Kathy (Cochran) “Cocky” Beine- Lodge Official (Princess) 1965-1967
By Sara (Bell) Clifford
DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN YOU WERE INDUCTED INTO LODGE? It was 1961. I was a CIT at that point.
HOW DID THAT VERSION OF LODGE DIFFER FROM THE CURRENT VERSION? We’d have a meeting maybe once in the spring before Camp started. There wasn’t much fundraising because at that point the fee for the campers was $46 a week and that included their T-shirt and their insurance. (The Camp director at the time) always had incredible volunteer services from the parish guys. (The director) had these big appreciation dinners and that’s where they gave out the St. René Goupil Award, and all the big donors were invited, and the Lodge Chief and Princess were there as sort of a “ta-da!” These kids get so much more involved, and that’s a good thing, but (the director) didn’t give us that much open rein.
WHAT WERE YOUR FAVORITE LODGE TRADITIONS? I know they’ve changed it because we’re not supposed to dress as Native Americans, but I’ve always looked at it as if you’re putting on a play, and if I was putting on a play set in the 1800s, we’d dress as the 1800s. For the little kids it was a little more magical that way, because you were walking down that path and there were only torches, someone would be standing in the woods, and if people were talking, someone would say, “Silence!” It just had more mystery and magic to it because we were all in costume. None of it was to denigrate any practice. (The director) was so involved in Boy Scouts, and (emulating Native Americans) was always a big tradition in Scouts.
ANY OTHER LODGE MEMORIES THAT STAND OUT? I jumped off the cliff in the Council Ring one time. It was before I was Princess. When you go in and cross that creek area, to the right is about a 12-foot rise, and one of the speakers always stood up there; I think it was Daniel Naperse. At one point when we had the Devil Dance with the Christian soldiers, I jumped off the cliff with a 5-foot king snake named Argyle, and I was the devil. Argyle was a wonderful snake and I had found him when I had about five campers with me when I was going back to Chabanel. (The director) used to tell the kids at the Sunday opening campfire, “Whichever unit brings in the largest wild animal gets 5 points toward the Golden Arrowhead.” Fish would count, and that’s actually what he wanted. So I’m walking back and I hear rustling in the bushes and I went over to see what was making all the noise, and it was a king snake fighting a copperhead—and that’s why he’s a king snake; he wins. I took the dead copperhead and the live king snake up and got them measured, and the copperhead was 42 inches and the king snake, Argyle, was 46, 47 inches. I kept him behind the staff lounge in a terrarium and I caught mice in the barn for him. And we got the 5 points. (Jumping off the cliff) scared the (expletive) out of me and Argyle and, hobbling away, I told him, “We’ll never do that again.”
WHAT DID YOU DO SINCE LEAVING THE CAMP STAFF? I married the man I met and fell in love with at Camp. He was a widower with four children, so I was at home with them since the youngest was only 2. Later, (husband) Jim worked as a wedding photographer and did high school senior and family portraits, and I ran the office for 40 years.
HOW HAVE YOU STAYED CONNECTED TO CAMP, AND IN WHAT WAYS? I didn’t get back to Camp until Geno (Gene Canavan) came in as director in ‘86, but since then I’ve stayed in contact just about every year. (After 2002) Jim and I would go down and shoot pictures all week for the yearbook. Before that, I would work in the kitchen. And I still do the “Rindecella” story.
WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU VISITED CAMP AND HOW DID THAT FEEL? I just got “home” last weekend (for Spring Stable Roundup/Lodge Reunion). We had good weather, a good crowd, a very big Lodge kid response. That’s what I love about being able to go back. I’ve got friends from the 1970s, and after I got back (in the 1980s), and I got close with five or six “kids” from the 2015-2016 Camp staffs, and it keeps me so connected.
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