I’m going through two trunks of stuff related to a documentary I once tried to make about my aunt, Julie Arden, and her companion Charlotte Brooks. I’m determined to whittle it down to one big box. It should be easy. Just don’t look too closely. Keep the essentials. Toss, toss, toss.
I find scraps of paper with snippets of things my Aunt Julie had said after she’d had a debilitating stroke at age 85. For more than four years she stayed in a state of complete dependency, her mind confabulating in ways that were both heartbreaking and fascinating. It was like being inside someone’s head when they were asleep and dreaming. But every once in awhile, her clarity and wisdom were astounding.
We were talking about love and she said, “If you don’t put your whole heart into it, it won’t come out well.” I have never forgotten that line. Nor did I forget what she advised when I asked her how I can help people without them resenting it. “Don’t make the choice for them. Let them make the decision. Keep repeating ‘Are you sure this is what you want me to do?’ ‘What can I do?’ or ‘What would you like me to do?’ Don’t say help. Pride cometh before the fall.”
On her relationship with Charlotte Brooks (that would ultimately span more than six decades until Julie’s passing): “We enjoy so much of the same things that we do together. Simple things. Walk on the beach. In the woods. Sit on a bench and watch the clouds go by. If you don’t make it too complicated it’s more satisfying.”
They had met as camp counselors in 1941 at the Jewish Working Girls Vacation Society on Bellport, Long Island. Julie said, “I was a dainty eater. They would sit girls next to me who needed to lose weight. If they wanted them to gain weight they sat them with Charlotte. She had a hearty appetite.” Julie taught drama; Charlotte was in charge of athletics. “Heel and toe and away we go,” Julie said. “It was a way to keep time when we were polka dancing.”
They became popular in the local bars doing simple folk dances together. Men would give them money.
Charlotte told me that summer they were sitting on the shore one night on an upturned boat, looking out across the sound. “There were two boats anchored in the water. They were coming apart and then together.” She moved her index fingers back and forth, each time coming nearer to the other. “Then all of a sudden we realized that was what was happening to us.”
Oh, what’s wrong with having two trunks full of stuff? I’ll go through it another day. Another day.
Ann Segan says
August 21, 2016 at 1:25 amThat’s lovely, Jo. Great stories!
Great pix.
John says
February 28, 2017 at 1:09 pmWhile doing a bit of personal research on the history of the White Pond Center your post came up in the Google results bringing back some great memories of Julie and Charlotte. Growing up in the area the White Pond Center was a focus of my early life it was preschool, social activities, art classes, voting location, and with all that came the constants of Julie and Charlotte.
As a child I had the pleasure of visiting their home on several occasions where they would share all their interesting collectibles, art, and the stories behind them, as a child in what were then the rural woods their past adventures were fascinating.
It’s always interesting to learn more about adults you knew as a child and find out exactly how remarkable they were ever more than I thought as a child.
Jo Maeder says
February 28, 2017 at 5:47 pmHi John. So nice to hear the White Pond Center lives on — at least in memory. Did your parents ever take videos of your activities there? I have so many photos but no video. It would be fabulous to see. What a time it was. – Jo
John says
March 6, 2017 at 5:59 pmI know my parents do not have any video but let me check with a friend of mine, I remember his Dad having an old camcorder but the year escapes me it might have been later into the 1980s.
Interesting it that my friend and I met at a Halloween party at the White Pond Center in 1979, 38 years later and we’re still friends. I think the heyday was from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, I remember everything from parties to the short lived co-op that ran out out there.
My family moved from the area in 2013 but at last I’d heard the White Pond Center is still going.
Patrick says
June 6, 2019 at 12:04 pmTerrific piece, Jo. I, too, have recently been trying to find a history of the White Pond Center (I moved down the street from it about 10 years ago), and this came up. My next door neighbor dropped by last weekend, and told me that she had once been on the Board of the Center, and had known both Julie and Charlotte. She had a lot of info for me, and hopes to remember more. The Center is current;y rented by the Pied Piper Players, a theatre group for local kids. I don’t think it’s used for anything else now. I’m also friendly with Chippy Irvine, who, it appears, co-wrote a musical about Sybil Ludington with Julie Arden, back in the 70s or 80s. I wish I could read that…
Thanks for the wonderful story!
Jo Maeder says
June 6, 2019 at 1:56 pmHi Patrick. Thanks for writing. Please give my regards to Chippy. I have fond memories of her. She doesn’t have a copy of the Sybil play? It’s been performed in local schools. It must be on file somewhere. I’m happy to know the structure is still being used for the arts! – Jo
Cassidy Meurer says
June 26, 2024 at 3:43 pmHi Jo! I am so glad to have stumbled across this blog post. I am an archivist at the University of Louisville Photographic Archives, and we have a lot of Charlotte’s photography within the Standard Oil New Jersey photograph collection, the work she did prior to her position at Look Magazine. I’ve wanted to know more about her and her life for a long time, especially as a queer woman photographer during the early to mid-20th century. These are the only photographs I’ve seen of Charlotte and Julie together, and I’m so grateful that you’ve shared a bit of their story here. Thank you!
Gerry Matteo says
July 18, 2024 at 1:20 pmHi Jo, So glad I came across this. I was fortunate enough to know Charlotte and Julie through their friend Evelyn Irons. My life is richer having known them.
Gerry