JOHN A. LEDLIE

John Ledlie was born January 18, 1898, in Saratoga Springs, New York. He began his forty-four-year career at the age of 19 as assistant secretary for Boys’ Work at the Bronx Union Branch YMCA. A year later he accepted a position at the Patterson, New Jersey, YMCA. He was promoted to secretary for Boys’ Work in 1919.

In 1924, Ledlie moved to Jersey City, New Jersey, to serve as Boys’ Work secretary. Five years later, he joined the staff of the New Jersey State YMCA Committee and was appointed director of the New Jersey boys camp, Camp Wawayanda. From 1940 to 1944, he served as executive for Boys’ Work of the Central Atlantic Area. Ledlie became the youth and camping secretary for the National Council in 1944, holding this position until his retirement in 1963.

The years of Ledlie’s most active work were crucial and formative years for organized camping in the USA. As an expert in modern-day camping, Ledlie developed national camping standards that were adopted later by other national organizations for their camps. Some of the standards included health and safety of campers, modern sanitation procedures, selection and training of counselors, and the direction of camp programs, activities, and administration. In addition to camping, Ledlie helped build the Y Indian Guide Program for young boys and their fathers from a few hundred scattered “tribes” around the country to a national movement of 12,000 “tribes” with a membership of 175,000 “big and little braves.” For more than thirty years, he was active in the American Camping Association, serving as chairman of its National Program and Nominating Committees.

Ledlie was an avid and prolific writer. His prodigious literary output includes more than two dozen books, articles, and monographs. Some of his titles include, So You Want to Go to College, Gearing Into Life, Adventures in Christian Living, Managing the YMCA Camp, Camping Skills for Trail Living, and Better Camping. Ledlie’s perceptive insights, as an author and scholar, were a distinct contribution to the national YMCA program thrusts. His professional competence, keen mind, and genuine concern for people gained him national as well as international respect and esteem. He is survived by his son, David.