Alice F. Vigerstadt Memorial Old Lady Canoe Trip

Alice F. Vigerstad Memorial
Old Lady Canoe Trip

by Trevor, FNCA Waterfront Director

© Holly Pedicone 1987 Alice F. Vigerstad was unsteady on our raft to the point of scary, and raised my lifeguarding hackles like nobody else. And although some folks couldn't handle her over-the-topness, she doted on me since earliest infancy and I have always loved her deeply.

One day in 1995 while I was lifeguarding, Alice complained that she hadn't been on a boat ride since childhood and said (and I quote), "Is there any way you could take us old ladies on a little canoe trip? We'll be good." The following afternoon we had four canoes full of old ladies and their escorts down at the river, putting on life jackets, gingerly climbing into the canoes, and just being thrilled as the dickens!

By sheer lollygagging, we managed to stretch the usual 15 minute paddle downstream to the town beach into a 45 minute trip. When we got there, a crew met us with lawn chairs, wine, and cheese & crackers. And there we sat for another 45 minutes enjoying the beach scene until the van showed up for the five minute drive back to camp. It was the talk of the town among the Embers for days, and according to Alice, the highlight of her vacation.

The next year, with an eager flush on her face, she asked if I would "take us old ladies down the river again." So a group of old ladies at camp went on "a little canoe trip" again. And although Alice passed on before the 1997 camp session, what she started has become a well-loved FNCA tradition. We don't do it every year (and we don't have photos from several trips), but most years will find several cheerful old ladies happily being paddled downstream by their doting attendees. And that's the story of how the Alice F. Vigerstad Memorial Old Lady Canoe Trip began.

2011

Left to right: Jesse White, Lois McCurdy, Debbie Cook, Denyse Daurat, Herb Ziegler, Louise Dole Woofenden, empty chair for the cameraman, Nancy Little.

2005

Left to right: Seated: ? Perry, ?, Sam Webb, Lois Dole, Betty Lowe. Standing: Jim Perry, Phyllis Webb, Dale Webb, Trevor & Nancy Little, Jim Lowe.

2002

2001

[Photo Pages]