Girls' Camp Week

It's been Girls' Camp this week in our stake.  Which got me thinking a lot about my own Girls' Camp memories.  Not just the ones from the 15 years I spent going to Girls' Camp in our stake - 1989 to 2003 - but my own memories as a Young Woman.

The above photo is undated but it's sometime between 1957 and 1963!!  Looks to be somewhere in the middle of that range.  I can identify most of the girls - starting from the left - Pam, Sandi Jensen, Robin Ketchum, unknown - or is that Alice?, MarDel, Sister Ketchum and it looks like my school friend Melba Sue Jacobsen.  She was not LDS, but her cousins were.  I don't really have a memory of going with her, but it sure looks like her.

That's the trouble with memories - they are selective.  My memories of camp include not liking the food very much and being hungry except when the "Camp Store" was open to buy ice cream and candy!!  And earning a green silk scarf for memorizing the Articles of Faith.  And singing around the campfire.  And making crafts out of items from nature.  And swimming at the big pool. And Sister Hawkins offering us raisins every night to keep us "regular!!"

And singing "Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall" on the bus ride up!

Girls' Camp - and enduring tradition!!

Some people I love - and the happy memories that go with them

Jennifer M., Rachel W. me, Erin Mc, Ashley M., Tricia, Connie, Hannah, Katie, Emily, Chelsea J., Rachel's friend why can't I think of her name?, Andrea, Christina C., Mandy, Eliza

I am going to post this on Facebook, because a number of the people in this photo are on FB.  But I wanted to reflect a bit on the whole Girls' Camp experience I had for 15 years.

From the time Phoebe was almost 12 and was going to be allowed to go to camp, until Hannah's last year before college, I went along to Girls' Camp.  Once I was in charge of cooking - that was hard.  Many times I was in charge of crafts - once I got a system going, it was not a hard job.  You just had to monitor the girls and keep the brushes clean!!  (Thank you Magnusson girls for knowing this lesson so well!!)

Sometimes I was in the YW Presidency in my ward.  For 4 years I was the YW President.  A few times I was in the Stake YW Presidency.  Always I was someone's - Phoebe, Eliza, or Hannah - mom.  Often I went along as Aunt Barbara, because my nieces came along.  Always I was Sister Terrill.

We went to Cachuma Lake, we went to Catalina, we went to Big Bear.  We went to places I can't remember the names of - but one of them was near Valencia and it was awful - hot, bees, bears, conflicts with girls and women!!

Always it was a task to get ready - shopping, packing, loading up the car, driving to the location.  

Always it was a task to go home - packing, loading up the car, driving home - some years in terrible traffic that made you curse the fact that you'd ever heard of Girls' Camp!  (And why were there only traffic jams on the way home?)

I would not trade the memories and experiences of those 15 years for anything.  I really wish I'd kept a journal.  While sorting through photos, I've come across my girls' camp photos - but they don't reveal much.  (It would probably have helped if I'd labeled them immediately after getting them developed!)

Always I got to know the sisters there better - and it was a blessing.  Always I came to love the girls - even the difficult ones.  Always I enjoyed the lack of the 3 Ms - you know, make-up, mirrors and men!!  Always I wept at the testimony meeting and had hope that the spirit would linger longer for some girls.

The first year I didn't go, I was sure I'd feel a void or a lack of some kind.  But I didn't.  Camp has changed quite a bit from what I hear.  If the change had occurred incrementally while I was going, I probably would have handled it just fine.  Now I just say,  upon hearing what they don't do anymore, "Oh, that's too bad.  That was the best part of camp."

So if you have a YW age daughter, and they ask you to go to camp, be sure to say yes.  You'll be glad you did.

And if you read this, and want to share a camp memory, please do so - we need to keep the love alive!!

"Who'll make that $20?"

Saturday night was the Young Women Dinner and Bake Sale to raise money for girls' camp. Harry took the night off and served as the host and auctioneer - and he was pretty successful - Dawn says they made enough to pay for camp next year too!!

Mom, Donna, and Marjorie joined us. She and Dad were some pretty fierce bidders - we came home with more goodies than we needed - but we found homes for all of them!!

I donated a lemon meringue pie for the occasion - it took all my resolve not to buy it back!!

But I did get to lick the pan!!

Long ago and far away!!

I came across this photo recently, and it brought back a flood of memories.

It's Girls' Camp 1975 in Centerville, Utah. Dale Lords was our ward Young Women President - and she asked for me to be the Camp Director.

It was an interesting experience - one I didn't totally enjoy - except for my association with the leaders there. The girls were less than friendly - they short-sheeted my bed, put Saran Wrap over the toilet bowls, and talked all night long!! Of course, as soon as one of them didn't feel well, it was a plaintive, "Sister Terrill?"

But I remember taking the 5 mile hike - and Dale and I ended up at the tail end. And Dale kept me laughing the whole way. "I'm sure this is the 3rd time we've circled this pine tree. I know we've gone 10 miles already!" A woman after my own heart!!

A few months later, she and her husband and family moved to Oregon, I believe. We soon got word that Dale had been killed in a tragic auto accident. There had been other deaths by auto accidents in the Centerville Ward we lived in - and it was a pretty new experience for me to lose people so suddenly and unexpectedly.

Seeing this photo was like a little frozen moment in time - one that won't come back.

Treasure the here and now.