GOODBYE SUMMER, HELLO FALL

For many it is also back to school soon, as we prepare to close the lid of our 2009 summer memory box. Before it closes, memories of the past leap from the pages of time to paint pictures of three quarters of a century ago of Summer Camp. I am 10 years old and my sister is l2. It was sponsored by a non profit organization called the Canadian Sunday School Mission. Summer camps are now usually sponsored by organized churches. There was no church in our small community except for a United Church student minister sent out if requested, to do his practicum during the summer before graduating for a degree from a Saskatchewan university. I suspect it was requested by the Weeks family who were upstanding and honoured members in our community.

Anyone willing to memorize 500 Bible verses could attend camp free. We presented our list to one of the leaders who selected a few verses to test us. Campers were given a Bible if they were all correct. All campers took a turn helping in the kitchen when we saw our names on the list. Playing ball, swimming in Gull Lake, and singing around the campfire gave us a lifetime memories. Half a dozen campers or more slept in cabins. We exchanged addresses with other girls and exchanged letters and books for years. Camp opened a new vista of the world for us and I feel we were all better for it. No trouble with the law for any of us in the future. Except once when I failed to notice the speed limit had been reduced by 10 miles when on a trip years later in the city of Paso Robles, California. I happened to be driving and my husband was asleep in the back seat. The officer took out his pencil and wrote on his pad, “Come and visit California again sometime. Write your address here and I’ll send you a copy of our Paso Robles Daily in case you might decide to move here. He did. We didn’t move to that city but it left us happy memories.