‘Instant shorthand’: Couples who met at camp look back
by Melissa Kossler Dutton
ron GaMMell first noticed Mary Turk on the bus en route to camp.
“She had a pretty smile,” he said of the young woman who would later become his wife.
it was the summer of 1963 and the two were headed to Cheley Colorado Camps in Estes Park Valley to work. Ron was going to be on the transportation crew and Mary was to serve as a social counselor. A few weeks later, he asked her out. After a memorable first date on which the car he borrowed blew out a tire and he had to change it in the rain, they started going steady.
they dated long distance while attending college in different states, reconnecting for two more summers at camp. in August of 1965, Mary told him: “You’re either in or you’re out.” he proposed, and they married a year later.
Meeting at the family-run camp had an impact on their courtship, the couple said now. they both understood that the Cheley family was selective about hiring, and carefully screened would-be staffers. “Being counselors at the camp that had such Christian ideals, i knew he had the same values,” she said. “We learned a lot from everyone—even the kids. it groomed you to have a good marriage.”
For Janet and Adam Guy, attending the same camp as kids helped jump-start their romance when they reconnected more than a decade after they’d met at Eagle’s Nest Camp in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina.
“We had this instant shorthand,” Janet said. As they talked, it was apparent they had similar life philosophies. they both prioritized kindness and caring for others—values that were a focus of their camp experience. “Camp impacted how i try to live my life and how i move through the world, and i saw that Adam has similar views.”
it’s not surprising that romance can bloom at camp—especially among counselors—because so many camps are strategic about hiring young people with similar values, said Eric ikari, who met his wife, Jennifer, while they worked as counselors at tom Sawyer Camps in Pasadena, California.
“Camp helped us focus our attitudes and values— maybe even more than we knew,” he said.
Although camps certainly don’t encourage dating, campers and counselors who embrace the core messages may find themselves attracted to each other, said
A heArt Adam Guy made in 2005 for his wife, Janet, when they met at eagle’s Nest Camp in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina, in 1986. this photo was taken at the couples wedding and the heart had been placed on a pedestal on the stage during the ceremony. For Janet and Adam, attending the same camp as kids helped jump-start their romance when they reconnected more than a decade after they’d met at eagle’s Nest Camp.
ikari, who is now a director for tom Sawyer camps and is active with the American Camp Association, the national professional association for camps.
As a director, he cautions counselors who are dating to avoid public displays of affection and reminds them that the kids are the priority. Often, couples think they are hiding their romance and are surprised when their bosses initiate such a conversation. they’re shocked when we say, “We can totally tell you’re dating,” ikari said.
“We were pretty discreet,” said Mary Gammell, who remembers going to the lodge in the mornings in her curlers to visit with Ron, who was tasked with sweeping the floor.
Carving out time to date as camp employees is difficult, said Jim Fuller, who met his wife, Susie, on the job. “You have to try and coordinate the one day a week and the one night a week that you have off and try not to be so obvious about it that the other people know about it,” he said from his home in Fort Collins, Colorado. the Fullers, who married six months after meeting at Cheley, will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in December.
Janet Guy never dreamed she would end up dating, let alone marrying Adam, who was four years her junior, even though she always kept a memento from him on her bedside table. One summer, 11-year-old Adam drew 15-year-old Janet’s name for the annual camp-wide gift exchange. he spent the summer following her around, trying to determine what handmade gift she would appreciate.
JANet (from left) and Adam Guy with their friend margot Wallston, standing together at eagle’s Nest Camp in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina. the three were attending eagle’s Nest Camp’s 90th anniversary celebration.
he ultimately gave her a tie-dyed t-shirt and wooden heart with her name painted on it that he made in woodshop.
“it was one of my treasured camp memories,” she said, explaining why the heart was always on display in her bedroom. “i was just touched that he put so much work into it. it was a real labor of love.”
Years later, when 28-year-old Adam, who was living in Atlanta, sent her an e-mail, the couple began a regular correspondence that escalated to hours on the phone talking. Months later, when he visited her in New York City, sparks flew.
“the first thing he did when he got off of the plane was kiss me,” she said. “i was dazzled.” they will celebrate their 15th anniversary this year. “Camp was a special place,” Adam said. “it helped shape my values. Janet feels the same way. Our personalities just meshed.”
When Sarah Wagoner’s first child was born, the doctor announced during delivery, “It’s a girl. Do you know what to do with a girl?” Without hesitation, Wagoner responded: “We’re going to send her to Clearwater Camp!”
For many families, summer camp is a thing passed down from generation to generation.
Wagoner, who lives in Chicago, spent many happy summers as a camper and counselor at Clearwater Camp for Girls in Minocqua, Wisconsin. She hopes her daughter, Abigail, now 2, will someday embrace camp life and the important lessons it has to offer.
“Camp gave me so much confidence and taught me how to make good decisions,” she said. “I want her to experience that.”
Returning to the same camp over generations is an ideal way to enhance family connections, said Dimitris Xygalatas, a professor in the departments of anthropology and psychological sciences at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Family traditions “provide a feeling of continuity, and this is very important for our sense of collective identity and unity,” he said. “When we do things the way our ancestors have done them, we feel that we are continuing their heritage.”
Clearwater, which opened in 1933, has many campers whose mothers or grandmothers attended, said Liz Baker, great-granddaughter of the founder. Traditions are a big part of the camp experience, she said, and grandparents and grandkids can enjoy talking about Tuesday Muffin nights, say, “or recall what it’s like to sit around the council fire and say the Clearwater pledge or sing the council fire song.”
“There’s something timeless about camp,’’ she said. “A lot of people like knowing that they can walk on the premises of Clearwater Camp and feel like it hasn’t changed a bit.” AP