A slow turn to the left. The sound of tires transitioning from pavement to gravel. The smell of fresh mountain air and sweet Adirondack woods. After 10 hours of driving from Cleveland every summer, these were the welcoming signs that the Kirkhams had arrived at their family camp in Blue Mountain Lake. Two hundred feet down Kirkham Lane, their parents would stop, the car doors would swing open, and the kids would scale “The Big Rock,” a 20-foot high, moss-covered glacial erratic – an old friend that, to this day, they lovingly greet with each return.
For brothers Ted, Gib, and Hall, these were the defining moments that marked the beginning of their love for the Adirondacks – a love that had been passed down from their father, Walter, and his father and grandfather before him. It was a love that was not without sacrifices. Each summer, their father would make that long drive from Ohio to ensure his boys had the same experiences he had years before. The boys and their mom would stay – he would head back to work.
A passionate businessman, careful investor, and loving father, Walter could be defined by two words: Moral compass. “As children do, we would ask our dad why we would do X, Y, or Z,” Gib reflected. “Almost invariably, the answer was ‘Because it’s right. It’s the right thing to do.’ He had a real commitment to doing the right thing for the community, for the family.”
True to character, Walter set up an estate plan that, upon his death, would distribute assets to his three sons, who would decide how best to use the funds to benefit the community of Blue Mountain Lake and the surrounding area. When their father passed away two years ago, they honored his legacy by setting up a donor advised fund at Adirondack Foundation, The Walter Kirkham Fund. “I think Dad set up the bequest because he loved the Adirondacks – but more because he knew we loved the Adirondacks and he wanted to give us a vehicle to express that love,” Hall said.
For the brothers, they not only experienced the joy of summers at “Blue,” as they affectionately call the place they agree grounds them in life, but all three immersed themselves in the community in various ways over the years – volunteering, living at their camp in the off-season during the long winter months, working and honing skills, like carpentry, with local masters. “We definitely have a different perspective than my dad had and he appreciated that – that connection we were building that was different from his,” Gib said.
For them, the Foundation serves as a conduit through which they can all give back in the unique ways that matter to them, whether supporting working families or the arts.
“A community foundation is going to make it their business to know what’s out there and what the needs are. That’s what attracts us to Adirondack Foundation – that connectivity, that connective tissue that makes us all part of the community trying to help each other out."
