Stuart Goodwin
Birch Rock has been blessed to have a long-standing history with Stuart Goodwin, his family and the Goodwin’s Insurance Agency. A native of Norway, Maine, Stuart first came to Birch Rock as a camper and staff member in 1965. For the next five decades, Stuart and his family including his brother Phil, cousins Woody and William Carrick and nephew Brandon Murray, stepson Matthew Brunjes and grandson Alex McKeen have all been part of the BRC family. In 1991, Stuart married Patty Brunjes, the daughter of the camp’s 1980s Nurse Janet Brunjes. As Stuart entered his family’s insurance business in the 1980s, he began a new professional connection to Birch Rock by underwriting the camp’s safety policies and risk management practices. His passion for Birch Rock has continued to the present day.
As Alumni Director Rich Deering explains, “His genuine commitment to the protection of Birch Rock was never more evident than when the camp lost a building in the mid-2000s. Stuart was a savior. He was on the scene immediately providing operating tools, guidance, and teamwork with our insurance carrier for an immediate rebuild. Determined that Birch Rock had every resource to operate without interruption, Stuart called in all his local and professional connections to help the camp rebuild. He made all the difference. Stuart’s long-standing connection to the Oxford Hills community and unique business relationships have been vital to Birch Rock’s development and preservation”
Stuart’s interests have always been deeply intertwined with camping and the Birch Rock Family. Stuart often recalls those sentimental moments as a boy camping under the stars along the Crooked River just a mile from the campus. Stuart says, “I do enjoy the outdoors, thanks to the BRC camping trips led by Nat Weeks and Jim Marion in the 1970s. Great memories. I also have Onie Brewster to thank for recommending Holderness School for my secondary education which made a major difference in my life.”
Years later, he recalls a nostalgic journey visiting the Crooked River site where he once enjoyed spending time with his fellow Birch Rockers. He ran into the site’s then owner Ted Howe, an old high school classmate of his father’s. Ted was curious why Stuart was so interested in his Crooked River property, and Stuart’s reply was simply: “Birch Rock.” Ted suggested that Stuart purchase his property and in short order they agreed on a price and payment plan. Connecting season after season with Birch Rock veteran senior counselors Mike ‘Don Miquel’ Apicelli and David Weeks, and the whole BRC community at large, Stuart has graciously offered his natural habitat along the Crooked River for young campers to enjoy.
Stuart summed up: “I am so glad that in turn young Birch Rockers may get their introduction to the outdoors by use of my Crooked River land.”
Today, the Crooked River camping spot is a staple of the Hilton, Bee’s Hive, and Hornet’s Nest experience. This trip introduces campers to the basics of traditional “old school” camping in a spot not too far from campus (although a few van laps around the lake can make the drive feel much longer). Many campers first memories of camp are of this hallowed spot between to bends in the river.
