StoryCorps Chicago: Summer Camp In 1958: A ‘West Side Story’

Fifteen-year-old Cleo at summer camp
Fifteen-year-old Cleo at summer camp in Putney, Vermont, in 1958. Courtesy of Cleo Francine Wilson
Fifteen-year-old Cleo at summer camp
Fifteen-year-old Cleo at summer camp in Putney, Vermont, in 1958. Courtesy of Cleo Francine Wilson

StoryCorps Chicago: Summer Camp In 1958: A ‘West Side Story’

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When Cleo Francine Wilson was a teenager she was awarded a scholarship to attend a prestigious summer camp in Putney, Vermont. It was the summer of 1958 and this bookish 15-year-old from Chicago’s West Side felt like a fish out of water.

This interview was facilitated by StoryCorps Chicago’s Rocio Santos.

Bill Healy produces StoryCorps Chicago for WBEZ and teaches journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him @chicagoan.