2023 marked the 100th season of Camp Christopher.  In anticipation of 2024, Camp’s Centennial Celebration, we now have our 2-volume hardcover historical love sonnet ready to place in your hands.  We are happy to announce that: 1) THIS CAMP’S A CRACKERJACK  Camp Christopher’s First 50 Summers, 1924-1973 has been reprinted and is available once again for those members of the Camp family interested in having their own copy. 

2) At the end of 2023, Tim and wife Patti finished their 2nd volume: I WANNA LINGER Camp Christopher’s Second 50 Summers, 1974-2023.  The hardbound, 272-page book, printed under the tender care of Minuteman Press honcho Sherry Frisby and her staff, is available at $55 a copy (with $7 s/h)

You can order either (or both) volumes right now! Click on our order form and get good reading headed your way! Or, simply send those dollars to Tim Lilley (540 Stanton Ave, Akron, OH 44301). You can also use Paypal or Zelle via Tim’s bigtrailak@aol.com account.  

$2 from the sale of each book will be donated to Friends of Camp Christopher at the November, 2024, General Membership Meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

Linger Preview: Read the Foreword to I WANNA LINGER penned by our 3-generational team of Margie Sovacool, Kelly, Maggie & Sara Haslam. 

 

And the reviews are rolling in!

“Just spent the day going through your big orange book. Well done. It helps to fill in the blanks of all the years we couldn’t be there. I love  my brother Shawn’s poem! He never mentioned it.” – Kathy Cable

 

“Kinda makes me suspect that the reason for assembling these two Camp masterpieces was, well, love. Yeah, that’s it, a labor of love. No purer motive than that, no finer incentive. For that, thank you, Tim and Patti. For every, page and paragraph, thank you. For every photo and caption, thank you. For every interview, every trip into Roget’s Thesaurus, and every evening that stretched beyond midnight, thank you. So amazing, so beautiful and, so amazingly beautiful. A million ‘thank you’s and beyond.” – Larry Furman

 

“I received your love letter to the storied history of Camp Christopher and I can hardly express my gratitude for receiving your book. What a tribute to the old gal on Hametown Road! I’m very much looking forward to exploring these stories while curled on my couch. So many of these participants have now departed those rolling hills and fields and what you’ve done is a fitting memorial to their memory. Well played Tim and Patti. I will forever cherish my copy.” – Mike Taylor

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“After a recent surgery, I had weeks of down time, and I reread Summer of ’70 and the Crackerjack book again. Wow, just as powerful as the first time. The beautiful, caring, fun, and mostly extremely happy times brought me right back to that summer of ’70. The Christopher Spirit continues to live with my whole being. You both have my deepest gratitude for these masterpieces which brought the greatest of happiness and a few happy tears to my long days of recovery. Thank you, thank you for showing me that the magical Christopher Spirit is still within me helping me to be strong, to believe and to be positive. Thanks, Tim and Patti. You are truly appreciated.”

       With love,   – Pam Zimmerman Woodruff

How many times had we said aloud about our camp experiences: “I could write a book!” Well, Camp Christopher veterans Tim Lilley and Patti Longville did just that a few years back. Tim researched and interviewed and tied together the many threads of our common Christopher experiences while Patti proofread and made suggestions to make the tales campfire-memorable. Their efforts bore fruit in two Camp related publications in 2009 and 2011.  They are excited to make their projects a trifecta with the publishing of I WANNA LINGER in 2024. 

SUMMER OF ’70:
COMING OF AGE AT CYO CAMP CHRISTOPHER
A Tribute to ‘Camping at Its Finest’
Edited by Tim Lilley & Patti Longville

For 90+ years, Camp Christopher has provided memorable experiences to campers and counselors that have far outlasted its summer programs. Summer of ‘70: Coming of Age at CYO Camp Christopher blends the recollections of so many of the sweet survivors whose paths intersected in 1970. In word and with many great photographs, the book highlights a “typical” Camp season, suggesting to readers of all ages what the elusive Christopher Spirit meant to the young people who kept coming back summer after summer.
If you’ve got that Christopher Spirit down in your knees, up in your head and deep in your heart, this is a book you will cherish.

Read the Prologue to Summer of ’70 penned by Kitt Kurtz: PROLOGUE

REVIEWS:

Thanks for getting me to give up a whole night’s sleep as I sat up from 10pm till 4:30 am reading about Camp Christopher. “There Are Places I Remember All My Life…” I was truly happy there. Things seemed so promising then. . . “but some have changed. Some forever not for better.” What a great place to apply the theories we were learning to real life situations. . . “Some have gone and some remain.” Falling out of touch with people seems par for the course nowadays. Whatever the beauty of the setting at Camp, the people who were around me then made all the difference. I have to admit you produced a fantastic snapshot of an enshrined moment. Well done. – JB McNulty

I just finished the book cover to cover and enjoyed every word. Thank you for taking on this huge project. This is certainly a treasure. I was able to read the book through the eyes of a twelve-year-old, remembering so many of the mentioned people and events. Then I was able to apply the Christopher lore to a few years later and remember it all from the perspective of a staff member. And finally 30 plus years later I have the distinct privilege of seeing the book through the antics of my 3 children who were all on staff recently. The Christopher Spirit sure has stood the test of time. Thank you again for sharing this with your Christopher comrades both young and old. – Mary K. Thompson

What a magical ride down memory lane! The book is a work of art straight from the heart. You captured the true meaning of what we all experienced during our time at Camp Christopher. Thank you for helping to bring so many beautiful memories back to me. What a gift. I will now go back and read this again!             –  Pam Woodruff

THIS CAMP’S A CRACKERJACK:
Camp Christopher’s First 50 Summers – 1924-1973

Our book is a love sonnet to an incredible program which survived the Great Depression and the shortages of the War Years to ride the postwar booms in both the economy and the Catholic population of the Cleveland Diocese only to face a new set of challenges at the dawn of the 1970s. The story is told in more than 250 pages printed on glossy stock and containing more than 260 black and white and color photos. The project shares the input of more than 100 Sweet Survivors, an eclectic group of generous and gifted individuals who have one thing in common – their love of Camp Christopher.

Read the Foreword to This Camp’s A Crackerjack   penned by Jeanne McGuire: FOREWORD

REVIEWS:

I’ve just finished Tim and Patti’s book on Camp Christopher. God love the Dominicans and their wonderful archives. I was totally riveted to the entire tome, and am honored to have contributed to that incredible legacy. Thanks for everything you’ve given to this wonderful, sacred, and holy past!
Be gentle, –  SAM MURPHY

Hi Tim and Patti – I know I’ve had your Camp Christopher book for a few months now, but I’ve just now had begun to read it (I’ve been very busy with young grandchildren) – and I know you must have received raves galore…it’s a handsome tome, information so interestingly conveyed, great pictures (both the selections and the quality), but best of all, it does capture the spirit of “our” camp as I perceived it and remember it. The quality of the manuscript is superb. What a tribute to Ray, and, boy, does he deserve it. Thank you both for your thoughtfulness in creating so fine a work…and continued success in any further endeavors. Take care, – EDNA DIERKER

THIS 1956 SHOT BY FR. DAVE LIBERATORE GRACES THE COVER OF THIS CAMP’S A CRACKERJACK. THE PHOTO AT THE TOP OF OUR PAGE OF TRANQUIL LAKE MARIAN WAS SHOT BY RANDY GODFREY AND APPEARS ON THE BACK COVER OF SUMMER OF ’70.

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