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The
Longest Genuine C.O.O.T
by
FANG
September 1999
Believe
it or not, amongst the 2300+ attendees now usual at Old Timers
Reunions, there still exists one caver who has attended each and every
annual Labor Day gathering since OTR began way, way back in 1950. His name is Ackie Loyd.
As
Ackie tells it, "Robbie Robertson and the gang wanted to get the
old timers together. We
all met up at a hotel in Davis, about 30 of us - Felix Robinson,
Emmons Graham, George Dare, a group from Steubenville, and of course,
Robbie who started the whole thing."
Folks didn't camp at that time; that followed several years
later when people started pitching tents down by the bridge.
"I had no idea it would ever grow to be as big as it is
now!"
Ackie's
a great storyteller of OTR's 50 years.
Jack Preble used to hand out "IBINTHRUTHESINKS" cards
to those who braved the waters of the Sinks of Gandy Cave. Schoolhouse, Hell Hole, and Mystic were other caves that OTR
attendees visited. When
in 1952, Ackie's wife, Betty, brought their 8-week old daughter, Carol
to OTR, along with Pappy Dare, who was then 80 years old, they
photographed the bridge of generations.
Ackie still remembers … Riding on the fire trucks around
Davis. Cakewalks around
the square in Davis. Square
dancin' rather than rock n' roll in the town square with the band
playing up on a tractor-pulled wagon.
Emmons Graham from Charleston going over a barrel at Blackwater
Falls, and just for grins, being smeared with ketchup to make him
appear all bloodied up. For
excitement, attendees rappelled over the third floor roof of the
Worden Hotel, now burned down. Skinny-dipping
until dawn with a group led by (TRA Trustee) Marguerite Klein Miller
at Blackwater Falls. Contests
didn't start until OTR moved to the old mill at Thorn Springs.
Fertility dances around a tiki pole in the middle of the mill.
Sit-down banquets with all the OTR attendees. Treasure hunts and rallies out of Franklin.
Competing with the bikers at Thorn Springs, back when bikers
had a less than respectable reputation.
Every year, Robbie used to do a black face with burnt cork and
sing to much laughter, "Willie the Weeper."
Tommie Watts during his years as chairman organized hayrides on
a tractor trailer to the Smoke Hole area. When OTR was forced to move
to Marlinton for two years in '59, it was because the radio telescopes
were being built at Sugar Grove.
The construction workers occupied all the space in Franklin.
In 1976, it was British cavers singing sea chanteys, a Toyota
Land Cruiser attempting to drive down the middle of the river,
stalling and getting stuck, and who could forget the mass moon of
shiny cheeks in the river at the Petersburg, Echo Campground.
Jim Hixson had that old low, low range GMC truck loaded with
bodies of folks piled over the hood yelling out which way to steer as
it creeped around the campground.
"Luckily, they didn't run over anyone!"
At Alpine Shores, OTR attendees endured flooding at the
campground, but made the most of it by canoeing through the muddy
waters to everyone's delight. Water
bucket fights. The first
year at Dailey when the bulging water tank broke in the middle of the
night. And on and on …
Ackie
has been a caver for over half a century, having embraced the sport
during his college years at VPI as a charter member of the cave club.
In those days of yore, if you went vertical caving, it was
usually at the end of a piece of hemp rope, most likely attached to
the rear wheel of Tommie Watt's Essex as you were lowered into the
cave. In 1964,
Ackie joined Bill & Merle Stephenson and Jeanne & Russ Gurney
and other cavers at the Rio Camuy Cave in Puerto Rico.
He has served as an officer for Shenandoah Valley Grotto for
countless years. While
he's slowed down in recent times, you can still twist his arm
occasionally to join you in a gentle caving trip.
An avid hiker, camper and canoer, Ackie has traveled the world
over from China to Guatemala (walking around a volcano rim while it
was erupting), Indonesia, Greece, the Panama Canal, and his beloved
Dolly Sods.
In
1997, Dale Ibberson videotaped Ackie and his wife of 50+ years, Betty Vogt Loyd (who passed away in November of
1998) from which many of these reminisces are drawn.
Betty herself was a mainstay of OTR as well having missed only
three reunions.
Ackie's
usual encampment with family and friends can be found on the north
inner circle of the main campground near the Med Station.
Or, more frequently, he'll be wandering about visiting his many
OTR friends with golden ambrosia in hand, shakin' a leg on the
dancefloor at the Party Pavilion, or his very favorite, videotaping
wet T-shirt contests. "Oh
fiddlesticks … guess they stopped sponsoring those … sorry, Ackie!"
The
author, FANG, has hiked, canoed and caved many a mile, shared many a
bourbon & branch, laughed at many of his recollections, and slept
through more of Ackie's slides than he'll let her forget. Must've
been the bourbon…
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