Count Your Many Blessings, Name them One by One.
Count Your Many Blessings; See what the Lord Hath Done”
In the midst of this Pandemic, that may seem a strange Thought for the
Day , but that refrain runs through my mind so often during each day as we
here at Stewart, like you, grapple with all the unknowns!
But we do count our blessings! It is a gorgeous spring ! The jump fields
look like green velvet from the totem pole; snapdragons are blooming
brightly as the pansies fade with the heat; birds are singing loudly and two
red squirrels play chase in the tree outside Mike’s window. One father wrote
(and gave me permission to quote him): “ We kept commenting that
Mother Nature clearly didn’t get the news that everything is
supposed to be shut down …”
And there’s the blessing of history and tradition . As we look towards
the summer, I offered to update our Staff Manual. For years, I routinely
updated it after the ACA convention, but since Si’s death others have done it.
It has grown too voluminous, we felt. Wanting to go back to the basics I
found Si’s copy of the 1970 Staff Manual. What a treasure!
First written in 1948 for Camp Fern, then revised in 1953 for the Texas Lions
Camp and in the early 1960’s for Camp Rio Vista (all this in his foreword), it
was his fourth year as owner/director at Stewart before he wrote the 1970
version.
It is as timely today as it was then . In his brilliance, he wrote it for any
organized camp, with each camp expected to add their unique programming
and staff rules.
1970 was 50 years ago . At Stewart, as we celebrate our 97 th summer this
year, it is fitting that the principles and wisdom of our late director/owner’s
foresight and love of camping continue to be felt. 2020 staff will read Si’s
words, verbatim.
There are so many more blessings-especially health, family – not just
blood family but our two camp families at Stewart and Heart – and friends.
To quote Si from 1970: “ Thanks to all the campers, counselors, staff
and parents who have helped and put up with me through the
years .” All of us here at Stewart echo that.
