It was an ordinary day. Reviewing information that Elizabeth and her son Rick have been emailing to me for the past few weeks. On September 30 of last year I published a story titled "Oyster Pond Yacht Club - Past Memories" and followed it on September 1 with "Oyster Pond Yacht Club - Present Memories." The information that I used to write the stories was obtained from a friend in Northeast, Maryland who gav
e me a post card with a photo of the original Oyster Pond Yacht Club (OPYC) on the face and from readers of the travel forum TravelTalkOnline. I also found some information on SXM Heritage which is a historical site that I have as a friend on Facebook. There was very little info that I could use from "Googling" the topic on the Internet. At the beginning of March of this year, I got a very interesting email from Elizabeth Stultz who told me she came upon my stories when she "Googled" OPYC. Told me she enjoyed reading them and that she could provide information that was first hand. Jumped at that offer and after a few weeks of back and forth emails, and "Googling" some sources that she suggested, I have been able to trace, with Elizabeth and her son Rick's help, the OPYC back to the beginning. Then ...... Elizabeth sent me another email telling me to call Rae Rossini who was probably the only other living person who could give me answers to my questions about OPYC. So, I called Rae, a very lovely woman who helped fill in a few facts and who also gave me the phone number of Marilyn Bodine who was the second wife of Earl Bodine, owner and founder of the OPYC. Marilyn shared more stories about OPYC, then gave me the name and number of her step-son, Paul Bodine. Well, he gave me enough information to write a book. I gave up taking notes and just listened to Paul tell story after story about the OPYC. I was amazed that he could remember everyone's name and how they fit into the story of the OPYC. After a half-hour of conversation with Paul, I told him how inadequate my story would be if I attempted to publish one. He encouraged me to write one anyway, even if some of the facts may not be perfect, because he knew that it would still tell a small part of his life and the life of OPYC. And so, to all who spent time with me, either through email, snail mail or on the phone, giving me first hand information and photos, as well as encouragement to give it a try, here goes ......
The year was 1965. Midge and Earl (Bud) Bodine, who lived in Northbrook, IL, purchased property in Sint Maarten (a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) as well as property on Saba (a special municipality of the Kingdom of the Netherlands). I have never been able to trace the entirety of the properties, but it was sizeable, especially on Sint Maarten. The property on Saba (say•ba) was used to erect the Captain's Quarters while the property on Sint Maarten, which was located in the hills above as well as the shores of Oyster Pond, was used to erect The Oyster Pond Yacht Club. Bud and Midge were owners, designers, and operators of both inns and both inns became important gathering places for celebrities and developers in the late 60s and 70s. Through mutual friends, Elizabeth Stultz and her husband Ray were introduced to Bud and Midge. When Elizabeth and Ray found that their friends were looking for a manager to run the the inn on Sint Maarten, they took a hiatus from the advertising company where Ray worked in Chicago, and headed to the Caribbean. OPYC was scheduled to open in late 1970. Elizabeth and Ray arrived late in 1970 to fine the inn wasn't completed. It eventually opened in early 1971. Through word of mouth the place prospered. The inn was built to draw clients that would hopefully buy the villas and lots that were in the hills above which Bud and Midge had purchased a few years before and were not developing. Oyster Pond Yacht Club was a gem! Midge was very ceative and artistic in
designing the rooms and surrounding areas of the inn. There were 20 rooms and two tower rooms on two levels. The OPYC had rooms decorated in the West Indies motif with oriental rugs and artifacts from around the world enhancing the rooms, and were built around a courtyard where breakfast and lunch were served daily. Inside the inn was a beautiful dining room where dinner was served daily. Elizabeth remembered the bar in the dining room as having a brass top which needed polishing every day, if not more. Lawton, the bartender took care of that when he wasn't concocting his marvelous rum punch. A secondary building housed the chef as well as was used for storage. There was a lot of open area with sea grape trees, hibiscus and bougainvillea plants. At the back of the inn was a man-made beach with chairs and a ladder leading to the water. On the other side of the hotel was a very narrow hazardous path that took travelers to Dawn Beach were Elizabeth says there was never a soul to be found. Paul Bodine, son of Bud and Midge, reported that Dawn Beach was named after his sister by his parents. In the summer of 1971, Rex Reed, a NY film critic, who is still alive, visited OPYC as well as Ray and Elizabeth's newly married daughter and her husband. The daughter and spouse stayed the summer in one of the two turret houses. The dirt road to Philisburg started in the front of the inn and took 45 minutes to reach town. In September of 1971, Elizabeth and her husband returned to the states. Roman-born and internationally-known athlete and Olympic skiier, Gian Carlo Rossini took over as manager with his wife Rae. The following year the Rossinis were divorced and Rae moved to Saba to manage the Captain's Quarters. On April 17 of 1974, Murray Brown, a travel writer for the Lexington Dispatch in North Carolina visited Sint Maaten with other travel writers to do a travel report for his paper and he described the two nation status (Sint Maarten being Dutch and St. Martin being French), the beaches, lush hills and 12,000 islanders. His story was titled "Island in the sun has dual personality." The writers lunched at the OPYC which he described in his article as dramatically situated on a secluded promontory on the Atlantic side. Guests are lodged in 20 large rooms, each individually decorated in imaginative style by co-owner Midge Bodine of Chicago in an unusual six-sided, two-story inn around an open courtyard. In addition to privacy, it offers a half-mile long beach, two tennis courts, all water sports, and a marina with separate facilities for about 30 yachts. I have uncovered very little to report from 1972 until this article in 1974. It sounds as if Dawn Beach had been made more accessible to the patrons of the inn and the tennis and water sports had been added during these two years. In 1976 Bud and Midge divorced. Elizabeth writes that Midge got OPYC after the divorce, and continued to run the inn with Gian Carlo. In 1977 Gian Carlo and Midge left Sint Maarten and eventually the property was purchased by Jan Kamlay and OPYC was then managed by Paul and Keirsten Tedlow. In 1979 Gian Carlo married Midge. Elizabeth reported that in September of 1980, while in the
clubhouse of a golf course on Cape Cod, she heard that Gian Carlo had committed suicide the night before. It was reported that he was heavily in debt. After Gian Carlo's death, Midge relocated to Manhattan. In 1995 Hurricane Luis stuck Sint Maarten and heavily damaged the area where the OPYC was located, but the inn survived. In 1998 Huricane Georges destroyed the Captain's Quarters in Saba which was eventually demolished in 2007. I am not sure who held ownership of both or either place at the time of the hurricanes. Midge died June 20, 2005 at the age of 82 in Chicago and five of her children scattered her ashes in the waters between Sint Maarten and Saba. A sad ending for one of the finest inns that ever graced the shores of Saba. Eventually OPYC was sold by Jan Kamlay to three gentlemen in 1980 and they started building condos around the OPYC. It now is known as Oyster Bay Beach Resort, but still, to this day, as reported to me by Paul Bodine, has OPYC as a central part of the resort. In many of the articles I read about OPYC it was said that the inn was: "Where Gentle Manner Still Prevails." It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Photos are from the top: post card from my friend Kathy in Maryland, Ocean side of OPYC, and Elizabeth with her husband Ray. PPS - Oyster Bay Beach Resort recently was voted as one of the top 5 hotels in the Caribbean, Bermuda, and Bahamas by Travel and Leisure 500. I hope my facts are accurate as to the story of OPYC. I did not intend to mislead any readers and apologise if I have done so. Please check tomorrow for a photo collection from Elizabeth showing OPYC in the early 70s.
p started. For years and years it flourished, primarily during the summer months. My wife would often tell me that a woman who works with her, Betty, would tell her stories about camping during the summer at the campgrounds. Every now and then we would stop to take a photo so Carol could show Betty what the campgrounds s
till looked like. Then a few years ago, during a summer trip to drop off my photos at Kathy's Corner store in North East, we noticed that the place looked vacant. I read in the local "Cecil Whig" newspaper that the campgrounds were having financial troubles and were for sale. Financial constraints and demands upon the Philadelphia Nazarene District to maintain a campground which featured 60 acres that had about 200 boxy white cabins along dirt roads, a large Tabernacle and the surrounding grounds must be extremely expensive. In 2006 the campground was sold to a developer, Rhine Proterties LLC. Then, in 2009, the burnings started. Since that time, six arsons have taken place. The small cabins are being torched; sometimes multiple cabins are enveloped in
flames at one time. Finally, today, as we stopped to take a photo, all we saw were piles and piles of debris that are the remains of the once popular campgrounds. I'm sure Betty will be upset when she sees the photos. Another piece of history is being destroyed. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Photos from the top are Tabernacle at the Nazerene Campgrounds, cottage torched in 2009, and photo take recently of the remains of the campground.
dle of town they blocked off the street for the concert. Really neat and something I will never forget. The sounds of those steel drums and the harmony of the voices reverberating off the concrete walls of Lancaster Square were so neat. If you have never heard the song, which I find that hard to believe, or would like to hear it again, Check out the YouTube presentation at the end of my story. Mike Love and the current edition of the Beach Boys performs "Kokomo," but I don't see the steel drums like in the original recording. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
s. One of the things to avoid is zip-lining or bungee-jumping. Uh-Oh! We shouldn't have done that, I guess. In 2008 Carol and I went zip-lining in St. Martin. One of the most strenuous things I have ever done, and we were both in our 60s. He writes that when you do these things in the US, they have probably been inspected on a regular basis and are safe, but when you travel to a tropical island, who's doing the inspecting. No one! Lucky for us we survived. Not only that, on the same trip we rode in a rubber raft with a powerful engine in the rear call a Rhino boat. Boy did that fly over the water. And the year before we climbed a waterfall in Jamaica which was also tough to do. I guess we were risking our lives in countries where there probably are no regulations for such adventures. I do re
member reading about a young woman who went bungee jumping in Zambia recently who plunged into a ravine when the cord broke, incurring critical injuries. Lucky she was jumping above a river and not over land. She did survive, but still had series injuries. I guess we could have had that happen to us on any of the things we participated in on those islands. I also read about a young couple who were riding on ATVs in Costa Rica earlier this year and the woman, while trying to avoid a motorbike, went off the edge of a cliff, breaking both her arms and one leg. If she had not been stopped by an overhanging tree branch as she fell, she would have died. The hospital in Costa Rica requested $5,000 to treat her and then another $10,000 to 
cover the surgery. After the initial surgery, the doctor at the hospital told them she would need additional surgery that would cost an additional $20,000. The husband was able to get a medical flight to return them to the US so his insurance would cover the additional operation, but he was not allowed to leave until he had paid the bill for their services. Kinda scary when you think that if we would have fallen while zip-lining and needed hospital aid, what would we have done. Is the aid available in most island nations? Well, I do know that my medical insurance doesn't cover us outside the US so for the past few years have purchased International Medical Insurance through IMG. I usually buy $1,000 deductable, but the insurance covers everything including air medical evacuation. I do want to be able to experience adventures on the different tropical islands that we visit, but don't want to ever again place our lives in the hands of individuals desperate to make a living by providing death-defying adventures to tourists. Life's already too short! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
mell like coconut, but it costs a pretty penny. Well I do have a bottle of Hawaiian Tropic with an SPF of 30. And, I guess you do know that SPF stands for sun protection factor. A sunscreen with an SPF of 15 will delay the onset of a sunburn in a person who would otherwise burn in 10 minutes to burn in 150 minutes. The SPF 15 sunscreen allows a person to stay out in the sun 15 times longer. Now, you do have to realize that everyone burns differently. Someone with a dark complexion will probably take longer to burn than someone who is ghostly white. As my doctor said to me after I told him on my yearly visit that I used a 60 SPF sunscreen that he had recommended, "Looks like it didn't work!" So I went out and bought the 80 SPF. I probably got in the water too soon after applying the sunscreen and it all washed off. There are just so many factors to consider. Anyway, I also have 3 bottles of the #5 most favorite 
sunscreen, Coppertone Sport. This also got good reviews because it smells good. I have bottles of 80, 50 and 15 SPF. I do have 4 bottles of the lotion that Carol and I use the most, #6 NO-AD. Called No Ad because they don't advertise it and therefore can sell larger quantities for lower prices. And it works since it is #6 on the list. I have been using the higher numbered SPF because of the trouble I have with skin cancer. Use it many times during the day and end up using a bottle or more of it during a week. I have one other type of sunscreen that didn't make the list and that is the Vanicreme 60 which is recommended by my dermatologist. Sells in tubes in a drugstore and isn't cheap. And, accor
ding to my dermatologist, it doesn't work that well. It doesn't have a good smell, is so thick you need a putty knife to put it on and is hard to rub in to your skin. After the one tube I have purchased runs out, I will probably not buy anymore of it. Well, I will need to head to the store sometime in the near future and pick up another supply of NO-AD for our upcoming spring and summer trips. Lather myself and head to the beach. Maybe I'll see you there. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
spital for a few stitches and a bandage fixed it right back up for me. When I returned I was taken down to the art room by the Principal to talk to Mr. Miller about the accident. Mr. Miller told the Principal that it was an accident and won't happen again. After the Principal left the room, Mr. Miller looked me in the eye and told me not to use anything in the room again unless he is in the room. Didn't talk nasty or yell, like he should have. But, I think I got him in trouble with the principal. See why he was one of my favorites. Seven years later I returned to the same High School as a teacher and my classroom eventually was next to Mr. Miller's classroom. For years and years we talked about the times I had him as a teacher. One day his wife, a high school secretary, died. Mr. Miller was heart-broken and never the same after that. He died within a couple of years. As I worked on the paintings today I talked to Mr. Miller again, reminding him again about me cutting my finger as well as all the good times we spent teaching next to each other. Now, you're probably wondering how I knew these two paintings were from the same Richard "Dick" Miller that I had as a teacher. Well, on the rear of each painting was a printed form from the Scholastic Arts and Photograph Contest. Dick had entered these two paintings in the contest when he was 16 years old and in 11th grade 
at East Lampeter High School. Way back then the contest had been sponsored by Gimbel Brothers in Philadelphia. I 'Googled' the contest and Gimbel Brothers and found that Scholastics' were started in 1923 and were sponsored by the Philadelphia department store for many years. The same time that Dick would have been in high school in Lancaster. But the real give-away was his printing and signature. Hey, I worked next to him for at least 15 years and can tell his writing as if it is my own. So today, I got to reminisce a little with my old teacher as I worked on hispaintings. Hey, thanks again Mr. Miller for not ratting on me to the Principal when I cut my finger in you room in 1959. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are: preparing to frame the two oil paintings, rear of one of the oils with the Scholastic form still intact, my teacher and friend Mr. Miller. You know, even when I taught with Mr. Miller, I never called him Dick; too much respect for him, I guess.
e eating. If we walk to the door and turn the rear light on, they still just look at us as they chew the food. And lastly, we have the skunk family. We have noticed them off and on for the last few years, but last summer mom skunk brought her three young ones to eat one evening. What a racket they made. We were sitting, watching TV, when Carol said, "Must be the possum." It was a moonlit evening and as we snuck to the door Carol said, "It's a baby skunk! And there's another! Wait, there's another one, also. And .... here comes the mom." Yep, 3 of the cutest furry balls you have ever seen. Each one differently marked. White stripes on black, black stripes on white and almost all black with a white bob on the tail and a white head. They ate for maybe two or three minutes then started jumping on each other, falling off the steps and jumping back up again to jump on the back of another one. As soon as mom saw us she hustled them off. Now, I think I have given you all the background info you need. Here's where the story begins: Went to bed last night about 11:00 PM. Tired from a full day at work and knew I would be able to sleep well. Took about a minute or two and I was unconscious. Was having a really great dream and at the end (maybe might not have ended if not for the following) I was overcome with this strange odor. I awoke in my dream, no that should be I awoke from my dream finding it hard to breath. Looked at the clock; it read 6:07 AM. Geez, the smell was terrible!! Just then Carol started to stir. "You smell that?" I asked her. "Are you kidding?" was the response. I actually looked around the room to see where the skunk was. I have never been sprayed, but this was about as close to getting it as you can without the actual moisture on you. I asked her if I should get the masks out of the closet to wear. Negative response. I just had to get up and turn on the overhead fan which seemed to help, but now was spreading it all through the house. My guess was that we had a visitor about 10 to 15 minutes ago who was spooked by another guest and left it fly. Right outside our bedroom window which is directly above the bowl of cat food. Now this has happened at least 3 or 4 times before, getting kind of ordinary, but not as bad as this. I drove to work at the gallery today knowing that I must smell terrible, but not to worry, because my boss doesn't have the scent of smell. After work, entering the car, it hit me full force. See, the garage is right next to the family room which is right next to the door where the bowl of cat food sits. Oh, well. Suburban living at it's finest. As I sit here typing, I have the air sanitizer running full force in the family room with 4 Glade plug-in air fresheners going and the exhaust fan on in the kitchen. Was going to open the back door, but it's already 65 degrees in here and my hands will freeze if it's any colder. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
e Pacific to the Caribbean, we stopped at the islands Aruba and Curacao. As soon as the ship started to pull into the cruise terminal in Curacao you could see the baseball fields that dotted the landscape. Wow, I knew I liked this place immediately. Well, the Phils have three players on their roster from the DR; pitcher Antonio Bastardo from 
Hato Mayor, utility player Michael Martinez from Santo Domingo and third baseman Placido Polanco, also from Santo Domingo. Last year there were 139 players in the major leagues. Many big name players in the past, such as Juan Marichal, Sammy Sosa, and Vladimir Guerrero starred for their teams and in 1963, the Alou brothers, Felipe, Manny and Jesus, all played in
the outfield at the same time for the San Francisco Giants. Today the names have changed to Albert Pujols, Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, Hanley Ramirez, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez and Jose Reyes, to name a few. Supposedly the first player from the DR was Ozzie Virgil from Monte Cristi who played for the New York Giants in 1956. Since that time Major League Baseball (MLB) has invested close to $76 million in the DR, of which $15 million is used in the operation of local, official MLB baseball academies, which are usually "training facilities." 28 of 30 teams have facilities in the DR and will allow boys as young as 14 years old to enter the academies. Wow, If I would have had the chance to play baseball all
day, every day when I turned 14, I may have been a star! Not! The Phillies have a "training facility" in Boca Chica South where the outfielder, 17 year old Andres Corporan and the pitcher, 17 year old Eudy Seybo are the top prospects. But, will they ever make it to the majors when less than 1% of the 800,000 kids who play baseball in the DR ever sign a major league contract. What are the reasons for the success of baseball in the DR as compared to the USA; (1) the boys have dynamic joint range of motion and their frame is lean and long, (2) their muscles work with each other, not independently, (3) the emphasis is on speed, not muscle mass, (4) coachability, most of these guys have nothing else, and (5) the desire to succeed. I naturally had to "Google" the Phils and baseball in the DR in particular and found a tremendous amount of material that talks about baseball and the island of La Hispaniola,
ass it on our trips to the Chesapeake on weekends when we travel to the bay area for lunch. Pretty neat watching the show and realizing that Chef Robert was in the area trying to save this restaurant. The more we watched, the more we knew he wasn't going to help at all. The family that ran the restaurant featured three generations of woman: the grandmother, mother and daughter. The grandmother evidently started the restaurant years ago, the mother then took over the restaurant and seems to be the major obstacle, and the daughter seems to be tryin
