Summer Camp

In the summers of 1952 and 1953, Carolyn, Jim, and I went to Western Life Camp in New Mexico two summers. It was located high in the mountains above Las Vegas, New Mexico.

Anne Clements, sister to John Clements , was the director of Camp Fire Girls in Lubbock. She had been instrumental in getting Carolyn started in Camp Fire Girls in Fort Worth.

Lubbock Camp Fire Girls rented the camp in New Mexico, and Anne invited us to go with her group for the camping experience. Carolyn could be a camper, I could be the Nature counselor, and Jim would be my helper.

It was a great, free vacation for us. I think Jim was three that first summer. Carolyn invited Elizabeth Ann to go with us, and they were great pals that summer.

The car we had at that time was old, and we had just bought a new, blue Ford before we left for camp. Kenneth Kellam owned the Ford dealership in Fort Worth and he helped us get a good, new one, which was smaller than the Nash I’d been driving. His wife, Mary, had been James' patient, and we had become very close friends.

In those days, a car had to be "broken in”--driven under 40 mph for the first 500 miles. The children and I had tolerated that trip to Lubbock at 40 mph, and were to follow Anne and her group to New Mexico. We could hardly wait to speed up.

Well, would you believe that Anne had a new car, and we had to drive all the way to New Mexico at 40 mph. Some trip! But it was worth it!

All of the counselors were mothers, and we had a great time together. There was a cook who lived at the Camp and she was a great help, too.

There was a pool, and of course, we Texans could hardly wait to get into it. Whew! It was icy, icy, straight off the melted snow up the mountain. Carolyn was about the only one who braved the pool more than once.

I took along all of my nature books, and learned a lot that summer identifying trees, flowers, rocks, fossils, etc. We made hats of leaves. And did all sorts of nature projects. We had long hikes into the mountains and up cold streams.

At night there was always a campfire with singing. One night they had a square dance party. About 50 girls.
We all had a great vacation together. I guess my avid desire to identify all of the nature objects around me began that summer. Of course, I had always loved the outdoors.