Memories and Musings

Some shared memories from John Killoran, Jr. – now retired and full-time here, with wife Sherri, in Lake Harmony.

I started skiing back when I was 13. My old neighbor across the street was Karl Gutmans. His father Kurt, an old WWII German army officer, took us skiing to Jack Frost. He gave me old leather boots with the metal buckles that barely fit and made my feet blister. The skis had runaway straps so your skis didn’t fly away when the bindings released. We went off a small jump that made you feel like you were flying 30 feet in the air.

I was such a teen rebel. I wasn’t going to conform to what a skier wore. My wardrobe was an Army jacket, jeans and a cigarette - now that was cool!

The old Boulder lodge with its large timber, ceilings and giant glass window looking out onto the big boulder expert ski slope. Watching skiers come down the mountain, and practically crashing through the window was always a laugh. It was the place to be. Christmas time, there was a giant tree in the middle of the lodge, and it seemed like the Daisy Jug Band performed every weekend, playing their crazy instruments and encouraging the crowd to drink from there… Beer bong, guzzler.

Big Boulder had plenty of events. It seemed like there was something new every weekend. We had bump competitions, jump competitions, races and winter carnival. There were sponsors like Cuervo, Newport and Marlboro cigarettes, giveaways, hats, scarves, jackets… It seemed like five years in a row there was nobody in the tri state area that didn’t have a green hat and a pink pom-pom that said Newport. And if you didn’t have a hat, you probably had a T-shirt. I got married in ‘91 and then came the kids. I never thought I’d be able to have everybody ski, yet alone ski and snowboard. In ‘98 we bought a townhome in SRV. JF was a vibrant rental community with all kinds of activities thru four seasons. Winter came and I was fortunate enough to put the kids in the JF Snowmonster program - for $300 per child you would get 2 lessons a day a lift ticket and rental for the season. It took a couple weeks and my kids graduated to the kids’ in-house race team.

When my daughter Kelly turned 14, she became a junior instructor. The boys, after winning some medals, decided their time would be better spent skiing and snowboarding than racing for medals.

JF was so much fun. It seemed every week- end was a different theme event or entertainment. Snowtubing was a big deal. There were demo days, the Subaru festival got bigger every year, Philly radio stations WXTU country and WMMR (twice a year) had entertainment and discount lift tickets.

In my 50 +years skiing JFBB, I’ve developed a ton of friends and family. We have all skied around the country and the world. Our ski investment was and is where you came from. All you Pocono peeps know who you are, far too many to mention, and the stories could go on forever.

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