I started at Hagan as a camper in cabin 2, I think, in 1961 or 1962, a year or two after my older cousins, Karen and Barbie Beatty, had started attending Camp Hagan, thanks to our grandmother generously providing the funds to allow us to go to summer camp. For the next 5 or 6 years, summers at Camp Hagan were my favorite life events. Every year, I did not want to leave after having experienced independence and no screaming parents for a whole month! And that pesky little brother of mine, Bobby Klein, could not mess up my day when I was at an all girls camp! He eventually began attending Camp Miller and progressed to become a counselor.
My first day at camp was the swim test. I loved to swim, so always got to wear the right color swim cap to permit swimming in deep water. Was that the green cap? I have fond memories of swimming and canoeing. I also loved arts and crafts and to this day, I continue to make colorful art mandalas and facilitate a regular workshop at an art studio in my community, to encourage adults and teens to draw mandalas to stimulate creativity, relax the mind, increase focus and encourage community building. One of my favorite crafts at camp was making lanyards out of gimp! I think I also built hundreds of popsicle stick buildings as well. Today, I also make gemstone, crystal, metal and glass jewelry and share a small retail shop with a business partner in Bedford, PA.
Box hockey, soccer, hiking, nature walks, vespers, canteen and theater production are some of the activities I remember from camp. But the most influential activity was regular singing every day! I discovered my love of singing and listening to girl’s and women’s harmonies at camp. I continue to sing every day at the age of 63. I have pursued music and sound healing aggressively since my divorce in 1987 and spiritual crisis and transition in 1995. I want to fill my life with music and harmony until I die! To this end, I have learned to play basic melodies on several instruments – bamboo flute, Celtic harp, piano/keyboard, guitar and upright bass. I picked up the bass at the age of 61 and have become somewhat proficient in playing and singing.
My life partner and I play music together and with others in and around our community at open mics, special events, gatherings of friends, and at church events at our church home, Four Quarters Sanctuary in Pennsylvania. Four Quarters reminds me of my time at Camp Hagan. I love being outdoors, sleeping outdoors and playing music outdoors under the tree canopy standing on the earth in a circle of stone. I also facilitate a monthly community drum circle in Bedford, PA.
I still love camping in the woods! I purchased a small, 17′ travel trailer in 2004 and spent several winters at Jekyll Island State Park in Georgia with my cat. I like this small camper better than a motorhome. I feel too disconnected from nature in a large motorhome. Although I like the feel of camping in a tent, I am no longer physically able to do this, so my travel trailer has become my “hard sided tent”.
I give credit to Camp Hagan for my love of nature, fascination with song birds, ability to easily identify poison ivy, and my affinity to rivers.