Another Story

In case you do not know or guess, all my stories about animals, large and small, people, and “serendipitous events” all happened as I can best recall, and my recall is pretty darn good. This story is about how I met Lenette.

At a job fair in 1951 at UCLA, where I was hiring staff for my Day Camp, Purple Sage, Lenette approached my table and bluntly asked about the philosophy of the camp. Not the job or pay, but the philosophy? Very unusual. I instantly fell in love with her and loved the opportunity to wax freely about “my” philosophy. She asked many questions and said that she had a job at the local YMCA as a swimming instructor.

She loved the description of my pragmatic philosophy and said she’d like a job as a counselor rather than her job at the Y. I hired her immediately, and she left to meet her friends. She told them about the camp and, as an afterthought, mentioned that she was going to marry me. In the meantime, I told the guys sitting at the table next to mine, “I just met the girl I’m going to marry.” Serendipitous? I think so.

During camp, I would visit each group as often as possible, not to interfere but to help if needed. With Lenette, it was a little different. It was wanting to be next to her, and she, a wonderful counselor, never needed or wanted my assistance. She applied the philosophy as perfectly as possible. Lenette was not a horse person, but her kids learned to ride. She liked Sunny, a gentle palomino owned by George Tobias, an actor who lived on the estate we leased for camp. One Sunday, she agreed to go on a ride. Lenette rode Sunny, and I rode 71. We rode for an hour or two, and on the way back, I dismounted to open a gate, and Sunny reared, and Lenette fell into my arms. We kissed a deep passionate kiss and, hand in hand, walked, with the setting sun dropping into the Pacific, back to camp.

Sy 

Author: Sy Ogulnick

Sy Ogulnick received a BA from UCLA, Teacher’s Credential from Los Angeles Board of Education and completed phase I (Master’s portion) in a Doctor of Behavioral Science program at California Coast University. Sy leased and operated a summer day camp in LA. He and his wife then purchased virgin wilderness land in Northern CA, where they built and operated a coed summer camp. They moved to Las Vegas, NV, and purchased, built and operated a community children’s program for families staying in a major resort casino in Las Vegas. They have created programs for children nationwide that employed many people and in the process developed successful training programs for personnel. This led Sy to lecture on how to train staff and the creating of community within the workplace. Sy was then invited to speak at professional conferences on how best to hire and train employees, which led to his becoming a consultant in the art of improving relationships in a work environment and eventually to his epiphany that “Leaders are the primary problem and the answer to the personnel issues that arise in the workplace.” Sy has written numerous papers on the subject of interpersonal relationships, leadership and power. He has lectured throughout the United States, has been interviewed by the media and has appeared on many radio and TV talk shows

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