The “Mayor” of Ozark
By Judy (Blase) Woodruff
When Camp Ondessonk was being built in 1959, there was no place for weekday volunteers to live while they worked. An old abandoned farmhouse was used as living quarters by these workers. The abandoned farmhouse was known as “The Deer Hunters Lodge.” It was located on Packentuk Road close to Durbin’s Barn and the turnoff to Cedar Falls. It had no electricity or running water, but there was an old well close by. The volunteers used cots and sleeping bags, and washed with creek water.
The farmhouse was about a mile or so as the crow flies from the main area of Camp. To get there, there was a barbed wire fence one had to maneuver, pass a small pond filled with slimy algae and hike through very tall grass filled with a variety of insects.
After a long and tiring day of hauling trees that were cut into boards by hand to build the cabins for four units, the workers were famished. They would go into “downtown” Ozark and descend upon the General Store where Treva Barker would make them dinner.
You have to understand, that in the late 1950s, the residents of Ozark were somewhat suspicious of Camp Ondessonk and its workers, but Treva Barker was a strong advocate of the Camp and its volunteers and staff. Even though the community was apprehensive of things Catholic in the pre-Kennedy era of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Mrs. Barker welcomed the 15 or 20 hungry young men who would pile into her store daily after dark. She would jokingly protest saying, “If I knew you were coming, I could have had things ready,” but she would smile and fix a large batch of pork chops, potatoes, and gravy; and the workers would eat until they were full.
Treva was the storeowner and lived behind the General Store in the main part of Ozark. “Ma” Barker, as she was affectionately called in those early years of Camp, ran the store. The director of Camp, at that time, established a line of credit with her for ease of payment. The townspeople were jealous of the Camp workers, but despite disapproval from her neighbors, Ma treated the volunteers with kindness and affection.
Mrs. Barker was a stout woman with black hair and glasses. What made her such a beautiful woman was the sparkle in her eyes, her wide smile, and the loyalty and love in her heart for her Ondessonk Friends.
Once Camp was opened, she would, from time to time, share meals in the Dining Hall and help out wherever needed. The campers and staff would call her the “Mayor of Ozark.” Treva would protest the title but enjoyed the attention, and she would beam as the campers gave her the official Camp greeting of “Heepwah!”
Treva is the fifth person from the right, sitting between Sister M. Eugene and Carol (Sikora) Hechenberger in this 1966 Girls’ Staff picture.
When Treva’s 93-year-old husband passed, the entire volunteer crew dressed in what became the Camp uniform of dark blue pants with a white stripe down the side, a light blue, long-sleeved dress shirt, and tie, and they travelled to the funeral home in Paducah, Kentucky, to pay their respects. This touched Treva deeply, and she never forgot their presence and support.
She eventually became the director’s housekeeper in Elizabethtown until her death. Many former staff members from the early days of Ondessonk attended her funeral in Elizabethtown and sang her funeral Mass. It was a great tribute to a wonderful friend.
What made Treva special to Camp was that she befriended the people of Ondessonk even though the local community rejected them. Because of her loyalty and affection for Camp, she was presented the green sash of the Merit of St. René Goupil award at the Ondessonk Appreciation Dinner July 15, 1964, and from that time forward she held the title of Honorary Princess of the Lodge of Tekakwitha.
*Passages in this story were taken from the memories of Bill Clark and his account of the beginnings of Camp Ondessonk.
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