We met sitting across from each other in the chadar ochel in the Poconos. Barry was a machon counselor and Cooki was a Madornik. After the summer we re-connected in New York where we both went to school, and agreed that for the following summer, to give ourselves some “space,” Cooki would switch to Palmer. A big mistake! Barry travelled on numerous buses to visit her in Palmer and Cooki travelled to the Poconos to visit Barry. The following summer we both returned to the Poconos, and returned the summer after. Right after the summer of 1967 we became engaged, married in 1968 and will celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary next week.

Ramah provided the opportunity for us to meet, to expand and develop common interests, to grow together Jewishly and to actively develop our common interests in education. The rest is history. Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of Barry’s involvement in Jewish education and Cooki has a similar, though somewhat shorter, career in the same field.

Our oldest granddaughter will attend Camp Ramah in Canada this summer for the first time.