Skip Granger
”Friends Forever” is the motto of the YMCA program for fathers and their daughters and normally begins during the girls’ kindergarten year and lasts for three or four years. It was 1985 and the girls were five. But our group is anything but normal! The girls are now in their 40’s: it is 2026 and we are still together – enjoying multiple events and outings each year. We literally meant ”Friends Forever!”
In 1985, when the girls were 5 years old, we began our journey, totally unaware that we would still be together in 2026, over 40 years later! One of our adventures was taking our girls to Yosemite. They had so much fun there that we decided to rename our tribe the Yosemite tribe. While we were there, everything seemed to be perfect, except the girls were afraid to leave their cabins to use the bathrooms. People often left food in the trash bins in the communal bathrooms. Therefore bears would enter, and the girls were afraid that they might walk in on one. However they never did, and instead we just had a lot of fun and great food.
Another favorite trip was to Sea Ranch north of San Francisco. While we were there the girls could go by the ocean to look for seashells and play. Meanwhile, two of our fathers would dive for abalone at Abaloney. Most of the girls never ate abalone. After watching this, they would occasionally help pound the slimy fish taken from the bright-colored shells. My daughter Amanda had often eaten abalone and really loved it. Therefore, she not only helped to prepare it but also to eat it.
When our girls graduated from high school, we had our annual dad’s dinner at the Saint Francis Yacht Club and decided to form a braves’ tribe. We asked the princesses if they wanted to join us and go on a cruise to Mexico. YES! So we took them, and when we got aboard, we changed our “dad with daughters rule” and put the girls on one side of the ship, while the dads roomed together on the other side. After all, the girls were approaching adulthood now. When we docked and went ashore at one port noted for its party spirit, I was enjoying an adult beverage at the bar, when another dad told me that Amanda had been thrown out for being under age. I immediately headed for the door, when an incoming dad told me that she went to the bar across the street with some other of our princesses! They were truly growing up now.
Along with our annual trips to Yosemite, Sea Ranch, etc., our Indian Princess ski trip was always a favorite. On the way up with Dave and Courtney Caneer, our daughters used a restroom stop for Amanda and she left her ski jacket there. So she borrowed another girl’s jacket for the first day of skiing until another of our group retrieved hers on their way up the mountain the following day. Unfortunately, it did not match her ski pants. Shortly after arriving, another dad skied over to me and told me that she was a ”hanger,” meaning that she had fallen out of the seat and was hanging on the lift high enough above ground to assure tragedy. Before the ski patrol could arrive, I got under her and shouted as loudly as I could, ”Amanda, climb back into the ‘bleeping’ chair!”(not the exact word that I used), which scared her into doing so. She survived to enjoy many more ski adventures!
Even Amanda’s wedding included our Indian princess daughters and fathers. On June 14th in 2008 (Flag day and the same date as my parents and Mary Ann and my wedding anniversaries) Amanda married Michael Landau at Paradise Ridge winery in the California wine country. Our entire Cheyenne tribe and their families attended along with so many other friends and family that I can never pay for it all! During the reception, the tribe put on a special program wherein they initiated Mike into our tribe and did our special ceremonial ”Friends Forever!” Yes, we really mean it when we say (or yell) that phrase! It has a very special meaning to my family, and Amanda and I will never forget our adventures and experiences together.The YMCA’s Indian Princess program is a father-daughter program that helps build lifelong bonds. The program includes activities like Camping, Hiking, Fishing, Community volunteering, and Dad-daughter dances. The Indian Princess program was started in 1926 by Harold Keltner, a YMCA Director in St. Louis, and Joe Friday, an Ojibwa Indian. The program’s purpose was to strengthen the bond between fathers and children.
This plaque given to me in 1990 commemorates the founding of our tribe and hangs proudly in my den today.
Editor’s Note: A father in this group notified Skip that the YMCA program still exists, but Indian names are no longer used. He doesn’t know what type of name is now in effect.
