This article appeared in the April 21, 2006 Jewish Advocate.

West End House gala to feature Nimoy, recall memories

By Susie Davidson

In 1906, a group of immigrant boys in the former West End neighborhood of Boston started up a club to foster their mental and physical advancement. The self-motivated effort caught the eye of philanthropist James J. Storrow, who provided funding for a clubhouse and chose Mitchell Freiman to be the first Executive Director of the West End House.

Since that time, successors Jack Burnes, Allie Coles, Bill Margolin, Michael Bourg and Andrea Howard have furthered Storrow’s original mission of leadership based on dedication, strength of character and teamwork, within a membership-run club. When Storrow died in 1926, the West End House Corporation assumed financial responsibility. In 1971, the Club moved to Allston after urban renewal put an end to the still-beloved neighborhood.

Overwhelmingly Jewish for many decades, the club has always welcomed people of all faiths, economic and social backgrounds. In 1976, the West End House Boys and Girls Club began including girls in their youth development programs. The facility was renovated in 2002 and today, the Lewis and Gordon Center and the Louis I. Kane Youth Leadership Center serve 1200 young people per year, both in Allston and at the WEH Camp, on Long Pond in East Parsonsfield, Maine.

Next Saturday, April 29, the WEH will celebrate its Centennial Gala at the Marriott Hotel in Newton, with notable West Ender Leonard Nimoy sharing the hosting. Nimoy will also be in attendance at the 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Open House at the West End House on Sunday.

The dinner, which is expected to draw hundreds, will feature a 5-7 p.m. social hour. A video show will highlight members from different eras, who range from a young boy to 91-year-old Escott, speaking about what the West End House has meant to them.

“The Club is a magnificent facility and is a testament to the many people who have not forgotten what the West End House did for them when they were young,” said Bill Margolin, who began as a WEH camper in the 1950s, served as a counselor for many years, and was Executive Director of the WEBGC from 1974 to 1995.

Since 1973, Margolin has also been the Executive Director of West End House Camp, whose staff of 36 includes many former campers. While 75 percent of the campers are from Massachusetts, campers also include dozens of children from Maine, New York, New Hampshire and other states. Campers have also come from France, England, Norway, the Virgin Islands, Israel, Sweden, Ukraine and Hong Kong.

Margolin, whose wife, Bryna Leeder, teaches at Watertown High School, was a Russian translator for the Army from 1966-1970. His board memberships and officer posts have included the Allston Board of Trade, Kiwanis Club, Allston-Brighton Healthy Boston, Brighton Court Advisory Council, Brighton Board of Trade, and the Allston-Brighton Interagency Council, as well as the Commonwealth-Brandeis Lodge of Knights of Pythias and many Boys & Girls Club councils, including the Associated Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Boston. He also publishes the Collectors’ Classified magazine eight times a year. But his longest involvement is clearly with the WEH.

“My mother, Rose, came to the West End of Boston in 1907 from Lithuania and knew many of the ‘Old Timers,’” said Margolin, a graduate of Boston Latin School and Bowdoin College who was first sponsored as a camper by "Uncle" Sam Sands in 1958. Margolin became Program Director of the WEH after college. “Although I had no idea in the late 1950s and early 1960s that West End House would turn out to be my life's work,” he said, “it was probably preordained - I grew up in West Roxbury, I was stationed in West Germany, and I live on West Street in Randolph!” But he was quick to cite longer-serving members Frank Lavine of Medford, who helped navigate the Exodus ship; Escott, who first joined the Club in the 1920s; and George Kane, who, at 101, is the oldest alumnus, having joined the club in 1915 and attended camp in 1919.

Steven Lepler, Assistant Executive Director of West End House Camp since 1999, also began as a camper. Lepler’s family has been affiliated with the WEH virtually since its founding. A graduate of Oberlin College and Northeastern University, he works as a psychologist as well as on camp matters over the winter. He is married with two children and lives in Sharon.

In 1981, the WEH published a history book for its 75th anniversary.

The quarterly WestEnder newsletter is published by Jim Campano, who is President of the West End Museum/West End Historical Association, located at 150 Staniford St. in Boston. For information, call 617-723-2125 or write P.O. Box 8996, Boston, MA 02114