The Beginning of Camp
By Judy Blase Woodruff
The year was 1959, and a camp was being built in southern Illinois near Ozark. What was to become Camp Ondessonk, began with the work of many volunteers. The former director of Camp Pakentuck influenced Monsignor John T. Fournie, then pastor of St. Philip Parish in East St. Louis, to obtain financial support from Diocesan parishes along with the labor to build the physical plant of Camp.
In late spring of 1959, the first volunteers traveled down a narrow, winding railroad bed for what seemed like many miles, when in fact it was only a few miles. At the first clearing, there was a flat sandstone rock on which the foundation of a large building was poured. On that foundation, the original Dining Hall was built. Bill Clark, one of the early volunteers, reminisced, “Standing on the rock behind the Dining Hall, I could look down into a valley and up a power line swatch to the next hill miles away. Camp was, from the very first, for me, a connection to the wilderness.” Once a dam was placed, that valley became Lake St. Isaac.
Parishes from around the Diocese sent volunteers and much-needed funds. Many of the volunteers were tradesmen donating time on the weekends. Their carpentry and plumbing skills helped build the infrastructure of Camp. In addition to these skilled laborers, older high school boys and college-age seminarians trimmed fresh-cut oak with hand saws to build the cabins. Those cabins were arranged in groups, creating units around Camp. Bill remembers, “We had one or two gas army surplus generators to supply some electricity when they were running. Most of the carpentry work was done by hand. We also did an incredible amount of walking and carrying.”
The workdays were long and tiring, and the weekday volunteers slept in an old farmhouse eight or so miles as the crow flies from the main area of Camp. They used cots and sleeping bags and washed in the cold creek water. Many of the workers would go into Ozark and stop by the General Store, where owner, Treva (Ma) Barker, would make them dinner. She was a strong advocate of Camp Ondessonk and treated the volunteers and staff with kindness.
A week before Camp opened to campers June 28, 1959, a well was dug and there was running water. Plastic pipe lay on top of the ground, and since there was no hot water in the first bath house, the first one to shower was treated to sun-heated water.
During that first week of Camp, there was no Chapel, and Mass was said under the overhang below the original Dining Hall, better known today as the Grotto. Bill remembers, “We really pushed the opening of Camp. Parents were bringing the children in the front Gate while we were still putting bunks in the cabins. Our first swimming area was in the creek, where nature provided a cold, refreshing pool with a rock to jump off of into the deepest part. We cleared the trees away and put in a sand beach and a dressing room.” The swimming area, called Blue Pool, was supervised by Richard Ruppel and lifeguard Bill Clark.
Can you imagine being one of the very first campers to experience Camp Ondessonk in 1959? Your family driving an unairconditioned car down a dusty, rocky railroad bed arriving at a parking area and seeing the only building, a large, screened-in structure that housed the Dining Hall. As you looked for your unit, you were greeted by cabins built out of green lumber with screen doors and screened windows. There were no trails except for a very small road to follow to one of four units: Brébeuf, Chabanel, Goupil, and LaLande nestled among the forest’s trees. As spring turned to summer, the uncured oak shrank, leaving large gaps in between the planks of the cabin floors.
Favorite Camp activities at that time were Archery, which was located near the present-day Amantacha Bridge with instructor Robert Siekmann; led by Richard Gill, the Riflery program was located in the same place it stands 66 years later on the south side of Camp; Camp Crafts, instructed by Gerald Montroy, taught how to use ropes, knives, axes, and open-fire cooking; Nature lessons were given by John Prindable, who led hikes. And the first Ondessonk Stables sat on what is now known as Brébeuf Flats. Father Jack Stallings of Shawneetown, Ill., led a group of men who built the stables in one weekend. Leading the herd of donated horses was Larry Garner.
While Camp Ondessonk was truly primitive in those first years, it has evolved to the exciting, meaningful Camp experience it is today. Bill Clark sums it up, “I have always looked back at the first summer at Camp with awe. We took a piece of rock and a panorama of trees and hills and a creek, and turned it into a Camp that brought nature into the lives of thousands of young men and women of Illinois and Indiana… I am proud to have been part of the unique beginning.”
We are thankful for the memories of those first volunteers and staff. You can provide your special Camp memories by clicking here. We want to hear from you because YOU are an important part of Camp’s narrative!
