"Family Camp, Family Camp..."
As told by Dr. Jim Petersen
That’s how the Family Camp Song begins and it goes on almost forever, every few years adding a verse or two. And that song, begun by Carolyn Locke, reflects the history of the Cascades Presbytery’s Family Camp and its gradual development for over a half century.
I’m Jim Petersen, acting historian (with help from some friends), a position I accepted not because I have a great memory for names, details or dates -- which I don’t -- but because I’ve gone to Family Camp more than forty times.
My first encounter with the Cascades Presbytery’s Family Camp predecessor, the Synod of Oregon Family Camp, was a near-miss at the now-defunct Devil’s Lake Campground on Century drive near Bend. The year, 1965 with two kids, one in diapers, we joined a small freshly scrubbed group of about half-dozen families from Lake Grove Church. We came rolling in to Devil’s Lake as the dirt-covered group of about the same size was getting ready to leave. I found that this family camp had begun its life earlier, around 1960. I remember that pastors Oscar Payne, Bob & Jim Patten and Burton Alvis, a few spouses, kids and friends were packing for home. We from Lake Grove intersected with them for the next few summers as we filled their emptying spaces.
I discovered that our predecessors were “wise as serpents and gentle as doves.” Because of the limited camp sites available, one of the Synod folks would arrive a day early and hang a sign at the park’s entrance announcing that a church camp would be gathering there and that prayer meetings would be held “every hour on the hour.” Oddly, the entire campground would be vacant by the time the Presbyterian campers arrived the next day.
When I took a call to Southminster in Beaverton in 1967, Gare and Sylvia Van Dyk invited us to join them at the Synod’s Camp that next year in 1968. When we arrived Lyle and Mary Jarvis welcomed us, shared a table and other essential camping gear, and Lyle set up our tent. Real help for novices.
As we settled in at Devil’s Lake we scooped ice-water from the stream for drinking and cooking and drove to Elk Lake to swim and bathe. The crystal clear lake was too cold for swimming but provided a few golden trout for the serious fishers, (I got my share). Mid-morning Bible study led to engaging life discussions.
The lakeside ecology gradually wore down to where it would only handle fewer campsites and, in later years, was closed to all camping to maintain its beauty and viability. About the same time our numbers outgrew the camping area. We moved to Cultus Lake, up the road off Century Drive in 1969. Conditions were rustic, using an old red pump for water, no designated camping spots and for sure, no paved roads for bicycles. In the high mountain air away from city lights, many of us stayed up on the beach late into the nights to watch the spectacular August meteor showers. By then twenty families strong, mostly Southminster folks, we had adult Bible study in the mornings, water-skied and swam during the afternoons, had campfire activities (with actual fire), singing, shaggy dog stories (The Bull Moose Hunt and Heinie the Great Swimmer Who Was Used to Hardships Like That). Jokes and skits grew to be traditions with youngsters getting “up-front” experience, developing their confidence and leadership abilities. Late-evening adult discussions struggled with the changing roles of men and women. We wrestled late into the nights with the relevance of church and the complexities of our lives.
As I remember the Oregon Synod went away in a denominational restructure around 1973 and the three Presbyteries in western Oregon and a few churches around Vancouver merged to become the Cascades Presbytery. That was when we left the Oregon Synod behind and became the Cascades Presbytery Family Camp.
About that time, a grumpy camper filed a complaint with the Presbytery office about the size of our gathering, our walking through the campground to the lake and, I suspect, about the fun we were having. The Presbytery office caved and asked us to find another location.
We moved to Prineville Reservoir in 1974. The extreme heat of Eastern Oregon encouraged our water activities and the search for shade. Water-skiing and boats increased and were supplemented by Wally Carey’s six-foot long hard board called the “butt buster.” Towed behind one of the many water-ski boats, the rider often bounced a couple of feet off the water as the driver intentionally pulled sharp turns over the wakes. Towards the end of the week, we pot-lucked, using up leftovers we each were tired of, but which were new to everyone else. We did no pre-camp planning and I was ad-hoc dean, campfire and song leader and served for several years. After all, we were mostly still from Southminster.
After the move to Prineville Reservoir, Ray Endicott, stepped up as our first layperson dean. He instituted a planning committee. Through the year they reviewed the program, and activities were planned for more ages and traditions began to grow. Volunteers developed classes/activities for children and young people. That’s when the program really took off. The committee and family camp attenders seriously took on inviting folks from other churches in our Presbytery to balance the large Southminster contingent. Many new families added to our ranks, folks travelled from outside our Presbytery, and leadership grew from across the state.
Then the Eastern Oregon heat got too much for many and the planning committee moved us – this time to Honeyman State Park (fog) at Florence in about 1977. Somewhere before this move, Wally Anable brought or made coils for a brass hot water heater. A roaring fire before the evening gathering made hot water ready for chocolate, tea and coffee. This lasted years into the Honeyman era.
We are now forty to eighty-five families strong. We have picnics, families sharing meals, Sunday worship with communion, a Moveable Feast (a progressive dinner for getting acquainted - the Plancks 1991), the Slug 500 or Slug Race (kids found, fed & trained slugs for the races and the Foot Rally – Glenn Thomson), morning speakers, decorated bicycle parades, challenge courses – Rick Anderson, game nights, a band accompanying morning worship and campfire singing, name tags - 1985 & campsight name signs – Wally Anable, a free day Wednesday, a Thursday evening Digital Picture Show – Andy Crump 2003, Friday night Mo’s dinner when we’re tired of camp food, large junior and senior high gatherings with paid leaders, a serious slip and slide and the list goes on.
Cascades Presbytery’s Family Camp has evolved into a healthy way for Presbyterians in Oregon to get to know each other, carry each other’s burdens and build a shared concern for living out Christian lives. Adult education has ranged from Bible study, to personal growth, to listening skills, to faith/discipleship development, book studies and young people have considered their beliefs, doubts and ethical issues.
Family Camp has for over fifty years been self-sustaining and created in-depth Christian experience and deep relationships for countless Presbyterian families. It’s also been a solid witness of our faith to those camping around us, some of whom actually joined us and returned in following years.
AN INCOMPLETE LIST OF DEANS IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER: Oscar Payne, Jim Petersen, Ray Endicott, Rick Anderson, Lou Balmer, Lyle Jarvis, Steve & Gail Planck, Althea Bean, Greg Russell, Dean Rees, Barry McPherson, Connie Hahs, Georgia Walp, Mark Maleta, Jill Simmons, Chad Davis, Mike Lofrano, Jim Whitney and Cathy Lambeth.