Bob Sarles '65-'77:
"Bello Snyder owned and ran the camp for forty years. He knew the name of every camper who ever passed the front gate. He was a skinflint to a fault, but I came to realize he was not ever really in it for the money. He loved that camp, and he loved the kids. And we all loved him.
You can see Bello in the staff photo from 1965. Sitting at his feet, as always, was Bello's trusty mongrel Samson. That dog followed Bello everywhere. Samson was great with the kids, who all treated him as a surrogate pet while away from their pets at home the summer. (Nearly every camper stayed the entire eight week session in those days). When Bello lost track of his dog and wanted to know where he was he would get on the office PA system and yell loudly (Bello was quite deaf, and had a unique way of talking, often yelling at people right in front of him): " SAM-SON!! SAM-SON!!....SAM-SON!!.... to the office PLEASE! SAMSON to the office PLEASE!"
Sure enough, where ever on campus the dog was, he'd stop and take off for the office to be by Bello's side.
One summer, longtime Eagle Cove camper/counselor Dale Ettengoff--who could mimic Bello's delivery letter perfect--got on the PA and did the Samson call over the office PA. Samson was totally fooled and came running to the office only to find Dale."
Carie R. Goldberg:
"It was the summer of 1983, which would have been my second year as a camper at Camp Eagle Cove. I was looking forward to celebrating my 8th birthday with my friends from Cabin 16... Heidi Pleskow, Eric Salzman, Carey Pulvino, etc. I was looking forward to seeing the moose head in the mess hall with the big spoon or fork hanging from it, playing softball, swimming in the lake, water skiing, sailing, socials, camp fires, raids, and more. But my days of name taping my clothes and packing my trunk came to a hault when I broke my arm in several places just days before my brother Lewis, his friend Jordan, cousins Genna, Perry and Randy an family friends Andrew and Jeff were to make the drive up to meet the camp bus in Suffern, NY. My parents felt awful knowing that it wasn't the best idea for me to go to camp that summer because of my broken arm. I cried and cried and cried. The one man that could put my broken heart at ease was Uncle Bello. He called me later on that day after my parents had called camp and I spoke to him. He was so compassionate that a little kid's dreams of summer camp had been broken that he called me each moment over the summer to keep me up to date with all the happenings at the Cove. He called me on my birthday, had a cake for me on visiting day when my family came up to see my brother, called when my cabin had inter-camp games with Echo Lake or Racquet Lake, after variety shows, and more. But best of all, Uncle Bello called this eight-year-old girl from Tenafly, New Jersey the day before Color War broke to tell me when it was going to happen. I was the first camper to know how and when it would come to be. Even though I wasn't there on 4th Lake that summer, Uncle Bello made me feel a bit closer to my "summer" home away from home. A special place will remain in my heart for CEC and Uncle Bello."
If you have any stories or pictures of Bello Snyder that you would like to submit please send them and I add them.