Camp Director, Ryan Wilensky sat down with Bryna Leeder, who was the wife of Bill Margolin (who sadly passed away this summer), and wrote a piece about the impact of West End House Camp on her family and her students lives as well as her and Bill's courtship over their many years knowing each other.
“What mattered to a kid mattered to Bill.” Bryna Leeder’s West End House Camp story goes far beyond being the wife of Bill Margolin. For the last 35 years, Bryna has been the unofficial Camp Mom, our Mother Theresa, and has been recognized for her incredible degree of selflessness. But, what most people don’t realize is that her family were West Ender’s long before she married Bill Margolin.
Bryna lived in Dorchester until the age of 3, then moved to Newton. She had a brother, Larry, (20 months younger) and later a sister, Rochelle, (9 years younger).
1955 was a very stressful time for her family. Bryna’s father fell gravely ill and underwent four brain surgeries, leaving her mother to care for three young children with the help of a nanny. Her brother Larry struggled to adjust to his beloved Father becoming an acutely ill patient, and when he was accepted into West End House Camp, it brought relief and hope to the whole family.
Bryna’s father grew up on Joy Street, in the old West End, and had never attended camp, but her Uncle Frank was able to get Larry into camp. “You had to know someone back then, it was really hard to get in.” Larry could enjoy playing with kids and there was major relief at home, knowing that Larry was safe in a welcoming, supportive community where he could focus on healthy sports and games. “ I think camp was wonderful for him. He made friends for life and got to be away from the stresses at home.”
In 1963 Larry was a CIT assigned to Bill’s cabin, 5A, with Jimmy Gordon and Jeff Kublin. Bryna was helping him unpack while their mother, Bebe, was distributing home-made Chocolate Chip Cookies. So Bill Margolin lit up. “I met him over Chocolate Chip cookies.” Appropriate given Bill’s famous sweet tooth. Bill was gifted a Peanuts cartoon, signed by Charles Schulz, that references chocolate chip cookies.” Fitting, given Bill’s longtime nickname of “Snoopy.”
While in high school Bryna attended Camp Yavneh during the summers. Larry wanted to be a counselor at West End but there weren’t enough available counselor positions. Therefore he joined Bryna at Camp Yavneh. The skills he learned at West End helped him become a boating instructor. “Larry secured his first job thanks to the skills he learned at West End.” Bryna, Larry and their sister, Rochelle, all went to Camp Yavneh, as did Larry’s children.
When Bryna graduated from Newton High, she enrolled at Barnard College in NY (upper west side) and after graduating she married her high school sweetheart. The couple then decided to join the Peace Corps and were deployed to South Korea. Bryna taught English to adult men who were going abroad to work. Upon returning from the Peace Corps, Bryna wanted to teach English and received a Master’s degree from BU.
While studying for her Masters, Bryna taught Hebrew school for five years, and also started a job teaching ESL in the Watertown Public Schools. She worked there for over 40 years. In addition, she taught English to immigrants in night school until 2016. Bryna changed the lives of many of her students, including one named Samanta. Samanta came from Poland and lived with Bryna for about 15 years. She followed in Bryna’s footsteps and became an ESL teacher. A total of six other students lived with Bryna over the years.
The countries of origin of Bryna’s students varied throughout the years. Over the decades, her ESL classrooms reflected the waves of immigration to the US: from Italian and Greek families in the 1970s to Lebanese, Armenian, Brazilian, Pakistani and Syrian newcomers. Many of these immigrants later became West End campers. Some of these students who attended West End included Vagharsh, Sebouh and Nareg Kandilian, Asator and Artem Hakobyan, Levon Badounts, Alex Fonseca, and Hans, Mark and John Florentino. There were also Samanta’s ESL students from Lowell: Leo, William and Jeremy Luna, Panhareth Kong, Oudom Seng and Juan Carlos Gonzales. At one point in the early 90s Russians came to camp because of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster. Later on, the Aljundi brothers, Mohammed and Mohaned, came during the Civil War in Syria, then spent many years at West End.
Leo Luna is an extraordinary success story. He was “too cool” to come to camp as a camper, but Bryna finally convinced him to come as a CIT. So he spent time in the kitchen with Lee and Linda Russell, the longtime chefs of that era. Due to that experience he became interested in cooking and has now been Head Chef at two restaurants. Thus he earns a decent income enabling him to support his children. Leo takes pride in knowing he has a skill that is in demand. Leo loves Bryna and Bill and is extremely appreciative of how they helped guide his life. “Since Bill’s health necessitated increased attention from me, Leo has taken his day off each week to come and assist us around the house and cooks many delicious dinners for us. I think camp can take credit for saving Leo’s life.” Well, I believe that Bryna’s intervention, which included camp, is truly what saved Leo.
Another recent camper, Mohaned Aljundi (from Syria) was scared to come to camp as an eight-year-old who recently arrived in the United States. He cried often at first, but stuck it out and became extremely successful. “Camp was a better experience than school for the immigrants. Kids at camp don’t get just ignored or at most, tolerated; they are included.” Bryna told the story of a kid who walked out of his cabin at first, when he saw he had an African American counselor. But, the adults worked with him and that counselor ended up being his favorite. That kid learned something he never would have learned if not for camp.
The Bill and Bryna love story didn’t start out so smoothly. Bill claims that while Bryna was at Barnard, he came to NYC and she stood him up on their first date. Bryna doesn’t remember doing that, but she knows Bill’s memory is unparalleled, so it has to be true. “We could’ve had 20 more years together, but I ended up marrying my high school sweetheart first.” Bill and Bryna each had first marriages and were subsequently divorced before they got married to each other.
“I had come to the club in the spring of 1988 to ask Bill whether he would make space for a few of my ESL students at Camp that summer.” Bill did what he always did. “As soon as he saw me, before I asked him anything about my students coming to camp, he said, “The answer is yes.” So she told him about her students who needed scholarships, and they worked it out. Then he offered to take her on a tour of the club. It was in the evening and they went into the pool area. He turned the lights on in the pool. It was really pretty and he looked at her, put his hands on her shoulders and said, “You know, I think we should get together sometime.” Very smooth move by Bill.
Bryna’s school was almost ready to let out for the summer and she had a commitment to spend the summer in Baltimore. She did not know what to say to Bill’s proposed “get together.” It was also almost time for Bill to go to Camp, so they went their separate ways. While in Baltimore Bryna experienced some sudden heart problems and was admitted to the hospital for over a week. It was scary, so she called Bill at camp and told him about it. He was his usual self, being warm, reassuring and kind. This interaction made her realize that she wanted to explore a relationship with Bill.
When she got out of the hospital, she drove back to Massachusetts as Bill was just coming back from Old Timers’ Week. Bill helped her deal with both of her heart situations. “The doctors straightened out the physical problems with my heart, and Bill straightened out the emotional problems with my heart.”
They never went on any actual dates; they just became a couple. “I have to say that for 37 years, he was the best partner. We never fought. We shared peals of laughter. We just worked together smoothly as a team and we helped each other get through a lot of life’s challenges.”
During the summer of 1989, Bryna’s whole family went to Jerusalem to celebrate her niece’s Bat Mitzvah. They spent several weeks touring through Israel. They were in the city of Tzfat, known as one of the holiest cities in Judaism. The family met an elderly Rabbi in an old synagogue. The Rabbi asked her mother if Bryna was married and she responded that she hadn’t been married for about 10 years. The Rabbi called Bryna over, put his hand on her head and he gave her a special blessing saying that “I would get married soon and I would have a happy marriage the second time around.” The Rabbi was clearly right.
When Bill got back from camp in the summer of ‘89, he told Bryna, “We should get married.” So, he announced it to the whole family when they gathered together for Rosh Hashanah. They got married in Bebe’s house on October 29, 1989.
Bill and Bryna had a small ceremony with 18 people and her mom made a gigantic chocolate chip cookie as a wedding cake. Needless to say, Bill was delighted. It had been the “Chocolate Chip Cookies” that first piqued Bill’s interest years before when Bryna’s family had dropped Larry off at camp. “After I changed out of my wedding dress, Bill gave me this T-shirt to put on so this was our official wedding portrait.”
Bryna deeply believes in the magic of West End House Camp, having seen it save her family during a rough time, years earlier. She is not a sports enthusiast, not a fan of some of the sillier camp activities, such as Prize or Consequence. She hasn’t been able to get into the intense competition of Color War. “However,” (However is one of Bill Margolin’s most commonly used words) Bryna marveled at the relationships between the counselors and kids, the staff’s immense kindness and patience and how the kids came home as different people at the end of their time spent at camp.
“The families trusted me enough to take their kids and I trusted that the camp was going to be a wonderful experience.” There is a whole atmosphere of genuine interest in getting to know others. Making kids feel important. West End doesn’t just tolerate diversity, but embraces it. The relationships and the camaraderie. Enabling the kids to communicate, helping them learn. It’s good for the ‘American kids’ too, learning how to be helpful and inclusive. That’s what I love about the camp. I have watched so many people benefit from the camp in so many different ways.”
I asked Bryna which counselor she felt stood out to her the most. “Lee Perryman was a wonderful counselor. He made the campers feel like a united cohort, cleaning the cabin together, exercising in the early morning hours together… proud of their accomplishments.” Lee’s sons, Lee Jr. and Leeon have been counselors the last few years and both do a terrific job, coming all the way from Georgia.
When Bryna came back to camp after Bill died this summer, she was sneaking past Gottlieb, because it was Old Timer’s Week. British counselor, Tyler Mortimer-Wise, stopped Bryna and then a circle of ten or so counselors came over and talked to her about Bill and what they learned from Bill’s example and how they would take his lessons forward. “They were amazing. Most of them hadn’t even known Bill when he was healthy, but they understood his ability to form deep connections with people. They spoke about his kindness, respect for everyone, promotion of a spirit of the common good. They hoped to carry that forward in their lives. That would have meant so much to Bill.”
Bryna loves to see the kids when there is downtime and they are hanging out on the pontoon boat, just chatting. One time, there were both an Hispanic-American camper and a Chinese-American camper in Cabin 2A. The Spanish camper could speak, but not read Spanish. The Chinese camper had learned some Spanish at his school so he read his friend’s letters in Spanish to him so he could understand what his mom was writing. These were not her students. Only at West End House Camp.
Her favorite part of camp every year is when they finish Song Night and the kids are back at their tables stuffing themselves on chocolate ice cream, brownies and chocolate milk. “They are so relieved that the stress of Color War is off their backs.” This is right before the final results are read. “One of the true bonding moments at camp. The intense competition of Color War gone…the genuine joy of being back with their friends. The warm feelings the kids have for each other, hugging, fooling around. It’s similar to the excitement of Old Timers Week when you notice someone you haven’t seen in a while enter the Mess Hall.”
I asked Bryna if she had a favorite moment at camp. She talked about how every year they would drive up to camp and get their first glimpse of the lake. Bill would quote famous alumnus, George Kane. “My heart skips a beat when I see the lake.” Every year Bryna asked Bill, “Did your heart skip a beat?” Bill always said “Yes.” All the tension would be gone and there is a different pace of life, hanging out with good people in a beautiful place.
Bryna shared a funny story about Bill’s famous Scary Stories. Bill would get total strangers to help him act out the stories. He would come up to camp with an idea, based on some artifact, like an old postcard, he had found. Then he would go around town and ask if any locals would help. Two women from North Parsonsfield owned a old, secluded house, which was perfect for Bill’s story. Bill told the story and took kids in the van to the scary house in the pitch-black darkness of night. Bryna was expecting to come into the house of the two older women. She knocked, the door opened and there was a tall guy in a scary costume who interrogated her roughly, “What do you want?” The two women were hiding in the house, dressed in costumes and got into the story by jumping out of closets and scaring the kids. Everyone present had a great time. It was startling and unpredictable. Bryna thought she knew the plan, but ended up more scared than any of the campers.
I asked Bryna how the Alumni support has been since Bill’s passing this summer. “Amazing!” Bryna had to tell the story of the “sacred” 800 pens. Bill had ordered them. Half were supposed to be for West End House Camp and the other half for the subscribers to Collectors Classified, his magazine. Bryna told him not to buy too many. On July 3, Bryna was reading Bill his emails in the hospital in Portland, Maine and the invoice was for “800 pens!” The cost was $2,250. Bryna wanted to scream. She said, “I knew I’d be handing these out at his funeral, which I did.” Bill insisted he needed that many pens for 800 of his very best friends. Bryna gave them out at the funeral and at Old Timer’s Week. It turned out Bill Margolin did, indeed, have at least 800 very best friends.
Bryna also wanted to personally thank Henry Barr, Bobby Ryter, and Sid Boorstein who called her and offered help after Bill’s passing. “Many more alumni called and wrote offering assistance and following through with concrete help.” Bill’s house in Randolph has a barn with 5 rooms and 3 lofts filled from bottom to the top with collectibles. Gerry and Larry Walsh have volunteered to help her empty out the barn. “They worked hard, getting dumpsters to help me. People have helped me get rid of so many collectibles. All these West End alumni have got my back.” Larry Walsh was there for very many long days in a row. “West End alumni are extraordinary. Billy does have 800 best friends who want to help me!” One condolence card Bryna received said, “I’ve come to realize that Bill has become part of my soul.” “I’ve never met a nicer group of men than West End guys. Never had a nicer group of people who treated me with respect and were friends with me. All the men have supported me as if they were my brothers. I’ve never felt disrespected as a woman in a ‘man’s world’.”
Bill Margolin passed away on July 22, 2025 after leaving camp a few weeks earlier due to complications from Parkinson’s. (livestream of his funeral). I thought Bryna must have had too much going on, and I removed her email address from the list of people I sent my daily camp schedule to. Bryna texted me a week later. “Why have I not been getting your daily schedule since July 21? Did you think I was no longer interested in reading about camp? But I am. If you don’t mind adding me back to the list, I’d love to picture what you’re doing every day. Thank you, Bryna.”
Bryna desperately wanted to make sure that “Collector’s Classified” stayed alive after Bill’s passing. One of Bill’s long-time subscribers has promised to continue publishing it. Most of these collectors were devastated to lose Bill and his magazine, as it was an important way for them to advertise and acquire collectibles. Surprisingly, the condolence cards they wrote to Bryna were similar in feeling and content to cards from people who actually knew Bill in person. They loved him, even though they had never met or even spoken to him.
Bill ran into people everywhere and had such an incredible memory. He knew what bunk you were in, the last time he saw you, the last update he got about you, your address and every zip code in Massachusetts (almost in the entire country, for that matter). When he realized he couldn’t get back to camp from the hospital this summer for Jerry Quinn’s ceremony, he ensured people would do what needed to be done. So, the ceremony went off without a hitch. While running the Chess tournament, two days after Bill’s passing, I had a moment of panic, realizing I had never ordered trophies. I contacted Bryna immediately. Of course, Bill and Bryna had already taken care of the trophies despite being in the hospital for weeks.
Bill had the true ability to find out what kids loved and would always make time for them. Bryna loves to tell a story that is truly emblematic of what Bill was all about. “There was a young girl at the Club who would stop in Bill’s office to get change for the vending machine and he would play chess with her and ask her how things were going at school. He made her feel seen. This was so important to her. She felt like she mattered.”
Bryna has been kept very busy trying to clean out the house which is a giant undertaking. She has been participating in protests about ICE treatment of immigrants and attending Indivisible meetings. She has started teaching ESL again-this time to adults at the Stoughton Library, and she also reads with one of our current campers three nights a week. Bryna has started up folk dancing again, something she used to do when she was younger.
Bryna sums up her experience with West End House Camp in the most perfect way.
“It’s been a part of my life since it saved my brother’s and my mother’s sanity and ensured that Larry could get buoyed up by the brotherhood of people who cared about him. It saved my students who were new to this country and didn’t know the culture. They were introduced to Americans and made friends. There is a deep thread of inclusivity and caring that runs through the camp. People who embrace each other and a group that loves camp and remembers the things that camp has done for them and has helped them become the men they are today.”
All of Ryan’s “Becoming One of the Boys” articles and many other West End House Camp updates are published in our Newsletter!
Please use the signup below to make sure you get the latest camp news and updates in your Inbox.