ACROSS THE GENERATIONS
Early History
In two essays, Jean McGee Ritchie shares her earliest remembrances and describes the family’s first years at PLP from 1921 when they first rented Miss Fogg’s camp to 1933 when Rachel died, following Daniel who had passed in 1932.
Jean’s story from Conception in Portland Oregon to just before the PLP years
Jean’s story of the first twelve years of McGee ownership from 1921 to 1933, when the second generation was forced to take over the camp after both parents died.
1980s Passing the McGee Camp to Our Current Generation
The McGee sisters had an agreement, formalized in 1976, that if any one of them called for the camp to be sold that the others would agree to do so. This became a live issue in the 1980s when the siblings had reached an age where they no longer wanted to be in charge, and the next generation cousins determined that we all loved the place and wanted to find a way to keep it in the family. Here is the correspondence from the time…
This is the simple two page agreement that the sisters signed in June 1976.
This is a “MEMO TO OOMS (Offspring of McGee Sisters)” written by Jean Ritchie in August 1981, laying out the basic issues of PLP ownership and referencing the difficulties of group ownership.
This is a “Dear Everybody” letter written by Jean on August 17, 1985, declaring that the time has come to have the camp appraised and to start the process of selling it.
This is a letter written by John (and Lynn) to Aunt Frances, presumably in Summer 1985, expressing the desire of the younger generation to find a way to keep the camp in our family. The message was not well received by Frances.
This is a letter written by Al Ritchie to John in December 1985, telling him that the Heims are ready to sell and if we cousins want to take action we had better do so quickly.
This is a call by John and Bill, presumably also in or around December 1985, asking for all McGee cousins to declare whether they want to be part of the effort to keep the PLP camp in the family. Spoiler alert, Dennis bought out the Heim 1/3 share at a $250,000 appraisal price, Jean and Kay passed their ownership to their children and the place was saved.
1990s Generation Three Takes the Reins
The McGee sisters had kept things very simple and in the early years there were a lot of basic things that needed to be figured out. Here is a sampling of some of the early issues we dealt with.
This is the first Buildings and Grounds Report from Generation Three as this group takes over camp management and begins to take on a host of challenges.
Here Peter reports on PLP status at the end of 1989 and poses the framework for a Three Year Plan.
The decision to stop renting the camp was a big one, there was a lot of thoughtful communication during a time when a lot was still up in the air.
As our systems get better and better, Lynn proposes a new way to organize our financial reporting and contributing.
Working with attorney/advisor Chris Gadsden, we crafted a family agreement as a commitment to family continuity in 2005.
Passing the Camp to Generation Four
This history is just being made now and discussions are in process. Watch this space!
Recognizing that each generation faces its own challenges, in July 2016 John wrote an email to the Ritchie cousins encouraging us all to start thinking about and discussing the future of the place into the next generation.