Remembering My Uncle Marty
It was July 27, 1964. My uncle, Marty Ferst, was 15 years old and had just arrived at Tamarack in Ortonville for another summer of fun and friends. This session, he would be a camper in Pioneer.
He had spent the night prior having a memorable time at a dance and was now on a camping trip outside of Stratford, Ontario. On that fateful day, his group stopped at a quarry to go swimming. When the counselors called the campers back to shore and did a head count, they realized he was missing. He was soon found, having tragically drowned under a raft in the water.
The son of Sidney and Miriam Ferst of Oak Park, Marty was the only sibling of my mother Linda, who was two years older than him. He enjoyed sports, especially baseball, Camp Tamarack, and he was active in the Jewish community, including youth programs at Congregation B’Nai Moshe and AZA.
From the anecdotes I’ve heard about him, Uncle Marty was a mischievous and funny kid. He also faced his fair share of adversity, as he had epilepsy, although that was not found to have played a role in his drowning. Other stories about him come from the days after his death. My sisters and I were told about how many people were forever changed by his loss, as well as the overwhelming outpouring of support my grandparents and mother received from family and friends from throughout the metropolitan Detroit Jewish community and across the country.
As my mother describes him,
“My brother, Marty Ferst, left a large impact on many lives, even though his life was cut short at 15 years old. His legacy of humor and kindness, as well as his strength while facing struggles, left an enduring mark on those who knew him.”
My mother went on to marry Joel Garfield in 1969, and they had four daughters: Jennifer, Marla, Stephanie and me. When it was time for Jennifer to attend camp for the first time in 1980, she asked to go to Tamarack. While our mother was hesitant to send her, our grandmother, with a heroic level of strength, told her daughter how important it was that we girls continue the family’s Tamarack tradition.
Over the next 18 years, all four of us spent many summers at Brighton, Camp Maas, the outposts and on travel trips, including summers back on staff.
Thanks to our grandmother, we were able to forge our own paths under the guiding spirit of our uncle.
Even though we never got to meet him, Uncle Marty has never been far from our family’s minds. This was especially true last year as we began to think ahead to the 60th anniversary of his passing. We began working with the wonderful team at Tamarack to find a way to officially memorialize him at camp. While we had dedicated a memorial brick near the entrance of Camp Maas in 1994, we knew it was time to have something more long lasting at camp to mark his life and legacy.
Working with Gabe Neistein, Tamarack’s Chief Advancement Officer, and the Tamarack team, we developed a plan to place a plaque about Marty in the camp’s Clara and Irvin Charach Tamarack Museum, which opened in 2015 in the main building of the camp’s Smoklerville Pioneer Village.
“We are so proud to be able to honor Marty’s wonderful legacy and are honored that Tamarack Camps continues to be a comforting place for Linda, Lauren, Marla, Jennifer, Stephanie and their incredible family,” said Neistein. “It has been so meaningful for our team to learn more about Marty and celebrate his life together.”
On Sunday, August 18, 2024, our family spent a morning in Ortonville to dedicate the plaque. We lost grandma in 2006, but the family now includes our husbands and Marty’s six great-nieces and -nephews, including the first member of a new generation of Tamarack campers. Joined by cousins and friends, many shared memories of this sweet and daring young man who loved camp so much.
Said Linda, “The memorial established at Tamarack by my daughters, Marty’s nieces, is a fitting tribute. While it was an emotional dedication, it was beautiful to see so many people who meant something to Marty, or who came after him, celebrate him at a place that held some of his fondest memories.”
As memorialized on the plaque,
“It is our hope that in this special place, Marty will always be remembered, and that his soul is at peace among the beautiful symbols and mementos in the heart of the camp he loved so much.”