Times Change – Camp Changes Too

By Pati Egan

The late 1960s and early 1970s were a time of challenges and change. Bob Dylan’s song The Times They Are A-Changin’ was just as true then as it is now. Camp, like just about everything, experimented with a concept that would not see its reappearance until 1989. In 1971, Camp offered two weeks of Coed Summer Camp. The schedule had 5 weeks of Boys Camp, two weeks of Coed Camp, and 5 weeks of Girls Camp.

It’s interesting that there being two weeks of Coed is not listed in the brochure. It was my first year on staff. I expected to be the Archery Instructor, instead I was a Unit Leader. I don’t recall any mention of there being a Coed Session. I sure didn’t recall knowing I would be a Unit Leader during the second week of Coed.

There was no real orientation in those days. I hadn’t been to Camp since 1969. For some reason I only recall Patty Canavan as a unit staff. It was basically Patty and I, both first-year staff, and 36 girls.

Camp did not really prepare for this experiment in Coed Camping. The boys, like now, had the Daniel to Brébeuf side of Lake Echon; the girls had Lalande to Garnier.

Marian (Williams) Blackford recalls that she was in Garnier. She was a Nature instructor during Coed. She thinks a whole unit of girls collaborated with a whole unit of boys and somehow avoided detection long enough to have all of the girls visit a boy’s unit. Camp did not have this program organized well. I don’t think two whole units would go undetected nowadays.

If At First You Don’t Succeed….

Gene Canavan became Camp Director in 1986, Gene had many ideas to keep Camp strong financially. After much discussion and planning he convinced the Board of Directors and the Bishop to give Coed Camping one more shot. Dan Hechenberger recalls that it wasn’t easy to get the program set up. Just like in 1971, Camp had two weeks of Coed. “Perhaps one of the most dramatic changes…was the addition of two one-week Coed sessions July 2 – 8 and July 9 – 15 of 1989” (50th Anniversary Book). Gene felt that Camp needed to make this change to stay competitive with other Camps. The staff had some apprehension about carrying this off. Eric Schauster stated in the 50th Anniversary Book, “after the first week, we could tell it was going to be huge!”

Brother – Sister Units

Elizabeth Abaray recalls that “I was a first-year camper in 1991 in Brébeuf. Our brother unit was Chabanel. “Our chant was, ‘Chabeuf, Chabeuf, na na na na na na na na na na.’ Wasn’t a dry eye in closing campfire when we sang to them, ‘Chab my brother, you are older than me… Chab, you are a star in the face of the sky… Oh, God, it looks like Chab, must be the clouds in my eyes.’ I’ll thank Elton John for that inspiration.  That week had me sold on Camp O for life or longer.”

I loved Bro-Sis Units, Friday morning carnival at Archery, the Friday night dance, and lining up outside the Dining Hall before meals. Also loved singing Unit Cheers all week at meals.”

Other memories from the staff who were there in 1989:

“I was there for the first Coed Camp. It was pretty crazy. We got no sleep. We had to sit up all night at strategic spots where campers would try to cross over to meet the opposite sex in the middle of the night. I was posted on the Dam Road between the lakes. Actually, caught campers. We also had a dance in the Dining Hall after the Friday Campfire. Had a blast at the dance but made us exhausted on Saturday because of the time change overnight,” said Claire Hatch.

“I was a unit leader. Gene was the director. I know he scrambled in later years, getting enough ULs for those two weeks. Many of us returned to volunteer those weeks for him in order to pull it off. Each unit had two ULs, then split up with their brother/sister unit for daily activities. I feel like we met up on the all-day hike. I know we had night patrols again on the Dam Road. I remember the Friday Dance,” said Julie (Brossart) Mussell.

John Regan, a staff member, had DJ experience. The Friday Night Dance was a big hit.

“Here is the only photo I could find of Coed in 1989 – I think we switched Lalemant and Raganeau shirts between the girls and boys. 🧡🩵 (There is a girl wearing the then maroon Amantacha shirt, a boy’s unit. Julie (Brossart) Mussell – Chabanel’s brother unit, right?) I was in Lalemant with Terri (Meints) Dennis. This was some ice breaker/social thing with all the sister/brother units in the Le Coeur.” Suzy (Munn) Mahoney remembers,

“Goupil and Daniel were brother/sister units during Coed. I had so much fun being unit leader of Goupil (the best unit ever!) with Brian Barker as unit leader of Daniel. We did this for several years together, “Amy Menard said.

“Terri and I were there, I was UL in Raganeau and our sister unit was Lalemant which Terri was the UL. The idea of ‘Coed Camp’ was a shocking idea at the time, but the kids had a blast during those weeks. As Claire mentioned, it was exhausting but the experiment was a complete success! I also wound up marrying Terri!” exclaimed Jim Dennis.

In 2008, the Brother/Sister Unit concept was discontinued. By this time Coed Camp was becoming more popular. By 2019, Camp had five Coed weeks; one Boys Week, and two Girls Weeks. The parents liked the Coed Camp experience. Eventually, Boys Week was dropped, and then Girls Camp. It was felt that discontinuing Brother/Sister Units would allow all campers the best of single gender units while letting brothers and sisters the opportunity to attend the same week.

Coed Camp is a given in today’s world. According to statistics from Google, “Approximately 77.4% of camps are coed, while 9.2% offer combo (single-gender sessions), and the remaining 13.4% are exclusively single-gender (boys-only or girls-only) camps. These figures come from a 2017 American Camp Association report based on responses from 295 camps, indicating that the vast majority of American summer camps are coeducational in their client base.”

I volunteer during the Summer Camp Season. I have helped in Archery and Riflery. The staff is also Coed. The courtesy and respect for each other that I have seen is an exceptional example of Coed Camping at its best.

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