FAMILY TIES
BY GINA GALLUCCI-WHITE
Elle n
in th Sherid
an i
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i son ckey M the ce
nter ou s
Eth e
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amp has always been a family
experience for Ellen Sheridan.

From fourth to ninth grade,
Sheridan went to Camp Harlam in
the Poconos, a camp that continues to
provide recreational and educational
activities for Reform Jewish youth
today. Both of Sheridan’s older sisters
also attended, so when she was old
enough, she begged her parents
to go. “It was a great, wonderful
experience,” she recalls.

Most adults can only remember their
camp adventures, but Sheridan is one
of many former Maryland campers who
returns to volunteer, or in some cases,
to oversee a summer camp, making the
experience truly a family aff air.

This summer, Sheridan and her son,
Ethan, will enter their eighth year
at Camp Airy in Thurmont. He is a
camper, and she works for a week
as a nurse to earn reduced tuition.

The all-boys camp, which has a sister
camp, Camp Louise, for girls, is a
Jewish-focused overnight camp. “We
both love it,” she says. “Every year he
goes, he likes it more and has just an
incredible life-changing experience.”
32 February 2018
washingtonFAMILY.com Sheridan’s older sister Donna also
continues to work as a nurse there,
even though her two boys have aged
out. The camp has fi ve nurses and two
physicians on staff each week. This
will be the fourth year the sisters have
worked together. “Not many people get
to say they can work with their sibling
side by side, even if it is only for a week,
so that is a neat kind of bonding thing
for us,” she says. “It’s a busy week but it
is a healthy, fun week.”
Sheridan’s mother also att ended Camp
Louise one year, but her experience was
cut short after a camper was suspected
of having polio, and all the campers
were sent home as a precaution.

Sheridan enjoys the friendships with
staff members and being around the
campers. “It’s a fun week,” she says.

“The kids are fun. They are a really
good group of kids. They are very
appreciative of what we do. They are a
little bit homesick, so you are a parent
figure (to them) for a little while.”
Alicia Berlin first went to Camp
Louise at age 10 with her best friend,
whose mother also worked as a nurse
at the facility. She became extremely
homesick. But after a phone call with
her mother, she realized she had a
choice: Be miserable or make the most
of the situation. She chose the latter
and has pretty much been at the camp
ever since as a camper, counselor, unit
leader, assistant director and now as
camp director.

“It is pretty amazing when you
think about the impact that camp
has on campers; not only while they
are there, but for years afterward,”
Berlin says. “People will often think
back to their camp days with such
fond memories. The fact that I am in
charge of camp and am the director;
it is a big responsibility to create this
amazing community. People are going
to not only enjoy in the summer, but
have these memories they hold onto
forever. I don’t take that lightly at all.

I want to make sure we continue to
provide the amazing experience and
community for our kids.”
Compass: unanaranja/iStock / Getty Images Plus; Photo frame: voinSveta/iStock / Getty Images Plus; wSheridan photos: provided
C When
s generation
continue the camp
e experienc



“Having camp
as a second
family for all
of us has just
been incredibly
important and
meaningful in
our lives.”
— Alicia Berlin
Alicia B
erlin, se
cond fro
with he
m left;
r family
today, ri
ght Berlin’s husband, Neil, went to Camp
Airy and now works for both camps
as director of operations. When asked
if there are any drawbacks to working
with your spouse, Berlin says no,
because the two are so passionate about
camp and share that common mission.

The couple has three daughters and
“they have been here at camp since
the day they were born.” Her in-
laws, as well as her parents, also
work at the camp during the summer,
watching their grandchildren and
working with campers. Both Berlin’s
mom and her mother-in-law went to
Camp Louise as campers. “It truly is
a family affair,” she says. “Having
camp as a second family for all of us
has just been incredibly important and
meaningful in our lives.”
In 1966, Pete Rice decided to buy Echo
Hill Camp after years of running camps
there through his job at Sidwell Friends
School in Washington, D.C. Today, his
son, Pete Jr., owns and serves as
director of the Worton-based
camp and his wife,
Libby, works
there as a
registered nurse along with their three
children: Katie Rice Moulsdale serves
as assistant director; Julie Rice Blyman
is employed as an assistant director and
waterfront director during camp season;
and Pete Rice III works as director of
operations and an assistant director.

Moulsdale says the camp is her
favorite location in the world and
helped shape the person she is today.

“It’s just an exceptional place and we
love it, and it is a part of who we are
and our life,” she says. “We all live 10
minutes away, too. We are very much
centered around this place. ... Working
with your family is really a unique
and special experience.

Thankfully we get along
really well and
we have
“My siblings and I are best
friends. We get to spend
three Februarys attached
at the hips, and that is a
pretty cool experience.”
R ice
the same visions and goals, so that
makes it easy. My siblings and I are
best friends. We get to spend three
Februarys attached at the hips and
that is a pretty cool experience.

Not only is the camp a family affair
for her own family, but also for
people who come there at an early
age as campers and later stay on as
counse lors. “Helping children have
the time of their lives is ... incredibly
fulfilling,” Moulsdale says. “Making
the experience for them that I had, and
hundreds of other children had, is just
really cool.”
ily Fam
— Katie Rice Moulsdale
washingtonFAMILY.com February 2018
33