Family Stories
Girl Scouting, Part 2
First, I want to make a correction. The first time I attended Camp Drake was in 1964, just after finishing 5th grade.
In 1965 I made it back, as I had promised myself. I knew I wouldn't be in the youngest girl unit. I expected to be placed in one of the 3 middle girl units, nearest the camp kitchen. To my surprise I had been jumped clear to the oldest girl unit, then named Shuck (all the units had names from Boy Scout history). There were 3 other girls my age up with me. I absolutely loved it!
Physically, our unit was the furthest from the main camp. But we were closest to the main campfire area and the horses. Our camp was a semi circle of A frames at the top of a long sloping hill. At the bottom (about a mile and a half away) we could see the lake I had gone rowing on the last year. It was beautiful in so many ways!
I may have been one of the youngest girls in my unit, but I was determined to be worthy of the honor. I paid attention to the older girls and made friends with them. They were generally good role models and some of them I remained friends with for many years.
My 6th grade year had been very difficult academically (3 different teachers! I should write that story one of these days), so it was with great joy that I got on the bus for Camp Drake, now renamed Camp Cielo. Something about the Boy Scouts wanting to make it easier to rent. All the units had new names too. I went back up the hill to my unit, now renamed Dry Gulch. The person who named it clearly had spent some time up there. Even though it was beautiful (especially in the morning and at night), it was dry. No stream ran through our camp. Lots of dust, though we did have quite a few oak trees. And it did get hot up there...
By this time I had established myself up there. I had confidence in who I was. Not every day was wonderful, but most were. Why? Well, start with the singing. We sang, a lot. We sang grace before every meal. We sang for fun after meals until everyone was ready to be dismissed. We sang at campfire. We sang while hiking. And best of all, in Dry Gulch we had older girls who could play guitar, so we sang every night. What did we sing? A real mix of fun and silly songs, Girl Scout songs, a few protest songs, and a lot of folk songs.
A typical day would include time at the pool, either in lessons or in free swim. I think this was the year I signed up for water ballet. That's hard work! I really appreciate synchronized swimmers now. We had crafts most days. Sometimes we had folk dancing. I still miss being able to do that. Horseback riding. For those who signed up for it, drama classes. Always something to do. Always people I liked to hang around with. The food was good too!
It was during the first session that I found out that several of the older girls were coming back for the fourth (last) session as well. You could do that? As soon as I got home I bugged my parents about it. They talked to Council. Yes, there were still some vacancies for the last session. We cut a deal. If I could earn half the money be a certain date, they would pay the rest. I hustled and hustled and managed to earn the money. With great joy I was off again!
I found the last session to be very different from the first session. Instead of beginnings, it was endings. The staff was getting ready to leave too. For them it was bitter sweet. Most of them were college students from different places. It occurred to me that someday I could be one of them. It seemed a good goal.
Somewhere in my 7th grade year my Girl Scout troop fell apart. The woman who had been our leader was moving, and no one else wanted the job. And it was 7th grade. Statistically that is about the time that many girls get involved in other things and don't have time or interest in scouting. I refused to accept the possibility that my time in scouting was over! My mom had a simple solution, "If you want to continue in scouting, call Council and see if there's a troop locally you can join."
For me, that was a big step. But returning to Camp Cielo and all it symbolized was at stake. Apparently my troop wasn't the only one in my grade that was folding. Council was helping put together a new troop for us. I think we met once or twice towards the end of my 7th grade year, but that was enough to qualify me for camp.
My new troop was comprised of 5 girls from 4 different girls. We would meet at Monique's home for our 8th grade year and would merge with a troop of girls a year younger the next. Monique's mom was officially the assistant leader, so she was Mrs. B #2. Our official leader was Mrs. B #1.
I should explain about our leaders. Mrs. B #1 had 2 daughters. The younger one was in the grade below me. The older daughter was going to bridge into a Senior Scout troop led by a woman knows as Mrs. B #3. I'll explain more about her, probably next week. Once the older daughter joined the senior troop Mrs. B#2 planned to become the assistant leader of Mrs. B#3. The plan was for all of us to join Mrs. B#3's troop once we were old enough.
I did go to Camp Cielo that year. My unit had been renamed the more encouraging, Gypsy Hill. Somehow that did suit us better. We had a new group of oldest girls. Crocket and Jan had aged out. I was to re-meet them in a few years. Joyce confided to me that her goal was to become a CIT the nex summer-a Counselor-in-Training. Our Council had a program for that at Camp Singing Pines.
The 5 of us had a good year. We formed friendships that lasted us many years. Monique and I eventually became best friends, but that's another whole long bunch of stories. That spring we joined the younger girls for a camp out at a Council owned place up in the mountains. It was a rainy spring and the creek was higher than normal. We were able to get across though. During that night though, it rained more up river. We had to leave earlier than planned since the creek was rising, fast. We got back across, but we all got wet. A little later in the day and we might have had to be rescued!
Our Council had merged with two other Councils and had a big ceremony at the Rose Bowl to celebrate it. Monique and I were chosen to take part. I'm one of the "lucky" ones holding one of the flags of the nations. I have no idea which nation's flag I was holding. No one told me and I didn't recognize it. All I knew was that it was hot and the flag was heavy. Debbie Reynolds was one of the VIP's. She was a Scout leader for her daughter. Nice lady. I'm sorry to report that Sherrie Lewis, the creator of Lamb Chop, not such a nice person. I never watched anything with her in it again.
The Rose Bowl event was only one of the Council and area wide events that I was now going to. I was moving into a larger universe. Sometimes I would meet friends from camp. I was in 9th grade now, high school. It was strange. It was like I had a secret identity. One day a week, instead of walking home I would meet up with Monique and the others and walk down to the local Scout House where we had our merged troop meetings.
In 1968 I had my last session up at Camp Cielo. I was entering 10th grade. I had already bridged into Senior Scouting. The assumption was that I would go into Mrs. B#3's Mariner Scout Troop. And contrary like I am, I didn't want to. I wanted to find out what my options were. But the other 4 were sold on that troop, and I didn't want to break up our friendship, so I went along.
At camp, it was my turn to be one of the oldest girls. Mandy, who I had known for several years now was like me. She had found a Senior troop and was going to go for CIT as well. We both wanted to return to Cielo as counselors. Joyce had made it into CIT at Singing Pines and had written, saying she was enjoying it. My relationship with the counselors had changed. Since we were so much closer in age, we were more like friends. It was very encouraging.
I'm pretty sure I cried on the bus ride home. My life as a camper at camp was over, but my adventures in Girl Scouting were just beginning to get interesting.
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