I Remember Colin
by Rita Villa-Rosado

Colin was Nelson’s mentor and friend before I met him in person.  They used to drive around together in a little red MG sports car that Colin fondly called “Flower Pot.”  At night, I used to call the Minga household from the pay phone at WT Grants on break, to talk to Nelson.  Colbert (Colin’s twin) used to answer pretending he was Colin. Colin would pick up on the confusion and it would be an ongoing prank whenever I called.  I consequently never knew who I was talking to, when either one of them answered the phone.  Colin had taken Nelson under his wing after Nelson’s graduation and realizing that Nelson had artistic potential, he handed a book to Nelson on “Classical Greece.” In the back of the book, there were illustrations of both Greek Gods and Goddesses. Colin loved the highly stylized black illustrations so much that he had us reproduce them on 8x10 canvases.  This information came in handy for me a year later when I had to read Homer’s “Iliad” for I knew most of the celestial characters after helping Nelson oil paint the major deities and offspring, without using Bullfinches’ “Mythology” as a reference.

   Right after my graduation and before shuffling off to Buffalo, I was given the opportunity to make some extra cash working as a summer counselor in Honesdale, Pennsylvania at Camp Ahtaga.  If my memory serves me, it was a piece of property that Lou Grimaldi owned and operated.  Of course, I was thrilled, since it was also around the time that Nelson was scheduled to come home from Camp Lejeune, for a few weeks before heading out to Camp Pendleton.  From there, Nelson would have flown to the other side of the world to complete his annual tour in Viet Nam.  The camp was located 100 miles NW of Nanuet towards the Poconos.  It was a beautiful 2-hour ride traveling around mountains and passing beautiful picturesque lakes.  I believe we, the counselors, were there a few days ahead of the kids so that we were able to go over schedules, names and become acquainted with the grounds.  It was a beautiful place with a lot of room to run around and explore. There was an old garage that was converted into an arts and craft area and the “ole swimming hole” had a couple of canoes and a pier that became a floating raft.

After we unpacked the cars and placed our footlockers at the end of our beds in our assigned units, it was around dinner time and we all gathered in the mess hall brainstorming and getting to know each other as a group.  There were a few unfamiliar faces that were introduced to us as college students also working as counselors.  I do remember the tall, reddish auburn haired woman that had large calves and the kids fondly nicknamed “Piano Legs.” I recall a Chinese counselor with long black hair. From the “Home,” there may have been more, but I remember Lou and his two sons, Fulton, Melanie Lucher, Ishmael Cruz, Rita Mallory, and myself.  When I saw Colin at the camp, I knew from the start, that camp life was going to be an interesting summer;  little did I know that it would have been a summer I would never forget! After the kids arrived, a few of us made a point to meet at the mess hall to unwind after the kids were asleep.  We discussed any problems that came up and went over schedules.  Once the business end was taken care of, Colin would get up and mosey on over to the upright piano, play a few cords and start singing a love ballad called “Save Your Love for Me” by Nancy Wilson. (By the way it’s on the playlist on MySpace.)  Somehow a bottle of Southern Comfort would appear out of the wood work that would be passed around as we’d water it down with Coca Cola.  By the end of the night we all knew the lyrics, and were harmonizing like pros (or so we thought, at the time).  We did this religiously every other night and by the end of the month that song became the camp anthem and the beginning of a romantic connection between ‘Piano Legs’ and Colin!

During the day Colin was the acting coach and had made plans on putting on the Play “Sorry, Wrong Number” for the acting group to perform by the end of the summer.  It was a story about a demanding, high strung, invalid woman trying to reach her husband on the phone, only to over hear a murder plot, which was destined to be her own.  I remember the leading lady to be Jackie Bosco.   The Play centered on Jackie’s character sitting in an armchair with a sheet draped over her legs holding the phone.  Colin had the rest of the players standing just on the peripheral of the makeshift stage where only a light would shine or the person or would step out of the darkness as the character talking on the other end of the line.   We didn’t have a TV, and it was possible that there were a few transistor radios, but this Play would be the highlight and the only organized form of entertainment (other than the PA system that woke us up every morning).  The Play was the talk of the camp! When it was curtain time, Colin made sure that it was at night and the use of lighting was critical in creating a very dramatic effect.

It was a fantastic performance to say the least that kept us all in suspense. All the kids involved should have gotten an Academy award for their performance!  I knew then that Colin was a very gifted teacher.  He brought out the best in people and he made them understand what was expected and why.  He always kept you thinking out of the box which took my camping experience to new heights.  During the weekends everyone was at the lake, and I remember him asking me if I knew how to swim and if I trusted him.  I said, of course and then he graciously asked if he could take me around the lake in a canoe. Cool, but I wondered why me, and not Piano Legs?  I got in to the boat while he untied the rope and shoved off.  We glided towards the middle of the lake before he started rowing and asked me what my future plans were.  Before I could even think of an answer the canoe started filling up with water and I started cracking up, thinking that my immediate future goal was to swim back to the shore.  We managed to flip the canoe right side up and Colin tied the rope around his waist and we swam back to shore with canoe in tow. While sitting on the bank, drying off in the hot sunlight he mentioned that he was impressed that I didn’t panic throughout the whole ordeal.  Odd I thought, why would you panic, if you were prepared for it?  It then dawned on me that there was a “connect the dot lesson” to be learned in his analogy:  “Once you draw up a plan, you will be preparing yourself for a definite outcome!”

I lived the typical teenage life each day just studying, completing school assignments and working part time.  It was a natural process and I really didn’t give it much thought.  On the other hand, I definitely worried about my future. I had no family outside the Home and didn’t have the faintest idea what I would be doing a year from now.  It was my wake up call but I was fortunate to have Colin to share my aspirations and fears with.  I just turned 18 two months prior and was now considered a full fledge adult. There were things I had to seriously consider back in 1968. There was political unrest, an emerging women’s movement, and hanging in the balance was the person I love, leaving in a few weeks to a war that was starting to turn unpopular.  It was a lot to absorb but Colin, in his gentle ways, convinced me that once your plans were drawn up it would be easy trying to keep things in perspective.  “Believe in yourself” was one of many most important lessons I learned from Colin.  After completing all the paintings, I left for Buffalo and my life enfolded.  It was the last time I ever saw him and I regret never telling him how much of an impact he made on both our lives.  It was a summer of enlightenment and it was one of the best summers I ever shared with another human being. This was his gift to me and I shall always treasure the memory of him!

In closing, while perusing the web for information, I found this tribute to him on Classmates.com, a thread called, “I remember Minga” where many of his Nanuet High School students posted quotes that Colin had used as a teacher. They were called “Mingology” and here are a few excerpts from their posts:

“Never settle, select.  If you settle, you will never be happy.  If you select, you will be happy.”
“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”
"Being there, is believing you have already arrived.”
"You are unlimited possibility.  Whatever you think about all the time is what your will be, so think big.”
"He who knows and knows not, that he knows, is asleep; teach him…”
"He who knows, and knows, that he knows, is wise follow him.”
"Nothing in the world takes place of persistence. Talent will not.  Education will not.  Genius will not.  Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”