out about his break-up. Th eir relationship
developed “organically,” and the two later
married. Rob Chalfi n wasn’t the only one with
whom Bonnie Chalfi n stayed in contact.

Th e couple made friends with several
other couples, who still keep in touch.

Th eir kids are now becoming good
friends. “It’s like a family bond,” Bonnie
Chalfi n said.

Camps Arthur and Reeta
Decades before the Leeses and Chalfi ns
met, Elliot Rosen worked as a counselor
Bonnie and Rob Chalfi n at their
at the Zieglersville-based Camp Arthur, wedding
Courtesy of Bonnie Chalfi n
the sibling camp to Camp Reeta, which
were part of the Young Men’s-Young Women’s Hebrew Association, the precursors
to the JCCs of today.

Rosen was a camp veteran, attending the camp as a camper at age 11 in 1952, and
graduating to counselor in 1957 at 17. Th at same year, camp newbie Maxine Rosen,
hailing from Salisbury, Maryland, came to Camp Reeta as a counselor-in-training.

Unlike the Golden Slipper couples, Elliot Rosen’s intentions were clear when he
fi rst met his to-be wife. He was a skinny kid at the time, and a friend of his inter-
rupted a basketball game to introduce him to her friend.

“We stopped the basketball game, underneath the basket, so she could introduce
me to her friend, Maxine Battlebaum,” Elliot Rosen said. “And I looked at Maxine,
and I knew I was going to marry her.”
It was, of course, not that simple. Maxine Rosen was less impressed than Elliot
Rosen was with their respective appearances, but their overlapping schedules meant
the two remained friendly over their seven or eight interactions that summer,
despite living on opposite sides of the ground’s lake.

Maxine Rosen didn’t return to camp
the next year, but did the year aft er. Th e
couple’s relationship bloomed but then
faltered due to distance, college and jobs.

In 1962, Elliot Rosen’s last year of
summer camp, he received a “Dear
John” letter from Maxine Rosen, saying
she was seeing other people in college.

“I was very melancholy at the end of
summer of ‘62, knowing that, I guess,
my youth was ending,” Elliot Rosen said.

His fortune took a turn the next year,
when he learned of Maxine Rosen’s
breakup when he was on a nine-week
trip across Europe. He sent her a post
card but didn’t hear back.

By 1965, the two at last reunited
in Alexandria, Virginia, just for the
aft ernoon.

“I saw Elliot, and he was a completely
transformed person,” Maxine Rosen
said. “He had fi lled out; his teeth were
kind of straighter; his face was fuller.

He was very handsome.”
By June of that year, the couple was
engaged. “Around three in the morning, I
woke my mother up and told her that
I asked Maxine if she would accept a
ring from me,” Elliot Rosen said. “My
mother told me, until her dying day,
from that minute on, she never came
down from the ceiling, that she was in
the clouds.”
Elliot and Maxine Rosen at their wedding
Courtesy of Elliot Rosen
Why Summer Camp?
Th ough every couple’s story is diff erent, the summer camp setting as a hotbed for
meet-cutes begs the question: Why do so many young couples meet at summer
camp? No one really thinks it’s a coincidence, but for Bonnie Chalfi n, it’s diffi cult to
put into words.

“It’s just a diff erent kind of connection than, even a day camp or sports team or
neighborhood friend group,” she said. “It’s all those similar stories, all the songs
and the teams ... It’s just an intangible thing.”
Aft er 56 years of marriage, Elliot and Maxine Rosen have seemed to fi gure out
what brought them together in an unlikely way.

“You see people for who they are. If they’re gonna cheat, it’s something you
would see; if they’re not nice to somebody, you would see it; if they’re genuine,
you see it,” Maxine Rosen said. “You just see qualities. You’re not hiding behind
anything.” JE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM 19