. And do you remember them all speaking Swedish together? Like what were some of the things? No, I do not recall any services. This was back in the 50s. So okay it's not. But we have tons of pictures of his parents and grandparents sitting up at the top of the stairs. The men in their three piece suits, you know, with their gold watch and women all in dresses and pumps.
00:15:34
Speaker
Mm hmm. And I think, how did you do that on the 4th of July? That is so cool. I love those old pictures. I love to see it. Like, I love to look at those.
00:15:45
Speaker
But yeah, I can't even think of walking up the hill in those kinds of shoes, right? Like I barely can get on the hills in like camp. Yeah, you know and there was no pickle back then or any cuddle, that's for sure.
00:15:59
Speaker
that's not You were making it to church. That's right. in your Yeah. No You should say that to the kids now. The kids are like, I can't walk up the hill. I'm like, listen, you're great grandparents. We're walking up this hill in dresses and high heel shoes. Yeah. That's right.
00:16:16
Speaker
So quick question. The pool, you talked a little bit about the pool being so significant. What are your favorite memories about the pool? Other than Kathy, it seems like your life is just connects with Mission Springs so much like the first year Frontier Ranch, the pool being built, like some of these significant things. What are some of the other things that makes that location like one of your favorites?
00:16:38
Speaker
Really great memories of being there with my parents and them sitting in that one corner back there and my dad being called the mayor and our kids going to my mom to her little coin purse in her pool bag and getting coins out for snacks at the snack bar.
00:16:59
Speaker
It was generally watching my brothers play across the pool tag and like bouncing off the cyclone fences and learning to it to do a flip off the pool, off the pool, off the board, sorry. And taking forever wearing a sweatshirt. So I didn't like split my back open. yeah and And then I was going to get to it for another question, but um hopping the fence,
00:17:29
Speaker
at night when it was hot and it just happened to be closed and for a while my dad had a key and we just jump on his truck and come over and if we heard a truck coming up the hill when it was dark and we might have been skinny dipping or at least swimming sorry sorry sorry um You know, and it was Paul Nelson or Lawrence Anderson, and we'd just go over to a corner and think that, you know, no way he could see the ripples in the water or footprints everywhere. And you just say, you kids better get out of there. and
00:18:09
Speaker
Anyway, we were caught a few times. Yeah, like, no, they were caught too. I'm like, I think that the adults were on the kids sneaking into the pool. Yeah. And I had a couple slumber parties on the top of the snack bar.
00:18:21
Speaker
Oh, sure. Yeah. too I'm surprised it didn't fall through. sck The old snack bar. The old snack bar. Well, that's where they said they used to go hide in those little areas by the women's bathroom. Because if you went in that one, you they couldn't see you from the parking lot. Oh yeah. That's right. But those little pools that were supposed to disinfect your feet were there and those you had to miss those. Yes. But yeah. Neat. little mischief in there and just great times. What do you think about the changes to all of that? What do you, cause it, I mean, it's gone. The, the, the blueprint of the actual pool has stayed pretty similar, but everything around it has changed a little bit over time. What do you think? Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker
move the move the baby pool a few times and there's the splash pad. and I like
Memories of the Pool and Camp Experiences
00:19:06
Speaker
it. I think it's great. It's just yeah it' just ah it's just just things that are added to Mission Springs and and new families can make new memories um at the new pool.
00:19:19
Speaker
Remember going during COVID when you guys were instrumental in helping that happen? Maybe that's not a great memory, but it was just so fun to be able to go there. Yes.
00:19:29
Speaker
And, you know, keep your distance and still be able to go. I think during that time, that was kind of a sense of normalcy, right? Like, okay, we're still a here. Everybody's kind of distant, but we can still go to the pool. We just have to figure out a way to make it work. It's just... um Yeah, I think it's such a special place. Calla was talking about it in our interview with our parents that just that is has been such a central location for a lot of, i think, kids at really crucial years in their growing up. You know what I mean? Where you have a little bit of freedom, you know, you're like 13 or 14 and you get to go to the pool and maybe you know what I mean? And so that becomes such a
00:20:07
Speaker
just to write a rite of passage for a lot of kids. Or even when you're little. I remember being a little one and Uncle Henry, Henry Homeland, who we called Uncle Henry, he had been swimming and for some reason had change in his pockets and it had fallen out. No, quite a bit of money, actually. I don't think it was just change. It was like, but all of a sudden- Everybody diving in Right. No, we're swimming around him we're like, there's money in the pool.
00:20:31
Speaker
Where'd the money come from? So we start gathering up this money. And my parents were like, you better figure out whose money that is. Like, there's not supposed to be money in the pool. And we figured out it was Uncle Henry's money. And he took us all to the snack bar.
00:20:45
Speaker
and and And then forever after that, he would always be like, who wants something from the snack bar? And ah I think that was a big deal because we didn't get a lot of snacks now growing up. i mean, not to, you know, yeah i say my mom wasn't nice. She was a very nice person, but she's a very nice person. But, but yeah, that was a chance you got snacks. yeah hush And they said yes. And it was like, not even after dinner. it was the middle of the day.
00:21:10
Speaker
Well, okay. Moving on to a different topic that's familiar for Mission Springs, walking around the mountain. Was that something that happened that you knew about was still something? My parents talked about it and I, and by the time we got older, it's still the same, not really, but um I'm just wondering where that lives in, you know.
00:21:30
Speaker
Probably a bigger deal for Kathy than me. than Yeah. Billy McGee was the first guy to ever take me around the mountain. Hands in his pockets. That's good. All the way around. And man, I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. Yeah.
00:21:48
Speaker
but Sixth grade, maybe, you know, after camp. But his mom was the choir director at Oakland Cove. And to this day, he's...
00:22:00
Speaker
Yeah, just a great guy. Became a youth pastor and a regular pastor and good friends with my brother. Loves the covenant. good Yeah, my first walk around the mountain.
00:22:12
Speaker
Now you guys walk around the mountain a lot. I see you. Yeah, we do. Sometimes we hold hands. Sometimes we don't. Every time you walk around the mountain, Josh is like, you want to hold hands? I'm like, no, I don't. Sometimes we hold hands to pull each other up the hill. yeah it scar's yeah the reason That's reason.
00:22:31
Speaker
Fourth of July. What were your experiences like at conference at Mission Springs? That whole week, Fourth of July specifically, is that something that was gathering point for your family or was it just like, oh, that that's happening at Mission Springs? Like, what was that experience like?
00:22:49
Speaker
I don't remember the Fourth of July when I was a kid being like, it has been the last 20 or 30, 40 years, 40 years, 50 years almost. Yeah. um We always had a service at Cathedral Grove, but there wasn't, you know, like a mountain goat run and a parade and all that. So I think the best recollections I have of the 4th of July were when our kids were little and then just kind of living it through them with
00:23:23
Speaker
getting their faces painted and decorating their bikes and inviting friends and, it was just the best. But there are other things that have happened on the 4th of July that are very important.
00:23:38
Speaker
Okay. That is when we met. Oh, okay. Well tell us that story why Well, we, you know, families knew each other. um we knew of each other, but on, um,
00:23:53
Speaker
Fourth of July in 1990, were both up at Cathedral Grove and for the service, and we kind of... i'm reconnected and the fireworks went off. Oh, nice.
00:24:07
Speaker
Literally and figuratively. i actually remember my parents talking about you guys going out and they were so happy. i remember that too. What is going on? I think it's perfect.
00:24:20
Speaker
Well, we we took a while. We were both kind of late bloomers in the whole thing, but well i It was a significant day. yeah i was living on the East Coast. She's here in California. so it was We had like you know five dates, and then I went back to the East Coast. and By Christmas, we got engaged. in The next summer, we got married at in the worship center.
00:24:45
Speaker
Oh, okay. so it you Did you think about getting married at Cathedral Grove? We got married at the worship center because we had kind of a bunch of people. oh We had like 400 people. Oh my gosh. gosh Yes. Okay. Cathedral Grove probably would have fit them. But anyway.
00:25:05
Speaker
You might have lost somebody going up the hill. Yeah. Because we asked people, because people have to like, when they get married at Mission Springs, and we asked my parents this, like, what made you want to get married at Cathedral Grove? And now I don't even remember what they said. What did they say?
00:25:21
Speaker
I, I think they just, I don't know. Mom just liked it better. I think she liked the idea of being married outside. oh Yeah. yeah yeah But yeah, I think there's some logistical issues. The the trail. Yeah. There are, but yeah our daughter got married there, uh, two summers ago and it was just, we put a screen up there and she kind of went up there a little early and stayed behind it. We decided no trail. no It was just, uh, not good situation with a wedding dress. Here's the other part that was really the good part of, um,
00:25:51
Speaker
us getting married is because we had a cabin there since 1931. i was able to take Kathy from across the Creek out of the trailer park and bring her into the real grounds of mission Springs. I won't say what she might've been up.
00:26:12
Speaker
Occasionally he refers to me as trailer trash. heard He redeemed me from trailer trash. I did not say it, but I did bring her across the creek and to the right side standing with Mission Springs. The right side of the bridge.
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah, liked both. I always thought that the folks on the flat were lucky because they didn't have to walk up the hill at the end of the night for the day. We used to spend all of this time just trying to get a ride from anyone who would give us, I think your dad gave us rides, Dave Cain gave us rides, your mom probably, they'd see kids come, they'd be like, you can get in the car, we'll bring you up there. We thought those were the best people in the world. And then if somebody didn't, we'd be like, no.
00:26:54
Speaker
What do we do? I know. Don't we see that we are tired? We're small children. my dad ever pick you up and let him let you get into his truck? Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. Yeah. yeah if We were did a lot of riding in the back of the truck. No, he and Dave Cain were very supportive of the children that lived on the hill. Yeah.
00:27:15
Speaker
Yes. Would you say they're... are significant people that you've met through Mission Springs? I mean, other than each other, obviously, um that you would, you know, that made a big impact in your life and Mission Springs was kind of, you know, the conduit for that.
00:27:34
Speaker
if um It started off with your Aunt Bobbie. Okay. For me. Bobbie Holmgren Warrington. She was on staff when I was about seven.
00:27:47
Speaker
And she was a lifeguard at the pool. Really? And she worked in housekeeping. Oh, she was also a housekeeper. Okay. yeah And I, I just kind of hung out with her and I thought she was fun to talk to. And she let me carry her bucket, you know, while she went around scrubbing toilets. And I thought she would just sow nice to little old me. And to this day,
00:28:15
Speaker
I mean, we had a period where we lost some touch, but then when she and Ray lived in Portola Valley and we moved here, she's really played a mentor's role in my life.
00:28:28
Speaker
And I just couldn't believe that a a big, cool person like Bobby would pay attention to me and talk about faith with me and just have fun with little old me. So she was... Very instrumental. and And then I would say because my parents lived there from 1980 to 2001, whenever I would come there, whether it was from l L.A. or wherever I was, because my parents had people over a lot, I just got to know a lot of great people that live at Mission Springs, that
00:29:14
Speaker
You know, to sit around the table and talk to people was great. I remember meeting um Johnny Erickson Tada on your back deck once, and she's kind of been a hero to me in a lot of ways. But just the regular old significant people is what I appreciated the most.
00:29:37
Speaker
And then seeing our kids go to camp to be in the banana slugs and make friends there, that's even better. I think that's been the, Mission Springs for me, especially when you're working and you're working in schools and you're doing administrative stuff in schools, it was always my place to get away.
00:30:01
Speaker
Once I crossed over the bridge, actually, once I turned on a Lockhart Gulch Road, it felt like you could just relax a little bit. Just those, you you'd have to cover a Friday night football game And it'd be over at 1030 and then I would drive down via the cabin for the weekend and just to be able to relax and and enjoy it. But I think, yeah, as Kathy started to talk about, it's been so much fun to see our kids grow up there, to meet friends, um to build relationships. And now that they are both married and we have one grandson, the grandson has already been there twice.
00:30:41
Speaker
And he's only 15 months. um We're hoping that that can continue. Hopefully it also, by keeping my son-in-law's surfboards in our garage at Mission Springs, hopefully that'll also draw them back to the the cabin when you live in denver there's not a whole lot of surf there even when we've had people come to mission springs who we know but aren't covenanters or like and one of emma's friends from school we had the brown cabin listed as an auction item at our school and so they were able to they bid on it and so then their whole family came
00:31:18
Speaker
And they're like, what is this place? And her, it's so funny because her best friend's dad is Swedish. And he had, he's like, wow, this is crazy. And that, you know, when, again, he'd say, oh, when you turn on Lockhart culture, you you're doing the wine and they come over the bridge and he's like, this is, this is unlike any other place.
00:31:37
Speaker
It's very unique. Yeah. Yeah. So we have, we have, um, kind of agreed that we want to continue everything we can do in that area of hospitality, welcoming people, bringing people there, making sure that we're trying to build as much community as possible with the leaseholders that are there, getting them together with the staff, trying to make as many inroads between leaseholders and staff.
Community and Hospitality at Mission Springs
00:32:08
Speaker
And so there's, so when you see staff on the ground, you can, ah you can, recognize them by their name and, and be able to greet them and and continue those relationships as well. yeah say hey What kind of trouble can we get in? Or if we do, we do, don't, we don't get busted. i know their name We're good.
00:32:28
Speaker
Well, Kathy would be stuck on top of the fence. think we're yeah as I would too. but I'm not hopping any fences. That's going to be an injury just waiting to happen. But I know the staff really appreciate that. Like Emerson's on staff right now at Outdoor Ed. And I know she always appreciates seeing and talking to the people that are around because it just kind of links. the other part of the Ministry of Mission Springs to the leaseholders, which have been such a foundational part of establishing the camp too. I mean, without the leaseholders, they probably wouldn't have had the money to pay for a lot of the things that were first constructed. So, um yeah, so that's a really nice thing. And it reminds me of when we were kids and Cliff and Gladys' cabin was across from ours. And every once in while, we'd go over there. Again, i don't know why, as children, we were constantly looking for snacks. But I just don't know that my mother had a lot of, like, junk food in the house. Very unconscious. She had none.
00:33:24
Speaker
You can ask my dad. i don't. I think she... Maybe. She's really healthy. She's very healthy. She's too healthy. so But Cliff and Gladys were always good for a cookie or something. So we kind of traipsed over there. And inevitably, there was in their front room about 10 people, again, just still dressed pretty much in their Sunday clothes. four o'clock in the afternoon, drinking coffee and just sharing life together. And i and I think Mission Springs in many ways is just a lot of places where people do that, right? at' The pool, people sit around and they talk at the pool. People walk around the mountain and talk. People sit in their living rooms or around their kitchen tables or, and just are able to share life that way. And I think that's really nice.
00:34:07
Speaker
And we got a few snacks at your parents' house too. That's right. Oh, lots. love lots Your mom was always good for cookie. For sure. A lot of that.
00:34:18
Speaker
I remember coming home from when I was on Camps Crusade staff at UCLA and hanging out with my parents for a while and both Emily and Gretchen and your cousin Ingrid coming over and baking cookies together.
00:34:32
Speaker
wow. no it was awesome. was lot of flower everywhere. I think there's a lot of pictures of little blonde kids making cookies. I think Soren and Peter were in there too, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. That's a lot of little blonde kids.
00:34:47
Speaker
All right.
Quickfire Questions: 'Shooting the Gulch'
00:34:48
Speaker
the last part of our podcast is just what we call shooting the gulch. And that is just some quick fire questions that aren't meant for a long thinking or anything like that. Just Really quick responses, but you can elaborate if you want to.
00:35:03
Speaker
My parents had a lot of things to say in our first interview. Okay, so here's the first question for shooting the Gulch. Have you ever participated in shooting the Gulch? Going fast on the Gulch?
00:35:14
Speaker
Yeah, probably with my brother Ken. Okay. Because he shot it a lot more times than I did. But yes, and he taught me... The fine, ah how to really drive the curves, that the the fastest to do it was to go straight down the middle.
00:35:33
Speaker
but Keeping your eyes wide open. Well, I used to do it from the from Mount Hermon Road when you come in. um And then see how far, try to there was just enough of a hill there, you try to go as fast as you can there. And then see far how far up Lockhart-Golch you can go. you take After you take your foot off the gap. yeah Oh, yeah. you know and Just put it neutral.
00:35:59
Speaker
Yeah. you've got you gotta to get past Guyer Road and, you know, halfway up that hill. You know, it's a steeper hill there than you think, which I especially found out when you used to run the mountain goat run that way.
00:36:12
Speaker
and you had to come back up that way. And yeah that was beginning. never knew there was a hill there. Right, exactly. but Which brings me to my next question. yeah If you ran the mountain go run, where would you place?
00:36:25
Speaker
Well, now? Any point in history. at Any point, you get to pick. When we would run it when we were dating or newly married, I'd i'd say smack in the middle.
00:36:40
Speaker
That's impressive. And i I used to run cross country and track. And so I did okay, but I was, you know, I wasn't in training at all. So, but I was just fun to number one was see if you could jog the whole thing.
00:36:53
Speaker
Right. Went on the old route that would go up to the top and then down. Nelson Road and then back out. yeah I don't know. maybe's it Maybe the one now is probably tougher because you've got to go all the way up to the top.
00:37:04
Speaker
Yeah. It feels tougher when I walk it now. i Yeah. You know what? They're both pretty tough. So you would kind of ignore the walk instructions where it says, now it's time to walk. Well, no, I i wouldn't.
00:37:16
Speaker
i was very obedient to that. Yeah. ah Okay, next question. If you were at the pool, what are you ordering from the snack bar at any point in history?
00:37:28
Speaker
Sidewalk Sunday.
00:37:31
Speaker
to Missile? No, not the snow cones. Drumstick. Drumstick. always yes When they had drumsticks, that's what i always wanted, a drumstick. Okay, and Kathy, explain Sidewalk Sunday just a little bit more for people who might remember. was kind of like an Eskimo pie with a little bit more chocolate in it. Oh, okay.
00:37:50
Speaker
So good. That sounds good. A little thicker. It wasn't just a dip. It was like a long dip, hold it for a few minutes and then take it out.
00:38:01
Speaker
Probably more like a Haagen-Dazs bar now. Those are good. Those are really good. Okay. if you Have you broken a rule at Mission Springs? A rule. I'm using quotes here. And if you have, because we don't, I mean, there are some rules that are written down, but actually not that many. And if you have, which one? I mean, we've already talked about jumping the fence at the pool, but is there anything else that you can think of?
00:38:24
Speaker
When we were, we were you know, kids down on the, you know, there was morning Mornings, there wasn't always anything to do before the, you know, you had to find something to do before the pool opened at like 12 o'clock or one o'clock.
00:38:38
Speaker
We used to have races around the the lounge of the fireside hall there. They used to have these, all these overstuffed chairs in there. And we used to see how fast she'd go bounce from chair to chair all the way around the room.
00:38:52
Speaker
And we have races. Now it's not really breaking a rule, but it wasn't really a good thing. Cause one time. Yeah.
00:39:01
Speaker
Or are you doing on the chairs? That's a good one. That's a good one. I've probably broken a couple more, but it probably wouldn't be good for the podcast. I'll tell you later.
00:39:14
Speaker
going to keep it, yeah, friend family friendly. Yeah. Nothing too serious. Well, my mom on the podcast, when we were talking to her, she said she threw away a battery once. And we're like, that's not breaking a rule.
00:39:27
Speaker
Think of something else. Yeah. That's when the skinny dipping came out. So breaking into the pool I'm like, OK. OK,
Teenage Adventures and Kissing Spots
00:39:35
Speaker
last question. What do you think the best kissing spot is at Mission Springs?
00:39:40
Speaker
Kala doesn't agree with this question. I'm sure she didn't want this included, but I felt like it would be funny to ask all the people. so Well, I'd say Ocean View because, and that goes back to another memory. When I was at junior high camp and somehow I was at Laurel Lodge, my friend Karen and i decided that we were going to sneak out of our room and meet our camp boyfriends in the front of Vi and Ted Martinson's cabin.
00:40:08
Speaker
Okay. oh We snuck out. met our boyfriends there and almost crawled up the one way hill in a dark, dark night, no moon and hung out on the bench at ocean view. And that was a pretty good kissing spot. And then we snuck back down, got into our rooms thinking nobody caught us next morning at breakfast, the camp Dean comes up and puts his hand on my shoulder and said,
00:40:39
Speaker
Did you have fun last night? Oh, no. Oh, no. How awful. And I went, oh. It took all the fun out of it there. No. And then he kind of walked away and laughed. so Oh, my goodness.
00:40:54
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say that was and it was kind of built up in my mind as the place. So I wanted to make sure. now it's the porch our cabin. just it out. yeah Yeah, probably.
00:41:05
Speaker
Well, it's because like um we for the centennial, we've done this prayer walk that goes from all the different spots at Mission Springs. And there's a history of the spot and then a piece of scripture and a prayer and people can walk around. And one of the places is Ocean View because. It is, there's a bench there and people, you know, it's just one of the places on the hill. And so I thought this would be good to, and it was so funny because all the younger people are like, where is this place? what are you doing yeah where is the place and I see an ocean. yeah yeah and there's no that's exactly more But it is it is a nice spot back in there. So.
00:41:45
Speaker
is the bench still there Up there? No. Yeah. Okay. There's a bench by the road. Right. But there's no bench up there. I don't think that, yeah, that bench is no longer there. You got to bring your own chairs up there.
00:41:58
Speaker
What happened to the bench? I'm obsessed with that. think it just got old and the wood rotted out. Okay. That's where Josh was climbing a tree last summer. Like he was climbing some trees because he's really into climbing trees right now. I saw him. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:42:14
Speaker
Yeah. Really. and And so he went back up there and there's this Douglas fir. And the next thing I know, he's about 150 feet up in that thing. And he yeah he said he can see the ocean from way up there. That's good. That's good.
00:42:27
Speaker
Still there. Good to know. So good. good well That's our interview. That's it. Thank you so much for answering all these questions. We really appreciate it. Sharing your memories of Mission Springs. It's awesome. You are welcome. And you have the freedom to edit out anything that you want to. No, we're keeping it all. It's good. I would like to see the pictures you guys have though of your, I would love to see those. Okay. We have a few of like your relatives in their suits and ties and dresses. Oh, those pictures, yeah. Coffee.
00:42:59
Speaker
Those are cool to me. I love that stuff.
Reflecting on Ron and Kathy's History
00:43:10
Speaker
Well, that was fun to talk to Kathy and Ron. So interesting. I love how connected they are to Mission Springs, um how they met, they got married there, some of the old um pictures and stuff. I mean, it's just what a history.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah. i I wanted to know more about that interaction at Fourth of July service. I know. where That kind of launched their romance. I wanted to know more about that. I should have asked more about Yeah. You know, that's for another another episode. All right. So we're going to end this podcast episode with...
00:43:44
Speaker
An ending question. And this is where I ask Calla something about Mission Springs. And if you listeners have an opinion about this question as well, you are welcome to contact me and share that.
00:43:57
Speaker
Contact information will be in the show notes. So, Calla, the question today. Last question, last time I asked you what your favorite Fourth of July tradition was. And this question today. i don't know if that one was very hard, but I think this one's going be hard. All right. Have you ever done anything scandalous at Mission Springs?
00:44:18
Speaker
Me? Yes. No. No? Come on. Think about it for minute. No, I think I'm thinking. I i think that the... um No, I think the thing I always felt the worst about was like during family camp, we'd be down playing cards or you know playing spades down on the Redwood deck and we'd be kind of loud.
00:44:39
Speaker
late Late into the night. like Yeah, and I felt a little bad because there are people living there trying to sleep, people staying in Wellander and some of the other
Scandalous Memories at Redwood Deck
00:44:48
Speaker
places. And so we were being kind of loud. I remember it being super fun and I didn't care that we were being loud. But um yeah that wasn't hind that wasn't that wasn't very considerate. I feel like. Well, um yeah, but at the same time, i mean, we weren't getting into it. That's not that scandalous.
00:45:06
Speaker
No, but I didn't do anything. I don't think I remember doing anything terribly scandalous. Like, don't know. I was a good kid. Remember the one time, though, we got caught with boys in our room?
00:45:20
Speaker
Where? it You don't remember this? We were on staff. The first year we were on staff, I was on housekeeping and you were working in the kitchen. And there were no places for the the staff to get together. because yes Okay. And we had that room over hall. had the room at the very front room over the dining hall.
00:45:39
Speaker
And we just wanted, i think, a place to play like a board game. It wasn't even like scandalous. Yeah, we weren't doing it. That wasn't scandalous, though. That was just like breaking the rules. we kind I know, but we weren't doing anything scandalous. We were like sitting around playing cards or something. We got in trouble. I remember Jim Diavis being very disappointed with us. Yeah.
00:45:58
Speaker
But we weren't even doing anything. were playing a board game. Yeah. Yeah. OK. So that's what I was thinking would have to go into the scandalous category. Yeah, because there weren't really you weren't supposed to have boys up there.
00:46:10
Speaker
I don't know why we thought that we could get away with that. Like noise carries. It would be hard to be doing anything without people I'm sure it's it wasn't the noise. I'm sure somebody told on us. No, I know. That's just the thing. Like, I don't think like the people, the other people in the dorm or like the, not the dorm, but the, the staff housing, but I guess I didn't think of that as scandalous. We got in trouble, but we weren't like doing anything scandalous. We were playing cards. I mean, in, in, we didn't get in that much trouble.
00:46:38
Speaker
We just got a talking to, we got a talking to, but no, I don't think like, yeah, no, I don't. Well, I'm wondering what other people have done that are scandalous, but not too scandalous. Cause I don't want to hear, you know,
00:46:49
Speaker
This isn't Dateline. don bluff This isn't Dateline. Well, I mean, come on. I don't want to hear about things that are too scandalous. I'm sure, like, people smoking or something, but no. and him The only thing scandalous about smoking is that people could potentially burn down the forest, and we don't want to do that. right. No, that's what I'm saying. Don't smoke at Mission Springs, everybody. It's too dangerous.
00:47:09
Speaker
So, all right. Well, that's our question for today. And if people have scandalous things that they want to share with us, again, not too scandalous, just the right amount, then send those in and we'd be happy to talk about them on our next episode.
00:47:23
Speaker
Absolutely. Until then, that's it for Hey Ladies. We'll see you next time. Bye, guys.