Printer Friendly Version - Valley Shore Y Seeks Stories, Photos to Mark 100 Years

This undated photo of The Morgan School students participating in a YMCA Youth and Industry program visit to Cramer’s in Old Saybrook is one of many images unearthed by the Valley Shore YMCA in preparation to celebrate the organization’s 100th anniversary. The Y is hoping area residents will share their own stories, photos, and memorabilia of the Y’s history. Photo courtesy of Chris Pallatto

Did you know the Valley Shore Y once had a synchronized swim team? Or that in 1975, when the Valley Shore Y opened its first dedicated building, US Senator Chris Dodd placed the cornerstone? Those are just two of the historical facts that volunteer archivists Melanie Bugbee and Joy Hanes unearthed as they have begun to dig into the Y’s history. Now, though, they are asking for your help to complete their task.

What they need are special memorabilia, testimonials, and stories that only residents who have long been members of the extended Valley Shore Y community can provide.

Personal stories, comments, photos of key milestones or from Y events, artifacts—all of these items they need to document the Y’s history on the occasion of its 100-year anniversary. The goal is to collect Y anecdotes, testimonials, photos, and milestone information for this project by the end of August. With this information and memorabilia, Bugbee and Hanes plant to create a Y time line that brings alive the Y’s history.

Do you have old Y program guides from the 1970s or 1980s listing the programs the Y offered? Or were you an early Y Board member who might have kept copies of meeting minutes from the Y’s early days? Perhaps you have family albums that include photos from Y Family Day or swim team events. Or could you share personal memories of childhood summers spent in the Y’s camps and programs, either at Y building (after 1975) or in other locations? Anecdotes about key events or milestones would be great to share, as well as remarks about a Y employee, counselor, or leader who had a positive impact on you.

The volunteer archivists want to hear from you. If you have a handwritten note, brochure, or memorabilia you would like to donate or loan, bring it into the Y’s Main Office at 201 Spencer Plains Road. Alternately, you can mail a note to that address to the attention of Executive Director Chris Pallato. Or finally, you can send an email to a special anniversary email address, 100@vsymca.org. The deadline for the Y to collect this information is the end of August.

The year 2017 will mark the 100th anniversary of Y programming along the shoreline. First initiated as a part of the Middlesex Y program, shoreline area Y programming was based at area beaches, lakes, and in schools and churches. Not until 1975 did the Valley Shore Y entity in Middlesex County finally get its own dedicated building on the Spencer Plains Road site.