Buck Hard

Milton "Buck" Hard was a member of the Birch Rock community for around 25 years starting in 1929. A friend of "Chief's" from Middlebury, Buck became a Navy boxing champion, then Director of Athletics and coach for the Burlington, Vermont Public Schools. His wife Florence came with Buck in 1929, pregnant with their daughter Jean, who would grow up at Birch Rock and become a counselor. Buck was a consumate outdoorsman, a Maine Guide who took campers north on extended fishing trips, or canoeing, fishing and camping nearby.

Pat Brewster remembered him: "While Chief kept eagle eye on those in camp, Buck provided the excitement of the wilderness adventure. It seemed o us that he could do anything in the woods; I remember watching him remove the hook of a bass plug from the eye lid of his son George, for example. On canoe trips we were always equipped for anything, although I do remember a trip to Richardson Lake where someone forgot to pack the silverware, and I wonder now if Buck wanted us to have a challenge of making our own wooden utensils! We lived well in the woods. I remember returning from a day of fly fishing on the Megolloway to our base camp on Azicohos Lake as a hard rain began, to a comfortable camp with wall tents and cook and dining tarps. Buck's homemade doughnuts were special treats on those rainy days. It was amazing what that Navy boxing champion could do..."

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