Seamstress Extraordinaire!
By Judy Blase Woodruff
Carolyn (Weissert) Wottowa has many vivid memories of her mother’s excellent sewing skills. Cyril and Lucy Weissert’s family were members of St. Philip Parish in East St. Louis, Ill., and Carolyn remembers her mother making clothes, and helping the church by repairing altar clothes and vestments.
So, when then Father John T. Fournie, pastor of St. Philip Parish, inaugurated a Summer Camp in 1957, known as Camp St. Philip, it was a given that Lucy would be asked by a former director to sew the flags and other items used at the Camp. A team who came up with the idea of the flags gave Lucy the designs. She then put the designs onto fabric, making her patterns from newspapers, brown cleaner bags, and cardboard. For the summer seasons of 1957 and 1958, Camp St. Philip was the Diocesan Camp located in two existing rented Summer Camps, one located at Camp Piasa in Grafton, Ill., and the other at Camp Vandeventer in Waterloo, Ill. Lucy’s handiwork was quite evident in several areas of the Camp.
Because of such enthusiastic support and its overwhelming popularity with campers, Camp St. Philip became Camp Ondessonk in 1959, and moved to its current location near Ozark, Ill., with the beautiful surrounding land of the Shawnee National Forest as its backdrop. With the assistance of a lay committee, a decision was made to purchase the land near Ozark. The first purchase was 300 acres, and in the following years hundreds of acres were obtained and added to the original purchase. At that time, Monsignor Fournie was named superitendant of Camp Ondessonk, with the former director running the Camp.
Once again, Lucy was asked to assist with sewing the unit flags by the former director. Going to W.T. Grant and other stores for the material, Lucy located the colors she needed to make a flag for each of the four original units: blue for Brebeuf; gold for Chabanel; purple for Groupil; and red for LaLande. As there became more units, many more colored flags were added to the collection.
Lucy’s living room was a virtual sewing shop with so many items often overtaking her home. There was a story and picture in the Messenger around 1962 talking about all the flags Lucy was making. The story said, “The flags play a large part in Ondessonk ceremonials and the formal retreat program at the Camp. Over the past years, Mrs. Weissert personally designed and made the flags used at the Camp, with the exception of the large American flag, which has been provided by the Butz-Job Post of the Catholic War Veterans.”
Lucy took pride in any project she attempted. She lived most of her years with Cy on the farm known as Green Acres. She made use of everything they grew on the farm, including canning during the summers. Some of the things she enjoyed were, of course, sewing, plus quilting, canning, crafts, bowling, and deep-sea fishing.
Carolyn credits her mother for her own ability to both sew and cook. She says, “My mother was a great cook and seamstress, and we worked on several cooking and sewing projects together.” One project she remembers vividly is when they made and repaired sails for 12 sailboats at Ondessonk. Each sail was made from six yards of material and each was in two colors, white and red.” She recalls that repairing the sails was necessary because, “one year Camp Ondessonk suffered the loss of several of its sailboats during a bad storm, and mom and I repaired the torn sails for the boats.”
Even though Carolyn did not attend Camp as a camper, she holds many fond memories of Camp Ondessonk. Her mom passed in 2017 at the age of 104, and this heartwarming, four-generation picture is a lasting tribute to Lucy’s family, and her devotion and expertise to her craft. Lucy’s great-granddaughter, Mikenzie, (pictured here as a baby) attended Horse Camp at Ondessonk this summer for the first time. She was able to experience firsthand the adventure and fun that is Ondessonk, plus, she saw how her great-grandmother’s handiwork was important to the development of Camp. Lucy was truly one of the last pioneers of Camp Ondessonk.
Click here to learn more about Camp Ondessonk’s Memories Project.
Click here to learn more about Camp Ondessonk’s Mission & History.
