Day 383: Paul Newman, 1925 - 2008

Sunday, September 26th, 2008 - Paul Newman passed away on Friday. What an amazing guy. Not only an iconographic movie star, he has given our family (and 100,000 other families who have children with life threatening illnesses) a very special camp started 20 years ago with the funds from Newman’s Own products, The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp (there are now 12 camps, some in other countries).

I dropped Madeline there early this summer for her week long visit. It’s such a cool place, anchored along a lake with fanciful ‘old west’ style buildings and a state of the art theater, a swimming pool (neutropenic people shouldn’t swim in lakes) and a fantastic gym. Picking her up a week later, I walked from the parking area to the dining facility, a large round building in the shape of a grain silo painted red, into a room filled with children and counselors who were singing and line dancing. It was completely overwhelming and I cried.

As we started to leave, counselors lined up to hug Madeline. Now Madeline at home is a very stoic person and she keeps things close to her around people she doesn’t know, so I was surprised, wait- amazed, at the number of counselors who would come up to her as we left to say “Oh, it’s the drama queen,”- introduce themselves to me and tell me how chatty she was, or dramatic, or just plain goofy. As we walked up the hill, she started to close up- return to normal, ask for her ipod.

A week later we saw the music therapist sponsored by The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp at MGH and she and Madeline immediately started singing camp songs, dancing and chatting about the camp. I told her about picking up Madeline and how she started to close up as we walked up the hill to the parking. She said that most parents have the same experience that I had when picking up their children. She said that the experience at the Camp is so singular and special that to talk about it lessens the vibrant memory because you can’t possibly put the joy into adequate words. She said that the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp is a place where people are loved unconditionally when they walk in the door. There is no status quo, there is just love for these children going through difficulties none of us can possibly imagine.

So, thank you Paul Newman for being the person that you were and giving so much to our world and to ours specifically, and thank-you, every volunteer at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for making life joyous for our children. We are blessed to have you in our lives. -ca

The photo above is from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, one of my favorite Paul Newman movies. I also love The Sting.

When we visited The Hole in the Wall Camp at an open house prior to Mady's acceptance into the camp, the director told me that Paul Newman loved to visit during the summer when the camp was in session. He would sit with the kids during meals and chat with them, and the staff knew not to make a big deal about him being there. The kids liked him very much, but most didn't really know who he was... except for the fact that most did recognize him from his picture on the salad dressing that they used at every meal!

Today's Boston Globe had a very nice feature about Paul Newman. The article ended like this:

Burial plans are unknown, although Newman expressed a desire to have his ashes strewn across the lake where he built the first Hole in the Wall Camp.

"I always admired the fish," he said. -tk