The camp was on 63 acres donated in 1935, said Reva Evans of the YWCA Hamilton and an organizer of the event. It was sold in 1977.
Sessions ran for eight to nine weeks every summer from mid-June to mid-August. Sessions ran from Sunday afternoons to Saturday mornings.
Activities included swimming, archery, crafts, horseback riding, talent shows and more. The women at the reunion remembered them all but most vivid was the friendships they formed.
“It was a special place. That is where I learned about friendship,” said Carolyn Milillo of Cincinnati, who sat beside Mary Antenen McIlroy, a friend she met at camp.
It was a spectacular experience year after year, McIlroy said.
“We had more fun singing,” she said.
The room was filled with black-and-white photos of smiling campers and counselors engaged in activities throughout the years.
A favorite memory was the Friday-night closing ceremony when the campers would light candles in a boat and float them into a stream as a way of saying goodbye. Many admitted to crying and not wanting to go home.
The reunion food included fried chicken, trail mix and smores that were roasted at the table using small Sterno cans.
“This is so much fun,” said Pat Marshall of Middletown. She attended from 1938 to 1947 along with friend Joan Commins Crane. “I wish girls today could experience it.”
Crane and Marshall first attended at age 8 and when they got older, they served as what were known as kitchen “jumpers” who would get things ready for food service.
“We just loved it,” Crane said. “Everything about it, but especially being a jumper.”
Organizers want to make the reunion an annual event.
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