I got nuthin’. You just popped in my head. Why am I laughing?

All love.

Dollar Bil or $Bil was a camp counselor of mine at Camp Ockanickon over the years 1985-1989�definitely a character (and a role model?) one never forgets. When Scott mentioned movie camp, he forgot the production Dollar directed the year after he directed �Lard��a murder mystery in which different real-life camp characters were all suspected of having committed the crime. I�m pretty sure Dollar just made it up as we were shooting it.

The other thing I remember about Dollar from camp�and I am shocked no one else has raised this�is the Announcements Song. Dollar created a tradition that I bet lives on at Ocky to this day. After each meal, people would get up and make announcements about various things. But, if any of them ever actually used the word �announcements��which happened at least one a day�then the whole cafeteria would erupt in unison in a 3-minute song about announcements accompanied by pounding of the wooden tables to the beat. The song ended with the speaker having to run around the mess hall before they could continue speaking. And, if they started speaking and used the A-word again, the entire spectacle would be repeated.

The last time Scott Donofrio and I saw Dollar was not at Ocky actually. It was in 1991. My mother worked at Strawbridge & Clothier, and one day Dollar spotted her. Dollar told her to have me stop by the cafeteria at Strawbridge�s, where he worked. I waited for Scott to visit me from Central Jersey, and we walked into the cafeteria to surprise Dollar. Damn was he happy to see us. We all sat in a booth, and he comped us some soft drinks. It was pretty cool. We were outside of camp and by that time, �big high school students,� but still concerned he would talk to us like we were little Senecas. But, somehow, while maintaining his Dollar Bill zaniness, he talked to us like adults. I think that meant a lot to us then. That was so cool. We thought he was so old and wise, yet somehow still funny and insane.

Here�s another thing. It says something about this guy that when he simply declared a nickname for himself or for someone else, it stuck. Way up above in all these posts, �Spiffy Joe� Bertolino mentioned that �to this day, children (now in their 20�s and some in their early 30�s) simply refer to us as �Spiffy and Dollar.��� Let me tell you in no uncertain terms how true this is. Scott and I can each attest. We are both in our mid-30s. He�s a psychiatrist; I�m a college professor. Dollar is still Dollar and Spiffy is still Spiffy, and that�s how it will always be.

Like all of you, I cannot believe he�s gone. I mean that. Somehow, I really can�t quite comprehend a world without Dollar�even though ostensibly, he has not been part of mine for almost two decades. Some people just stick with you.

Having just learned of your death yesterday, of course I’m sad; and having just found this blog yesterday (thanx to fellow camper Adam Litwin) after not seeing you for over 20 years, of course I’m happy to learn so much about you. My other feeling, though, is compeled to help everyone else to whom you meant a great deal fill your shoes. You set a great example for how to do it—the themes of openness, acceptance, friendliness, creativity, and humor pervading these blog posts—right down to the red Size 17s. As I type, I’m playing hopscotch with my children. I can be more playful more often in Dollar’s honor, so I Wil.

I was working on some writing over the weekend and was thinking of colorful characters to throw into the mix. $Bil came to mind. His role is a combination of patience, guidance, and flicking me in the cubes while giggling.