In 1974, a young and passionate Dave Wright convinced a fellow classmate at IU to lead bicycle trips at Camp Tecumseh. 50 years later, after raising a family at Camp, working so many different jobs it’s hard to count, and assisting Dave in the leadership of Tecumseh, Beth Wright continues to lead Quilt Camp multiple times a year, and her impact spreads far and wide.
Joel:
I want to start at the beginning. What was the initial thing that got you on camp property? Quite frankly, I feel like there are different accounts of this. What brought you on to camp for the very first time. And when?
Beth:
Easy question. That is Dave Wright. I grew up in New York state, taught for a while in Massachusetts, wanted to go to grad school, and applied to three schools. Indiana said yes first. So I said, okay, I’m going to go there. And I traveled around Europe for four months and went to grad school.
And in all my classes was this guy Dave Wright, and the very first day in class he found out that I had taught for a while in Massachusetts and worked with American Youth Hostels, leading bike trips. And the light bulb went off and he goes, “maybe you should come to Camp Tecumseh and lead bike trips.” And I said, “Well, I’m really going to head to California and teach school there.” But then the more I got to know him, I thought that might be fun. So I came to camp and started leading bike trips. That first summer I was here, I think I did half the summer bike trips and half the summer running the swimming pool.
Joel:
Okay, so tell me about the bike trips. I have an image in my mind which, quite frankly, in today’s world makes me very nervous about what bike trips look like. So what did it look like to lead a bike trip at camp?
Beth:
Very early on, I think I had three campers. We stayed at YMCAs. Local ones like Logansport, Peru and Kokomo. And they let us just come stay with our sleeping bags in the gym, use their kitchen and pool if we wanted.
Joel:
So I guess I’m just picturing, you know, the kids come to camp, you load up on a bike, and everybody says, “Bye Trippers, we hope you get back here in a week or so.”
Obviously there are no cell phones, no GPS, no nothing. It’s like we’re going to go north-ish and out you go.
Beth:
We did. We met them the first day and got to know each other a little bit at the campfire. And the next morning just took off for Logansport. We had already mapped out the route.
So I knew where we were going, and it was just me and three kids. It was very easy. And at that point we weren’t camping out, so we didn’t have to take camping equipment. So that was really easy. And then as time went on and we went farther afield, then we took lots of camping equipment, pots and pans, and we were out longer.
So it took more route planning. And eventually the most fun trip was up to Mackinac Island. And we stayed at YMCA camps. We stayed at private campgrounds. We stayed at church camps, anything that had a camp along the seashore of Lake Michigan until we got to the parking lot in Mackinaw City, and we took the ferry across, came back, and there was a big old bus with a canoe trailer, and they loaded up our bikes and drove us back home to camp. It was a two week trip. It was about 500 miles.
Joel:
Wowza. You had done some biking before. Had most of the campers done that intensive biking before?
Beth:
Yeah, they were probably as good a biker as I was.
Joel:
And then you said you did the pools as well. And at that point, just Shirk pool would have been the only one. You were probably leading swim lessons, doing chemicals, doing all of the above?
Beth:
All of the above. At that time, I remember going down below the pool decks and they had all those big sand filters down there and working with that and the chemicals, teaching swimming.
I remember kids from a home up in northern Indiana would come down. I can’t remember the name of the home. And one of those children decided that he would go off the diving board, and he didn’t know how to swim. He’d never been off. It just looked fun. So he goes off and I’m watching from the guard chair and I’m thinking, he’s not coming up.
So I jump in, grab him, pull him up, get him to the side. And I was kind of having a conversation like, what’s going on? He was okay. He said it just looked fun, and he wanted to do it. So from that day on, we decided we should do a swim check and give bands out for people.
Joel:
You were the implementer of swim checks.
Beth:
That child was, certainly.
Joel:
Excellent. So I’m going to try to list about as many different positions as you have had at camp and we’ll see if I miss any. Obviously adventure trips, pool, day camp, outdoor education instructor, quilt camp. Did you ever work in the kitchen?
Beth:
Yes, we worked in the kitchen.
Joel:
Housekeeping?
Beth:
Early on, when it was just Dave and myself and Tom Chandler, everybody was housekeeping. We were housekeeping. We were in the kitchen. I actually did horses, which was not a love of my life, but on weekends we did horses. I was the person that had the horses in a riding ring, and the dads would all be standing on the fence, and I would have their children on a horse in the ring.
That was a little difficult. And at the time there was not a big barn, so it was very muddy. And it was not a ton of fun, but they all liked it. They wanted to ride horses. The kids loved it.
And then I taught archery for a while during the weekends, and I’m sure we did a lot of other things I don’t remember.
Joel:
Well, and I hear stories that involve somebody driving past and Dave is up on the roof of a new building. How much roofing did you do during your 50 years at camp?
Beth:
No roofing. I remember, though, when they brought the first logs for the first cabin (fully winterized cabins). My mom and dad were here, and my dad was up on that truck helping get the logs off, which I thought was quite comical. But, no, I never did any roofing.
We built log cabins for Outdoor Education out in Oregon Territory, and so Dave and I did lots of sawing and cutting and chinking of the cabins, but that was the extent of my building.
Joel:
Okay. So even before that, before getting married and moving, you came for the summer to lead bike trips. But you had other inclinations of what your career was going to look like. Where were you planning on going with your career and life in recreation?
Beth:
Well, I had thought I would be working at a YWCA in programming, probably. Or a YMCA, or some recreation-centered place.
Joel:
Okay. And other than a handsome Dave Wright, what hooked you into Camp Tecumseh?
Beth:
I had grown up camping with my family a lot, and I went to Girl Scout camp, and I was a counselor at a camp in Lake George. And loved camping. And he told me about Camp Tecumseh. But, you know, seeing is believing. And I remember that first time coming down the hill into camp and seeing it was all green, it was beautiful, the trees were leafed out and I thought this could happen. This looks really nice. So, first impressions were really good.
Joel:
Yeah, for a lot of people, coming down the main hill into camp is like, I’m home, I’m back, you know? So other than that, what other places at camp make you say or just sigh or breathe deeply, like this is camp.
Beth:
Well, just walking around camp as a host to ladies from Quilt Camp, I love to show them the chapels. Katie and Sarah were both married at chapels here at camp, and I think it’s just the best way to start a day – to go down there to chapel and see all of the campers.We just enjoyed it immensely this morning. Looking, in River Village, from the deck out to the river was always really nice. The Creative Arts Center was a place that I spent many, many, many summers at teaching basket making. I loved, loved doing that. I did it summer after summer so I got to know a lot of those kids who kept coming back, so that was really fun.
The white house, which was Jeanne Marsh’s house – Dick and Jeanne. That just brought so many memories, because that was family here, you know, just growing up with those people here at camp. Kirsten (Pattingale) and I would do so many staff dinners in my house, and we’d spend a day shopping, a day fixing, and then a day serving and hosting staff in our home, which I loved.
And another great memory, of course, the swimming pools. I spent hours there and then out in Oregon Territory. We spent so many months out there with Outdoor Education and then closing campfire, which we always loved.
Joel:
You were here with Tom Chandler and then Dick Marsh So you got to see kind of what it looked like for two other directors before Dave. What did you learn in watching the Chandlers and the Marshes – how their relationship impacted their work and their impact they had at camp?
Beth:
Tom was a very easy going man. He came from California and was married to Marta, who just accepted me wholeheartedly into camp.
And she raised her two children here for a few summers. And that kind of gave me a clue as to what it would like to have children at camp in the summertime.
And then with Dick and Jeanne, Jeanne was the ultimate absolute terrific hostess at Camp Tecumseh. Just the biggest heart, servant. Loved the Lord. She was just beautiful. And so just seeing her, the way she operated, the way she interacted with staff, and with me, she just became kind of a camp mom.
And she would have staff over to her home for dinners, and they’d always have fish that Dick had caught up north and just wonderful meals. She was a great cook, and so that kind of was an inspiration for Kirsten and I to do that in my home.
And so that was just really neat for me to experience that and then kind of become a camp mom, then later on to other staff and kids that were at camp.
Katie was born in ‘83 and Sarah in ‘87. So at that time I was a full time mom and loving camp through their eyes, you know?
Sarah especially, she just was Miss Camp Tecumseh. She was into every activity, 24/7.
Joel:
And to the point of your raising two girls at Camp, how do you think that Camp impacted how they turned out?
Beth:
I would say 100%, it totally affected their lives. I think when you are a small child or a camper at camp you’re looking up to your counselor, and they had the most incredible role models all summer long that they could watch in the dining hall. They could watch out on the playing field, they could watch people at chapel who were comfortable standing up in front of a group of people talking and both of them now are able to do that easily and express themselves.
And I just think that that was huge. And just to see that you could have fun being outside doing fun stuff and you didn’t have to be in the house on a computer or whatever, just having fun outside. So a combination of all of that, I think, made them people who just love life. And right now, Katie and Sarah love taking their kids on adventures.
Joel:
During your time here, the “I’m third” motto was reintroduced to camp and continues to be an important part of what I believe makes camp Tecumseh one of the more unique and special camps in the country. What was your response to that? And then how have you seen that change, and also stay the same, over 50 years?
Beth:
Yeah, I think it was Brian Rupe and Dick Marsh that brought that idea to camp. And when I’m sharing Camp with other people, one of the biggest things you want to tell them is that motto: God is first, the other person’s second, and I’m third.
I think Camp is so blessed because God is a part of every minute of every day here. And when kids come to camp in the summertime, a lot of their comments are, “I feel closer to God here than I do anywhere else.”
And we felt Camp turn around from a camp that was struggling to a camp that’s totally succeeding now and having a full camp every summer with waiting lists.
I think a huge part of that, I’d say 99%, is God is first, the other person second, and I’m third. And kids just feel I love to go to camp because everybody accepts me for who I am.
Joel:
During your time here, Camp really moved from being summer only to expanding into a lot more year round programming. How did the feel or the culture around camp change?
So exciting. So exciting. Because I remember one of my first summers here it was just basically a summer camp. and we wanted to have it grow. And I remember there were staff that the camp director, I think it was Tom Chandler, said some of you have to go home. We can’t pay you all.
And all of the staff got together and said that’s not going to happen. And so we did a walkathon in Lafayette and we all worked to raise money and said we would take cuts on our pay because it was important that all of those people stay. And to go from that to where it is today, it’s night and day.
We had a lot of impact because we were working weekends all the time. You know, church groups started coming. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, all different groups would come in and just to see the camp grow that way and know that beds were full and people were having fun, and that that camp was a place where they wanted to return, to come back again and again and again. That was really exceptional and great.
Joel:
Yeah. And so on to Quilt Camp. I understand you went to visit Scott and Sara Brosman and they were having a quilt camp at Camp Miller. And you kind of said, I think we could do that.
Had you ever quilted before that? Were you a quilter?
Beth:
I wasn’t and, actually, it was Dave’s idea.
I went to the camp, and Katie and Sarah were little, little, little girls. And we stayed at Scott and Sara’s house, and Sara and I were at the quilt camp, and my kids stayed, I guess, with Scott and Claire and Alex (Brosman) and I sat next to a doctor who was from Duluth who was a great quilter, and she taught me everything I needed to know to get my quilt done.
And I thought, if I take it home and it’s not done, I’ll never finish it because I really didn’t know what I was doing. So I learned about the ruler and the rotary cutter and everything, and I had a terrific time. The teacher, Shirley Kersh, was awesome. She was from Duluth, and she’d come there a few years to teach.
So most of the women were Northwoods women who brought kind of scrunchy skis and snowshoes. I never left that room. I sewed and sewed and called Dave when the camp was over and said, Dave, you know what? I’ve had a ball.
When we got home I showed Dave the quilt, and I said, this is one of the highlights of my life. This was just phenomenal. And he says, let’s do it here! Let’s do a quilt camp here, at Tecumseh. I said, really? And so that was the birth of the idea. And we called Shirley Kersh in Duluth and she came and we had maybe, I don’t know, six, seven, eight people that came to quilt that first camp.
And then we decided, I think we could do this. And so from there, it just grew to seven camps a year.
Joel:
Yeah. And so now in July of 2024, this now what number of quilt camp?
Beth:
174.
Joel:
All right! So 174 quilt camps with hundreds and hundreds of folks who have learned how to quilt at camp. But, and you’ve said this a number of times, it’s a whole lot more than learning how to quilt. It’s much more about what happens during quilt camp. So tell me about that. Why do the quilt campers come here?
Beth:
God. God is first. And He’s the magnet, I think. And maybe they don’t realize that, but they just feel like it’s home. They feel like this is where I can be me. I can get away from my routines. I can get away from my hurts, hang ups, struggles, and just come and just relax.
I can read a book. I can sleep late. I can just sit and talk on the couch to a new friend. I can go down to a chapel. I can, you know, just do things I wouldn’t do at home. But they want to come back because the lady they were sitting next to has now become, maybe, their best friend.
And they keep in touch throughout the year. They make plans to go on a retreat or shop hop somewhere. We’ll go buy fabric together and come to camp and both work on the same project. They’ve just all become great friends. They walk in the door and they feel like they’re home and it’s just a great way to get away and maybe reflect on the life they’ve led and what’s ahead.
Joel:
So, 50 years of active involvement at camp! There’s been a lot that has changed in 50 years and hopefully a lot that has stayed the same. What have you seen as being the biggest changes? And then what are the things that you’re like, you know what? This same thing could have happened 50 years ago, and that’s what I’m seeing right now.
Beth:
Well, I love the clinics. I love that that’s still happening. that it’s just a morning thing and they get to choose. So they have the ability to say I want to try that or I want to try that. That’s something I’ve never done before. And I think that’s really important and that’s tradition here.
I love the tradition that they still do devotions in the cabin at night. I love the whole opening campfire where it’s kind of wacky, wild, crazy. And kids that are nervous are going to get drawn in because it’s silly and it’s funny and it’s fun. And they see these counselors who are adults to them, you know, are just fun people.
Yeah, it’s been a gradual, continual change to get better. I remember when Dave was on staff here, staff would all go somewhere on a retreat and talk to each department. How can we work to get better? And that’s really key to where Tecumseh is today – continual striving to make ourselves better. What can we do to make it better? I think that’s really important.
When Dave said we were retiring, I was like, no! But he was ready. It was his time. But I didn’t know what life would look like. I loved our home, we stayed in that same home the whole time.
Camp was home to me, and I still felt like it’s coming home every time I come back here.
Check out the full conversation as a podcast episode.
