A look back on more summer camp memories

The summer I turned 16 was full of adventure. I graduated from Alexander Galt High School in June and won a scholarship to attend Bishop’s University in the fall. (that summer Champlain Cegep was created so I ended up there instead). I went on a student exchange trip with many high school friends to Lethbridge, Alberta, for 10 days, and flew in an airplane for the first time. I got my driver’s license. I also became a camp counselor at the United Church camp located at Cedar Lodge.

What a week we had. Many of the ministers in the presbytery were young and brought their families with them as campers. One of them, Rev. Jim Sinclair, whose two boys were in my tent, eventually became the executive secretary of the entire United Church. His wife Donna wrote for years in the United Church magazine, The Observer. Rev. Burn Purdon was also there and led much of the campfire singing. I had already attended presbytery, so I knew the ministers before I arrived at camp. One reverend I knew never took his clerical collar off in public, and I wondered sometimes if he even wore it to bed. At Cedar Lodge I learned that ministers could be fun, wear T-shirts and shorts, play pranks, be silly sometimes, and, well, just be ordinary human beings.

I was a good swimmer, so I was asked to teach swimming lessons.

This was 1971, and things were a bit different then. I had never been given a swimming lesson in my life, so I had to get some resources and learn what I was supposed to teach. I learned the breaststroke, back stroke, and even the butterfly, while I taught the campers. It was fun, and I loved teaching. I also enjoyed the canoes, and learned a new skill, gunneling. Two of us would stand on our canoes, and push down with our legs to make them move forward. Lots of fun, but eventually we always slipped off into the water.

I had a tent with eight campers. We got along well, I was always good with younger children, until one fateful night. They pleaded with me to tell ghost stories. I knew many of course. I always was a Hallowe’en guy. I made some up, scary ones too. Mistake!! They loved them at the beginning, but when it was time for lights out, I ended up with some crying kids begging for their parents. OOPS. Lesson learned.

I loved the campfires, because we also did funny sketches. One I remember was called Pebbles. A camper walked up late to campfire, and the leader asked, “Where were you?” he quietly answered, “I was throwing pebbles in the lake.” In a few minutes a second camper repeated this scene. Then a third a few minutes later. Finally a water soaked camper arrives, and the leader asks “What happened to you?”. He replies loudly “I’m Pebbles”.

One of the counselors, Paul (commotion) Comeau taught me how to perform a great magic trick. I pretended to be a magician, did a few tricks, and then promised to make a camper disappear. I held up a blanket, and was in the middle of my routine when a female counselor screamed at the back of the room. Every single person turned to look, and the camper dashed out the nearby door. I returned to my routine, said “Abra Cadabra”, and dropped the blanket. No camper. I got great applause for making him disappear. All of us kept the secret, and my reputation grew. Thanks Paul.

Our camp cook was also a minister from East Angus named Rev. Geerlof Lokhorst. He always wore a chef’s hat and white T-shirt, and he laughed. No one would have guessed that he was a reverend. One night after the kids were in bed, he cooked a banquet of what we thought was roast beef. It was amazing and tasted great, until we learned what it really was. He asked us to be quiet and guess what we had just eaten. Some guessed beef, or venison. One person though it might be moose. No he proclaimed, with a big grin. It was horse meat. Many of the counselors and adult staff were quite angry at him not just because he kept it a secret, but because they had enjoyed it so much and felt guilty.

The next summer I worked full time but took every chance I could to return and help. Nobody paid camp counselors at that time. I worked the graveyard shift but cut back on my sleep a bit to spend early evenings at camp. It wasn’t the same though. I missed being a counselor, so in August I quit my job in the sawmill and spent three weeks as a counselor at Quebec Lodge, an Anglican summer camp on Lake Massawippi. It had a beautiful beach, and outdoor chapel area. There is something truly special about outdoor worship, especially in the evening. A song I remember from that summer was “Morning has Broken”. It was a huge Cat Stevens hit, but also a hit at summer camp. Many years later someone had the idea to move a small Anglican church building to the campground for a worship space. I’m sure it was a beautiful building, but still, worship at summer camp is always best outdoors.

I was the new guy, as it was my first time at this camp, and also, I was from a different denomination. This made no difference as I felt welcomed immediately. I met friends like Richard Salt, that I still have to this day. The camp routine was similar to Cedar Lodge, so I felt quite comfortable as a counselor. Something new was a “Counselor hunt”. We all got to hide somewhere on the camp grounds while all the campers searched for us. I loved climbing trees so that’s where I hid, so I could see all the action. Not the best place to hide, because the kids found me quickly.

This was 1972, and some of us, like Dave Pabke and I, were chess nerds. The world championship was being held, between American Bobby Fischer, and Russian Boris Spassky. This got lots of media attention and we set up a chess board in the counselor’s lounge and each night we replayed the day’s match. I enjoyed Quebec Lodge in 1972, but that was my only summer there.

That fall, however, I spent a weekend at Parkside Ranch, another summer camp and retreat centre. I had joined the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship group at Bishop’s. I share this story because of a meaningful moment on my spiritual journey. We were inside in a large room with a fireplace. The leader of our retreat invited us to write letters to God. We were asked to confess all the things that we had done wrong and ask forgiveness. When I was eight years old, I had been playing with firecrackers with some older kids and we accidentally burned down an old barn that belonged to my grandfather. That moment had haunted me a bit for years. I still to this day don’t play with firecrackers. That day at Parkside I wrote that down in my letter. The leader collected them all, said a prayer, then place them all in the fireplace. As we watched them go up in flames, he said that all our sins were gone as well, and we were free to live a new life. We were forgiven. It is hard for me to describe how I felt at that moment, and I was speechless. This marked a major milestone on my journey with God, and whenever I drive by Parkside I remember that feeling.

In 1973, I graduated from Cegep and needed to earn more money for tuition. I worked the graveyard shift at Tucker Plastics, so my regular camps were out. Frontier Lodge, though, had a camp that ran the last two weeks of August. I knew many people there, so I decided to be a counselor again, just before university began in September. A new tradition I learned was Morning Dip. The minute the bell rang to wake us up we could grab our swimsuits and have a quick swim. I loved that. Another tradition was to swim across Lake Wallace to the American side. We won awards for that. Years later campers were not allowed within 20 feet of the US border. This camp was connected to the Brethren Church in Huntingville and was more conservative, but the counselors still enjoyed pranks. In the dining hall one table was reserved for the Director and some staff. One morning that table was on the dining hall roof, complete with plates and knives and forks. The director had a late breakfast that day. This camp also had an indoor gym where we could play basketball, volleyball, and dodge ball.

The next summer I worked at a Day Camp in Beebe for the summer, so no overnight camp counseling. The following summer I hitchhiked out west on an adventure to test my call to ministry. This is not the end of my camp stories however. You’ll have to wait some more. I do want to emphasize the importance of summer camps in my journey of faith, and also how much difference they can make in the lives of children and teenagers. I also want to thank all the volunteers. Camp Livingstone, Frontier Lodge, Quebec Lodge, and Parkside Ranch are still thriving ministries. The United Church camp migrated from Cedar Lodge, to Quebec Lodge, to Frontier Lodge, and is now located at Camp D’action Biblique in Richmond. Still each summer it is resurrected to offer joy and love to our world.