Memories of Camp Adventure

How I Came to Camp Adventure

I graduated from B-CC High School in 1969. My Mom wanted me to get a summer job since I had spent the previous summer at the University of Montana studying ecology with students my age, and having a great time. I found a job at our church working in an office which did not appeal to me at all. Then Mom told me that Marla Kean was going to be working at a camp and encouraged me to check it out. It sounded a like a much better choice, and Marla would be there with me. I was hired as a counselor. My only experience with a camp was a 2-week stint at Girl Scout Camp May Flather, in Virginia with two of my friends.
Marla was hired as the water instructor and I was to be a counselor for the five, and six-year-old girls during the day. After the day campers left, I would be a counselor for the 12 to 14-year-old girls in their cabin.


Orientation and Welcome to Camp Adventure

My first day at camp was an orientation with no campers. We met all the counselors, Tony, Sally and their children. We enjoyed the day, learning about the camp, and checking out the cabins, and activity areas. Of course, we saw all the horses as well, I remember Bob, Henry, Cordell, Sharon and Marla. I also remember a CIT named Paul. Tony and Sally's daughter, Kristin, and I think Karen, were in the cabin with me. I remember hearing that Kristin had a big crush on Henry and I also found out several weeks in that his last name was Krautwurst! 



Meeting Henry

On our orientation day we spent some time in the afternoon in the camp's beautiful swimming pool. The counselors played Keep-away, boys against girls. Henry went to hit the ball and I jumped to block it. I can't remember if I hit it or missed, but as I came down my thumb nail scratched his abdomen pretty badly. I was, of course mortified! ! We laugh about it now. 


Evenings with Henry

After dinner and the cabins filled with sleepers, some of the counselors would meet in the dining room to play cards or games. Afterwards, Henry and I would lie on the trampoline and watch the stars, and meteors, and talk much of the night. Sally caught us one night and shooed us back to our cabins. After that we scoped out the barn area and found that the roof of the loafing shed was easily accessible and very dark and hidden from prying eyes. Sally never found us up there but she heard us and would come out and yell at us to go to bed. That summer I was so sleep deprived, but more on that later.



Fun Things We Did at Camp

A couple times Tony would have "utensil day" at dinner. Each person chose a single utensil for eating their food. The choices were strange, at best. We had ladles, slotted spoons, tongs, spatulas and anything else found in the kitchen. It is not easy to eat a sandwich with a ladle or soup with slotted spoons!
Some afternoons we had free swim and we would have a ball in the pool. If we played Marco Polo, it was a very loud event.


First Real Date with Henry

On occasion the counselors had a free evening. On one of those evenings Henry and I went a movie theater to see Romeo and Juliet. The lights went down and my lights went out. It was the first good sleep I had all summer! I still have never seen that movie.


My Parents Visit

Tony held family days at camp for the overnight campers' parents to meet the counselors and see the camp. On one of those occasions my parents came to see camp and how I was doing. I showed them around and introduced them to some of the counselors and kids. I introduced them to Henry, of course, but I wasn't sure what they thought of him at first. I think they were afraid he would whisk me away and I wouldn't get to finish nursing school. It took quite awhile for them to warm up to him and accept that we might stay together.


More on My Parents (Mostly Mom!)

After camp was over and before I went on to the University of Delaware, Henry picked me up at home to take me to the Montgomery County Fair. My parents were still in the "should we trust this guy?" phase. At the fair we were walking across the field in front of the bleachers and looked up to see my parents in the crowd. We both waved and kept on walking. We were glad the fair is a large and busy one so we were out of sight the rest of the day. A few days later we went to see a movie, there, a few rows back were my parents! By that time, it was just funny, but still.. .. Two years later we were married with their blessing, but maybe not total trust, and Henry had a real job on the security force at the University of Delaware. I did finish my nursing degree on time and worked in my field for 36 years.


A Visit with Tony and Sally

Many years later, probably 1993, we stopped to visit with Tony and Sally on our way home from Florida with our two daughters, Kristin and Sarah. We talked about all the kids and reminisced about our camp adventure at Camp Adventure. Finally, Sally asked us WHERE WERE YOU???  We told her we were on the roof of the loafing shed and she just shook her head and laughed. I guess that since she was a mom, too she was as worried as mine.

A Little Bit of My Work Story

I got my Nursing degree in 1973 and got a job in Towson Md. as a graduate nurse, working in the delivery room. After passing my nursing boards, I was promoted to a Registered Nurse. After our move to Wheaton, I worked at Suburban Hospital in the delivery room for a year and then in ambulatory surgery. After Sarah, our second daughter, was born I took three years off and then took a job at a nursing home in Chevy Chase, near the new house we were building. I was there until our move to West Virginia in 2009 where I took care of my dad until his death in 2015 at the age of 98. Henry describes my career as taking you from the womb to the tomb.
Camp Adventure was a Stepping Stone to My Whole Life of Adventure


Thank You Tony and Sally!

In 1998 Henry set up a family website as a way for the extended family to keep in touch for family reunions. It has grown to include our visits with foreign students in the Lions Youth Exchange program and the building of our houses, and more! Before you leave, please sign the guest book!




  Lorrie Winkler Krautwurst