The purpose of the Organization shall be to foster an appreciation of the experiences and time spent at Camp Waupaca, a private summer camp situated in the State of Wisconsin, and to maintain ties between the campers, staff, vendors, friends, and their families. The group will maintain a website, conduct reunions in various locations, and from time to time publish materials of interest to the Members.
This site is designed for campers, counselors, staff, families and friends of Camp Waupaca, a private boys summer camp in Wisconsin that operated on the shores of Lake Stratton from 1951 to 1988. Camp was created by Irving "Skipper" Kuklin and Joe Rosen in 1951. They operated the camp, with great help and advice from their wives, from 1951-1965. In 1961, Joe Rosen sold his shares of camp to Nate Greenberg. In 1966, Manny Desnet and two silent partners, Arnold Gassel and Bernard Cohen, purchased Camp Waupaca and continued its operation until 1988. It continues to operate as Camp Young Judaea but has no affiliation with any previous Camp Waupaca personnel and is not currently open to the public.
Camp Waupaca was, and still is, a special place for those of us who attended for one four week session or for multiple eight week sessions for years. To that end we meet once in a while at reunions large and small to share memories, old jokes, photos, yearbooks, T-shirts, and friendships.
Although many of us get together informally through the years, we organized our first formal reunion on site at Camp Waupaca in 1996. Manny Desnet and his family and many other campers and counselors attended. We held another reunion in 1998 where campers and counselors from the 1950's attended! A 50th anniversary reunion, celebrating the founding of Camp, was held late summer 2001, in Waupaca!
This website is constantly adding new content. We are especially interested in cabin photos we do not already have in our archives. Please, check with your parents or in your own files and share your memories with us so everyone can enjoy the memories!
If you have all-camp photos of cabin photos or yearbooks from the early years (1951-1965), please contact Mike Lurie. Mike can be reached via e-mail at
| Name | Years | Position Held |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Warshauer | 1966-1988 | Big Chief (President and Chairman) |
| Rick Passman | 1963-1976 | Little Chief (Vice President) |
| Larry Gordon | 1970-1979 | Medicine Man (Assistant Secretary and Counsel) |
| Scott Rubin | 1980-1987 | Scribe (Secretary) |
| Mike Lurie | 1970-1981 | Grand Sachem (Treasurer) |
| Errol Grisard | 1972-1972 | member-at-large |
| George Lamm | 1975-1979 | member-at-large |
| Scott Levine | 1983-1987 | member-at-large |
| Larry Lifson | 1966-1969 | member-at-large |
| Warren Metzdorff | 1971-1988 | member-at-large |
| Norm Rose | 1959-1960 | member-at-large |
| Dick Garb | 1961-1984 | Honorary Council Member as approved on August 13, 2016 |
| Josh Silverstein | 1981-1984 | Honorary Council Member as approved on February 17, 2017 |
Enjoy!