My parents went to Ted Hilton's for their honeymoon in 1949, and our family went to Frank Davis Resort every summer in the 70's.
I especially remember fondly Roy "Coo Coo" Duka, the entertainer from those summers. He used to recruit campers at 6 am to go around with instruments and wake up the other campers. He would blow smoke bubbles from his cigars and run all sorts of activities for kids and adults. He even had a nightclub act for the adults. Sometimes he rode around on a white horse during the Hawaiian barbecue. All very fond memories!
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I am pleased to announce that the new local history website EastHaddamStories.org is now live. It is a project of the East Haddam Historic...
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Willow Manor, my grandparent's home/hotel, was known for its great Jewish-American food -- everything fresh from the garden, chicken ...
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My name is Stan Feinstein and my family stayed at Breslow's each summer from the 40's to the 50's. In 1950, at age 15, I recei... -
For years Roy Duka was the all around entertainer for the Frank Davis Resort. From handing out instruments to the guests, with his "wak...
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I met "Coo Coo" back in 1973, when the C.Y.O. band that I was in had their 1 week vacation away from competitions during the summer. We still had practice, but still had some fun as well. We had competed in the canoe races on the Salmon River against the house guests, which didn't turn out so well. We decided to create 2 canoe groups in which we blasted the house guests out of the water. It was down to the last 2 canoes which was our band group, of which the canoe that I was in lost in the finals. It was so much fun back then, that I brought my girlfriend out here in 2008 for vacation. As they say "Thanks for the memories".
I was a waiter for two seasons when Roy Duka was there. It was incredible that he could learn to call 200-300 guests by name within a few days of their arrival. Great entertained. I think I worked there in '62 and '64. "Feb 2003: Roy Duka, 84;Of Colchester died Friday at William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich. He was 84.
He was born in Cleveland. He was a veteran of World War II, having served with the U.S. Army. Before retiring, he served as social director at the former Frank Davis Resort in Moodus for 50 years and was known throughout New England as ``Coo Coo'' the clown. He also was an emcee at nightclubs in the area, as well as being Santa at the Newington Children's Hospital for many years."
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