Some Horizon Old-Timers – Still Camping After All These Years

How great it is that the Association of Horizon, dedicated to helping those with physical disabilities, has prospered so over the years, due in great part to the dedication and effort of those volunteers who have stepped up, and continue to step up, to lead the organization and get all the behind-the-scenes hard work done.  The vision of our dear departed friend Jimmy Liptak and others lives on.  It has been especially gratifying to me that my daughter Christina has been volunteering at Horizon Camp in recent years and when visiting camp lately I have had the opportunity to see again so many old friends. 

I've got some old pictures of some individuals, many long-time leaders in Horizon, who have attended a recent Horizon Camp.  I don't have the "now" pictures, but I have the "then" ones -- it's fun to look back and reminisce.

From MDA Camp Hastings 1986:  Kim Peterson & Mike Engels; Mike has been in Horizon from the very beginning.

From MDA Camp Hastings 1986: Caught in a time warp, Mary Weiss (Angelico) & Tim Beard


From MDA Camp Hastings 1983: Mark Rozdolsky & Mike Trimpe

From MDA Camp Hastings 1987: Bob Schumacher and Terry Rozdolsky

From MDA Camp Hastings 1987: Loretta Martin, Freddy Martin, & Kathy Kingston.  Loretta and Kathy are also in some kind of mysterious time warp where they don't look any different today than they did then.  Hey, Freddy looks the same today too just with a little less hair [Edit: OK, a lot less hair]; also note that Freddy apparently had a wardrobe malfunction and is holding his shirt together with a safety pin.

From MDA Camp Hastings 1983: Lea Svihla and Tammie Gibson.

From MDA Camp Hastings 1983: Terry Walsh (right) with a little friend.

From MDA Camp Hastings 1987: John Walsh, also with a good head of hair, with Nicky Biango.

From MDA Camp Hastings 1984: Irene Roach & Danny Martin

[Note: 1/25/2016: Attempting to insert a photo to this post, I messed up the formatting and had to reconfigure to get it to work again.  I'll leave well enough alone and add that photo somewhere else.  RB]

Horizon in Aurora, Summer 1975

With our hearts and minds reveling in sights and sounds of Jimmy Liptak, the service organization Association of Horizon, which he co-founded, looms large.  The first "official" Horizon outing for which I have pictures (which I labeled at the time as "Horizon") is a Summer 1975 gathering in Aurora, first to what I recall as a railroad museum and later to a party at, also if I recall correctly, Jeff Ellis's house which was close by.  For once Jimmy didn't have to drive back and forth from Cicero to Aurora to pick up and later drop off Jeff, who, by the way, was not lightly built, to take him to a party that was, invariably, somewhere far away.  This outing pre-dates the first Horizon Camp, which was late December 1976 at Camp Villa Marie on Pistakee Lake in Northern Illinois.  Here are some pictures, in memory of Jimmy, and, as well, all our many other friends here who have far too soon gone before us:

(L to R:)  Ron Balsamo, Jeff Ellis, Jimmy Liptak, Dave Boffo, and Aaron Adams.

The Angelico`s showed up in force.  Sitting on Jay Serota's lap is Louise Angelico, and the skinny guy off to the right is, believe it or not, Johnny Angelico.

 
Finding an open place to sit down for a moment, in the wheelchair on the left is Mike Angelico, with (from L to R) Diane Wilferd, Timmy Sullivan, and an unidentified female (help please).  Note the Angelico brothers are both wearing bib overalls, the significance of which has been lost in the sands of time.

(L to R:)  Jay Serota, unidentified male standing, Phil Macak, and Steve Foltz.

(L to R:) Rick Balsamo and Aaron Adams

In the background is Louise Angelico talking with an unidentified man in front of a VW Microbus.  Foreground from L to R: With her head turned away from the camera is Helen Zaricor, then Mike Engels, unidentified male, Jeff  Hewitt, and, far to the right, Johnny Angelico, still wearing his bibs.  At the center of the scene, which was wherever Jimmy was, wearing his distinctive Converse All-Stars, is the One and Only Jimmy Liptak.

Rick Balsamo

Jimmy Liptak – Ave Atque Vale

How bittersweet it is that now we can only celebrate, with laughter and with tears, the joyful life of Jimmy Liptak, that large-souled wonder who dedicated himself for so many years to helping behaviorally and physically-challenged kids.  He was larger than life, with an easy smile and warm laugh, who would light up with infectious passion talking about the latest challenges, and successes, in his work.  We will savor his memory and will forever, as long as we are here, tell the stories – his exploits as a Chicago CTA bus driver once driving off route to safely deliver a little old lady in distress; his enigmatic love of camp skits of cheesy song (“I Am a Fine Musician”) and fractured drama (“Squaw Bury Shortcake”); his driving a borrowed, old commercial truck all over Chicagoland for years picking up and dropping off disabled kids and young adults for gatherings and outings, and every time but once producing the right match up of people and wheelchairs at his destination; his affinity for philosophical inquiry encapsulated in his perennial question “Can you get a sundae on a Monday?”  Eventually fate drew Jimmy, the pride of Cicero and Quigley South, away from his hometown, first to the West Coast and then to the East, to work and to raise a beautiful family, but he kept close connections with friends and family back in Chicago.  Jimmy and his sister Marion were longtime MDA volunteers and were among the founding leaders of Horizon.  Here are some memories:


Jimmy in 1978 at MDA Camp Ravenswood leading everyone in song – probably "I am a Fine Musician", which was the only one he knew (or maybe it just seemed that way!)

Actually, when I referred to "cheesy" song above I wasn't kidding -- the other song Jimmy knew, and loved to lead everyone in singing, was what he called the "Cheese Song" [also known as "Roll Me Over the Ocean"]:  "It's cheese, it's cheese, it's cheese that makes the mice go round, it's cheese, it's cheese, it's cheese that makes the mice go round," variations of which go on seemingly ad infinitem and occasionally ad nauseum (perhaps it was only the camp food!).  Actually, it's not as bad as it reads on paper -- trust me on this one.  In fact, I have an audio clip of Jimmy leading the camp in this very song from a 1981 lunch, which I had hoped to have posted up by now, but I haven't yet figured out how to incorporte an MP3 file into this blog.  



 
At MDA Camp Ravenswood East in 1975 (L to R):  Ron Balsamo, Jimmy Liptak, Bob Medrala

At MDA Camp Ravenswood East 1975: Bev Bjork, Jimmy Liptak, and Marion Liptak, with Bob Macak sitting.

At MDA Camp 1980 (L to R):  Jimmy Liptak, Danny Martin, Rich Westley












At MDA Camp Ravenswood West 1978:  Jimmy Liptak and Jan Mozack, with young camper David McSweeney

At MDA Camp Ravenswood West 1978:  Jimmy Liptak, with Freddy Martin on the right, in front of the Cuckoo's Nest
















At MDA Camp Hastings 1981: Jimmy with long-time camper and good friend Roger Gordon, near the spot later made famous by Jimmy as "Gordon's Leap".

[Above:] At the Spring, 1978, Roast for Rich Westley on his leaving for the Peace Corps, on Chicago's South Side: (Back L to R:) Pete Muzzy, Mike Angelico, Jeff Sader, Mike Oliver, Johnny Angelico, Dean Krone; (Front L to R:) Jimmy Liptak with Kevin Abell on his lap, Tom Musillami, Rich Westley, Rick Balsamo, Danny Martin with David Abell on his shoulders, and Mike Engels.

At the Jury Room Tavern on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago, directly across the street from the Biograph Theater, on December 20, 1985: (L to R) Rick Balsamo, Jimmy Liptak, & Danny Martin.   


At the 1981 Horizon Winter Camp at Camp Villa Marie on Pistakee Lake in Northern Illinois, New Year's Eve Party 12/31/81 - 1/1/82:  With flowers in his hair, Jimmy Liptak, with Bugaloo Alvin James showing him some moves

At MDA Camp Hastings 1982 (L to R): Tim Coleman, Johnny Angelico, Jimmy Liptak, Bob Medrala, and Rick Dsida

At MDA Camp Hastings 1981: The One & Only Jimmy Liptak, Hail & Farewell

Rick Balsamo

Early Chicagoland Horizon

When I started attending the Chicagoland Muscular Dystrophy Summer Camp in 1969 there already was a tradition of a loosely-organized gathering at Oak Street Beach on Chicago’s near-north side on a Saturday soon after camp ended.  Afterwards, there were a few parties the rest of the year, some of them hosted by MDA itself.  In the early 1970s, a group of volunteers, in their late teens and early twenties, began to be more active in organizing parties and outings throughout the summer and occasionally at times during the rest of the year.  Outings included trips to Wrigley Field and Ravinia, the home of an annual summertime music festival of concerts.  The initial leaders of this group included Jimmy Liptak, Rich Westley, Ron Balsamo, Marion Liptak, and Danny Martin, and regular participants included Bob Medrala, the Angelico`s, and me, Rick Balsamo.  A day’s outing could be a long affair when including the hours needed for pick up and drop off of campers living all over Chicagoland and the travel to and from the destination.

At some point in, I think, the mid-1970s, the leaders began to formalize the group and its mission.  My brother Ron writes that "Horizon was originally called 'Horizon for the Handicapped'.  I got the idea ... from [the book] The Little Prince and its reference to the horizon."  Soon it was referred to as the Horizon Association.  Not long afterwards it was established as a registered non-profit to facilitate fund raising and stability.  If I recall correctly, when it came time to register the organization, the name “Horizon Association” was already taken so it was established as “Association of Horizon.” 

One of the earliest and regular Horizon activities was a winter camp, which for years usually consisted of at least a few sleep-over days ending on New Year’s Day.  The first of these was in 1976 at Camp Villa Marie on Pistakee Lake, in the Chain-O-Lakes area of Northern Illinois northwest of Chicago.  The camp was owned and run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, and consisted of a number of heated, well-insulated smaller buildings with bedrooms in addition to a large dining hall as well as a main building and activity center.  I had gone on a retreat there in high school and I was familiar with the place, and made the arrangements to use it for almost a week between Christmas and New Year’s day.  The Archdiocese couldn’t have been nicer or made it easier.  All they required of us was to leave it as clean as when we arrived.  We brought our own food and shared kitchen and clean up duties.  The New Year’s Eve party was fantastic, with many more people driving up from Chicago for the day and night just for the party.  That camp was the beginning of Horizon camps which have continued to all the way up to the present.

After a nice run (? six years or so), at some point Horizon Camp was not able to return to Camp Villa Marie and an alternative needed to be found.  Someone then secured a large retreat house owned by an order of Catholic Brothers, located of all places on the other side of Pistakee Lake from Camp Villa Marie.  There was no large room suitable for a large party, and I think at that point the annual Horizon New Year's Eve parties came to an end.  The retreat house was a large mansion with some upstairs bedrooms and large rooms downstairs.  To the best of my memory, Horizon ran many weekend camps at this location in summer and early fall, and I remember swimming in the lake there.  It was a loose atmosphere with people coming and going, some staying for hours and some for days.  A couple of memories stand out.  My brother Ron would cook up a massive amount of pasta and sauce that became famous as "Ron's spaghetti", and Jimmy Liptak or Rich Westley would drive the big, old panel truck (that the Liptaks graciously acquired for Horizon's use) filled with us campers over to the Dairy Queen for ice cream.     

For many years now Horizon has hosted a week-long summer camp, held for some time now at a campsite on Lake Bloomington just north of Normal, Illinois.   

Rick Balsamo  

[Last updated June 9, 2014]

The Chicagoland Muscular Dystrophy Camp

The Chicagoland Muscular Dystrophy Camps began, according to long-time camper Steve Foltz, in 1960.  They were, and continue to be, run by the Muscular Dystrophy Association, which ran week-long residential summer camps all over the country for children (and, at first and for a while, adults) with muscular dystrophy and related disorders.  Every physically disabled person, referred to as “campers”, was assigned a full-time volunteer helper, or “attendant”, for the week.  There were additional volunteers assigned to activities such as the swimming (pool), boating, sports, arts and crafts, as well as to the administrative and medical staffs.  In the camps I attended, the number of campers ranged from about 50 to 100, with perhaps 1 ½ times more volunteers, all spread out on a large campsite with many cabins for sleeping and many activity buildings. 

The Chicagoland MDA camps began using campsites in the Chicago area, but by the time of my first year in 1969 the site had moved to a camp near Kalamazoo, Michigan, necessitating travel via a fleet of buses loaded up on Michigan Avenue a couple blocks south of Congress Street opposite Grant Park.  It was quite a production to behold.  In 1971 the camp was moved to Camp Ravenswood, a YMCA camp located on Lake Hastings near Lake Villa, Illinois, not too far south of the Wisconsin border and an easier drive from Chicago.  The MD Association continued to use both Ravenswood camps, East and occasionally West, as well as neighboring Camp Hastings, also run by the YMCA, until, sometime, I think, in the early 2000s (I’ll need to verify this).  For a few years starting in 1971, the Chicagoland and Milwaukee –area camps were combined, making the camp even larger still.  Multiple campsites were needed as the number of attendees grew, and for at least a couple of decades there were two week-long camps back-to-back to accommodate all the campers who wished to attend the week-long sessions.  Campers could attend only for one week, but volunteers, when shortages existed (which was usually the case for males), could attend both weekly sessions if they wished. 

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In the 1981 edition of the MDA Camp Hastings newspaper, titled “Hastings Hustler,” camper Steve Foltz summarized the camp chronology, mentioning that it was his twentieth camping season:

1960: the first Chicagoland MDA camp at Camp Shady Oaks near Lockport, Illinois.  There were 30 campers for five days.  There were four female attendants for the 12 kids in my cabin.  My favorite activities were catching grasshoppers and getting good night kisses.

1961:  Same camp.  Sonja Trefz broke the sex barrier as the first female camper.  It was cold.

1962:  At the much-bigger Camp Reinberg, Palatine, Illinois.  We piled into a dump truck to go swimming at a private home.

1963:  Same camp.  I started hearing words my parents never used.  We had individual attendants.

1964:  Same camp.  We went fishing in the forest preserve, catching minnow-sized fish.

1965 & 1966:  Missed camp to take correspondence courses.

1967:  At Camp Lake of the Woods & Camp Greenwoods in Decatur, Michigan.  I did a skit in drag getting a pie in the face.  I never dressed in drag again.

1968:  Same camp.  We build and launched rockets – a great activity.     

1969:  Same camp.  Started my girl-chasing career in earnest.  Expect to start my girl-catching career any day now.

1970:  Last year in Michigan.  Had a ball at the Kalamazoo County Fair.

1971:  Camp moved to Camp Ravenswood East [near Lake Villa, Illinois].  The camp included people from Milwaukee.

1972:  My week was at Camp Hastings.  I started to like nurses a lot.

1973 to 1981:  At Camp Hastings.  Modern camp as we now know it began to take shape.  Such innovations as kissing raids, Western Night, and Friendship Night started.  King Jake rules as our just monarch.  Warm fuzzies debuted.  Camp got better every year.  Over the past ten years there has been a revolution in attitudes.  We who started as victims became patients, campers, and finally human beings.  Stay tuned for my next article around 2001.

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The Muscular Dystrophy Association Chicagoland camp continues through the present, held in recent years at the same camp used by Horizon – Timber Pointe, on Lake Bloomington, just north of Bloomington Illinois, owned and operated by the Easter Seals Central Illinois.     
       

Rick Balsamo
[Updated June 9, 2014]

About This Site

My name is Rick Balsamo.  For many years, essentially 1969-1990,  I was involved as a volunteer with the camping and other social activities of the Chicagoland Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and the organization that became the Association of Horizon, a non-profit providing social activities for the disabled that was started by MDA volunteers. 
 

Over the years I took a lot of photographs, as did many others, and as well many hours of tape recordings of camp skits and songs.  Now that I’m older, slower, and grayer, with kids pretty grown up, I find myself with the time to do more things – like make my photos and recordings more accessible to others and document some history along the way.  This project will take a while, as scanning old photos can be tedious.  But I know that many others enjoy seeing old photo as much as I do, as they conger up fond memories of good times and old friends, those still with us and those who have passed on.       

So through this effort I hope to preserve and refresh memories, for the enjoyment of those of us who lived them and for our families, friends, and others who might find them of interest.  I have been very fortunate to have had these experiences and these friendships that have significantly shaped my life.

Some Technical Comments:

All these photos can be copied by visitors for their personal, non-commercial use – I ask only that those who do such consider a (tax deductible!) donation to the Association of Horizon (link) to support its wonderful ongoing work.  All photos are copyrighted, and are mine unless otherwise indicated. 
 

I anticipate that it will take me a long time to get all my photos and other material up on this site, so revisit periodically to see what’s been added.  Whether this particular vehicle, a Blogger blog, is the best for my purposes will remain to be seen; I suppose at some point it may be necessary to change to something different. 
 

I’ll try to remember to amend the original post with any additional information that fills in details I missed at first.   
 

I’ll try to tag each photo with a number of labels so that all posts with a specific theme can be viewed as a group.  For individuals that will appear a lot in photos, I’ll tag their last name. 

Rick Balsamo