I could have never imagined that I would have something in common with Pat Sajak of Wheel of Fortune fame. However, here he and I are, both celebrating 41 years in our careers. Who could have ever conceived of that commonality! The similarities do end with the number of years!
For those of you who have been around Keystone for awhile, you know I never planned to be the director. I spent my entire childhood and most of my college years expecting to become a physician. I literally fell into the camp job in the late spring of my senior year at Duke. I had not been at camp for the summer of 1983, and I missed it. I was struggling with career options, and I decided to pass on my medical school plans. My dad wanted to retire, and he made a decent job offer. The rest is history!
The first several years were not easy. It was hard to separate the “daddy’s girl” from the job, and the family relationships from the business ones. I also felt that I was expected to know how to run camp because I had grown up in it. I really knew so little. It took quite a while for me to begin to find my own voice instead of trying to emulate my father. Of course, as my parents turned more and more responsibilities over to me, I was then trying to fill both of their roles while learning on the job. When I look back at those early years, it is amazing I find myself where I am today.
I am so grateful for the career I have had. The opportunity to be a leader and a role model for young women is profound. It comes with a tremendous sense of responsibility to our camp parents, our staff, and our campers. Camp directing is all-encompassing and challenging. From opening day to closing day, you are all in. There is never truly any time off. The responsibility is always yours. Everything you are, your career, your personal reputation, and your family’s reputation wholly resides in camp and its successes and its mistakes. Now that I am just about old enough to be the grandmother for many of my current campers, I am tired. There are days I definitely feel my age. I am just now beginning to text with both thumbs. I still don’t understand memes, and I have no desire to try to wrap my head around AI.
My years leading Keystone have given me wisdom, and I have earned almost all of the gray hair on my head. I often reflect on the Emerson quote that ends with, “…to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exaltation; to know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded.” I have succeeded, and Keystone has succeeded.
What is most important is that Keystone continues to succeed. Over the past 41 years, we have built a program that is meaningful for our campers and our staff. At no point could I have done this job alone. So many different individuals have contributed to Keystone, and each person has left a part of themselves here for the benefit of the whole. Camp is an industry that must be dynamic. It is important to look critically at our work. We are constantly seeking ways to do our job better. Camp needs to respond to the current needs of our girls. The activities have to reflect today’s interests. (I am not sure Miss Fannie’s poetry readings or flower arranging would really appeal in 2024. However, the newly developed Miss Fannie’s Fairy Garden does encourage imagination and creativity. She would be pleased.) Camp needs leadership with high energy, and we are so fortunate to have a team that has great energy. I have been slowing down for a few years now. This summer is my slowest yet. We work together for the nine months of our off-season to prepare for the nine weeks of camp. I am a part of the planning, but in the summer, I primarily handle the finances and payroll. While I am always around for advice and counsel, the day-to-day operations are definitely in the hands of our leadership team. I have complete confidence in their decisions.
As we move forward, the fifth generation of our family, Mark and I’s daughter, Catherine, will assume a larger leadership role in running the business. In the meantime, I am taking great pride in this summer, in our leadership team, in our staff, and in the many campers enjoying what we have built. Keystone is larger than one person. We’ve built an incredible community here at camp. It is a community of women and girls who believe in each other and what we will accomplish together and as individuals. That spirit doesn’t ever change.
This accidental career turned out pretty well.
