Gabe Smith

Boys Head Counselor 1960 to 1965



After the 1959 season at Tyler Hill Camp Bill and Joe were looking to elevate their young camp to a level that would enable them to compete with the top camps in the business. So it made sense for them to try and lure the experienced talent from some of these other camps. So 1960 proved to be a pivotal year in the history of Tyler Hill Camp, as Bill & Joe greatly added to their talent pool of key staffers. They grabbed Sy Sundick and Artie Sunshine, from Broad Channel Day Camp, hired Shelly Schneider to run the Waiter program, and they grabbed Gabe Smith, who was the Boys' Head Counselor at Camp Winadu. At the time, Camp Winadu, in the Berkshires, was a well-established and highly successful summer camp.

Gabe immediately established himself as the man in charge. The program for the Boys' side (that he brought over from Camp Winadu) was a huge success, as it would become the standard from which his successors modeled their programs. He introduced the evening sports leagues to the Boys camp, known as the "Watermelon League". He also introduced "Selective Activity", or "Hobbies", as it was sometimes called. His highly talented staff helped Gabe run a smooth and enjoyable athletic program. During his six years as the Head Counselor, enrollment increased significantly on the Boys' side, as well as on the Girls' side, where Sy Sundick was establishing himself, too. While Gabe was well liked and very popular with the kids, his staff respected him and they worked effectively with him. Gabe and Sy became friends and together they helped to guide Tyler Hill Camp to a meteoric rise in the camp business, which could not have made Bill and Joe happier.

Gabe can also be credited with bringing some key talent to the growing Tyler Hill family, as he brought Shelly Schneider with him from Camp Winadu, where they had worked together for five years. In 1965, Gabe brought in a new counselor, a teaching colleague of his, by the name of Jimmy Bongino. The rest, as they say, is history.

Gabe and his wife, Helen made many friends at Tyler Hill Camp during one of the most colorful periods ever known at Tyler Hill camp, which was later remembered as the "Golden Years". Their children Peter and Amy both enjoyed seven summers as campers. Gabe left Tyler Hill Camp after the 1966 season and he passed away in 1974, at the age of only 53, saddening the Tyler Hill Camp family. He is remembered (by the old guard) as a pioneer, THC's first real Boys' Head Counselor, and the one who helped to guide Tyler Hill Camp’s Boys' side on to its road to success.