Mary Lou Scott (now Seybold)
What a delight to read the stories already posted! They really take me back ... back to happy summers around 1940 to 1943, when I had that same sense of freedom and fun at Camp Tannadoonah. So many vignettes come to my mind... such as rustic cabins, where I surrounded my bunk with drops of Citronella to keep the bugs away. (The smell was so pungent that it almost kept me away!). Other memories: Learning to "dog-paddle" well enough to swim all the way across the roped-off swimming area -- and back again! That was a huge accomplishment for me! Other flashbacks include making a lanyard in Crafts class, the talent show, ping-pong, archery, the woods, the lake, evening campfires, and the singing. But most of all, I remember lying in my bunk and listening to the bugler play "Taps". How beautiful it sounded to this little girl, as the breezes of the summer nights drifted through the cabin.
As a budding musician, I loved the wonderful Camp Fire songs and ceremonies. I can still hear them, and wonder if today's Camp Fire girls sing the same songs. I was a Mishawaka girl, and I remember most vividly the all-city Councils we had in the gym at Mishawaka High. We would march, bearing candles, into that darkened space, where an artificial "fire" gave the only light, and we would be singing:
We come, we come to our Council fire
With measures tread and slow,
To light the fire of our desire,
To light the fire of Wo-He-Lo
Wo-He-Lo, Wo-He-Lo.
The little twinkling stars on high
Are whispering nature's lore,
While all about us the soft winds sigh,
And great Woconda watches o'er.
Wo-He-Lo, Wo-He-Lo.
Many years have passed since those happy days. But my Camp Fire memories are as vivid as if it were yesterday, and tears come to my eyes as I remember those happy days. Thank you, Camp Fire and Camp Tannadoonah.