November, 2018
Dear Family and Friends:
Usually a trip up to Indianapolis from
Bloomington is an extremely happy occasion.
Usually those are family visits.
Today’s visit was a sort of family visit in a completely different way, bittersweet. I went to attend Gert Cannon Beeler’s
funeral.
You UCI old timers will
remember Gert as the commander-in-chief (or should I say chef) of our
kitchen. Gert ran camp’s food service
for over thirty years. My family met her
when we first came to camp in 1975. She
and her uncle Earl Beeler had already worked for the camp for many years. We spent the next twenty or so years working together. I came to the camp to be its Director, but
never really felt that Gert actually worked for me. I ran the camp and Gert directed her domain,
the kitchen. She bought the food, hired
the staff, cooked, etc. She’d call me in
if someone needed to be fired. I could
go on and on about her baking; rolls, breads, 7 layer cookies, Congo bars,
chess pie, sweet potato pie. Friday
night Gert’s fried chicken was the best of the best.
My experience today at the funeral was
remarkable. I was asked to speak. I talked about all of the above but also told
of Gert’s love of children. Over 800
Jewish kids each summer knew Gert and many gravitated to her. Those who worked in the kitchen became her
children, especially if there was a teenager who was a bit lost, or
unhappy. There was always room under her
wing. She loved our boys Jeremy and
Michael, always making special things for them.
She married Harrison Beeler, Earl’s nephew. Harrison and I shared two things, our
birthdays and our love of Count Basie. Earl was a legend in his own right. All of
them taught me, their 29 year old Director, so many life lessons along with the
practical things a camp director needs to know…how to run a commercial kitchen,
how to mow 50 acres of grass, what kind of side-view mirrors are best on a
pickup truck, how to run a swimming pool, and much, much more.
But during and after the funeral today
it was impressed upon me over and over just how much the camp meant to the
extended Beeler family. There’s an
entire community of African-American folks in Indianapolis who have deeply warm
feelings for Goldman Union Camp. Neecy
(Gert’s niece whose name is Denice) even told the congregation that she spent so
much time at the camp that she learned many of the Hebrew songs we sang, and a few Israeli dances. She said that her
family referred to her as their Black Jew.
After the service ten or so older family
members lined up to each give me a hug, thank me for coming, and tell
me how much the camp meant to them. Some of them (Iyeva) worked at the camp, many
of them, as did I, attended the yearly Beeler family reunions held on the
athletic field, and all came often to Uncle Earl’s and Aunt Hazel’s home at the
camp on Sundays to schmooze, play Tonk, and, of course, eat. I was blown away by their warmth. Even the woman who ran the nursing home where
Gert lived her last nine years told everyone that she had grown up at UCI and
was there during Gert’s time at camp, and that now her grandchildren attend
GUCI.
Gert will always
have a huge place in GUCI’s history. Today’s
event was a celebration of Gert Beeler’s life and an expression of love between
the Beeler family and our camp. It was
indeed a family affair.
Ron
