A Magical Feeling – The End of Summer
By Pati Egan
Let’s take a walk back in time to when Camp closed in late August. As you walk past the now quiet and vacant Original Administration Building your mind still hears the sounds of campers and staff gathering here for registration, marathon, check out. Your mind still hears the music and laughter of the staff sitting on the porch playing guitars and singing songs – just enjoying the fellowship that can only come from working a Camp Ondessonk summer. It is now quiet and still – just memories.
The canoes are stacked high up on the shore. The rowboats and sailboats are in their winter storage place in Central. Camp really closed back then – everything but the canoes and the life jackets was taken down for the winter.
Your mind still sees the last Marathon Race and all of the Campers cheering on their unit from the road between the two lakes. All you hear now is the silence and perhaps a few ducks or geese hanging out on the beach.
Your feet take you to your unit – a magnetic pull to your home for the past six weeks. Perhaps there is a towel gently blowing in the wind. Your mind sees all of the Campers whose lives you touched and those who touched your life in return. You hear the multitude of voices from Unit campfires and other good times.
The Dining Hall is quiet except for the sound of the clinking of the ice machine. Your mind still hears the sounds of campers singing after every meal.
The Chapel is still, but you feel God’s presence all around you. You think back to the Mass where the Echo Our Father was introduced.
The buses have left. An occasional sleeping bag or forgotten suitcase sits all alone in the afternoon sun. Summer Camp is just a memory…memories that will live in your mind forever.
Didn’t Camp Used to End in Late August?
If you went to Camp in the 1960s through the 1990s, you might be thinking, “Wait, it’s barely August! Didn’t Camp end at the END of August?” You would be correct – a brochure from 1986 lists the last week as August 17th. Back in the day most schools did not open until after Labor Day. The last week of Summer Camp was typically small. Times were changing, schools were starting earlier, more colleges and universities moved from quarter semesters to semester schools. Staff needed to get back to school, high school students needed to get back for fall sports practice. There was always enough staff to have the 12th week but usually the staff was smaller and the enrollment was smaller too.
Click here to learn more about Camp Ondessonk Mission & History.
