Camp Kehonka (1902-1985)

Camp Kehonka, all that it was, all that it became and continued to be, might be credited to three people:  Laura I. Mattoon, A. Cooper “Bally” Ballentine and Althea Ballentine.

Miss Mattoon started the camp in 1902 and by 1911, Bally was on site. He rarely left until the day he died in his cottage at camp in 1984.

The vision and the values that made Kehonka great and strong were passed like a torch from Miss Mattoon to Bally. Miss Mattoon’s ideals remained Kehonka’s ideals throughout the decades, and Bally strengthened this fabric with the creativity, wisdom and insight he brought to each day.

Althea Ballentine was director of Camp Kehonka until its last year in 1985. She nurtured its vision and values with her management expertise. Under her leadership, Kehonka prospered in every way and became well-known as a model camp by the American Camping Association.

In 1983, Bally told the Christian Science Monitor “the essence of Camp Kehonka is excellence in everything you do.”  He said that he wanted Kehonka to continue to remain the “oasis of idealism” that it had been called.

All of us who received the wonderful gift of Kehonka thank Laura Mattoon, Bally and Althea.

Each of us, in no small way, also deserve credit for our part in continuing to share these gifts.

*******

Camp Kehonka’s final season of operation was in the summer of 1985, but the camp’s spirit still lives on around the world in the hearts of the four generations of people that spent their summers there and loved it.

********

KE -HONK – A is a Native American name for the call of the blue goose, that most intelligent, loyal bird, first to fly northward upon the awakening of spring.

Kehonka’s motto is “Non Ministrari Sed Ministrari”

Winnipesaukee is “The Smile of the Great Spirit”