County warms up for Camp Fire’s 100th
Published 10:46 pm Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Mary Brannon was a Camp Fire leader more than a half-century ago. Her children have long been grown, but Camp Fire still brings rewards.
“Occasionally I’ll run into someone who went all the way through high school in the program,” said Brannon. The Everett woman has served on Camp Fire USA Snohomish County Council board of directors.
Once, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., a young woman recognized Brannon from long-ago Camp Fire days. “She brought her two sons to meet me,” Brannon said. “She was a special gal. They all were.”
This is a special year for Camp Fire USA, which was founded in Vermont a century ago. Started as Camp Fire Girls in 1910 by Dr. Luther Gulick and his wife, Charlotte, the organization’s 100th anniversary will be celebrated nationally and in Snohomish County.
“Locally, we are planning on celebrating something from each decade,” said Elizabeth Douglass, special events coordinator for the Snohomish County Council of Camp Fire USA.
This year’s rally to kick off the Camp Fire candy sale, which runs Jan. 22 through Feb. 15, is set for 6 p.m. Friday at Cavelero Mid-High School in Lake Stevens. As a nod to the 100-year theme, kids at the event will play games that were popular around in 1910, Douglass said.
On July 31, Douglass said, the organization’s Camp Killoqua near Stanwood will join in a nationwide lighting of centennial camp fires.
Brannon’s involvement with Camp Fire began in the 1950s when her daughters were Bluebirds, then the group’s youngest members.
“I loved it. It was good for the girls,” Brannon said. “We did a lot of activities, community things. We went to art museums and did crafts. We had a structure, a group president, and girls learned to conduct meetings. I tried to instill community service in their lives.”
For Brannon, it took some getting used to when in 1975 boys could join and the name was changed to Camp Fire USA.
“It’s changed, but it hasn’t changed,” said Terri Vail, of Snohomish. She has three daughters, 26-year-old twins and an older daughter in her 30s. All were in Camp Fire, and Vail is now on the Snohomish County organization’s board.
Along with its home-based Classic Club program, Camp Fire now has a Mega Club option offering children in low-income apartment complexes and community centers opportunities to be involved. The Mega Club program serves about 90 children in Snohomish County, Vail said.
In many ways, it’s still the Camp Fire I remember from the 1960s. I earned wooden beads in sports and games, citizenship and crafts. I went to Camp Sweyolakan on Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Lake.
“My girls had fun with all that stuff, the crafts and camping,” Vail said. “Truthfully, if it weren’t for Camp Fire, my kids wouldn’t have done camping. My idea of camping is a motel,” she quipped.
In Snohomish County, hundreds of children visit Camp Killoqua each year. It opened in the 1940s.
Cheri Ryan, a Camp Fire board member and the local organization’s historian, said that before Killoqua, Camp Fire had another camp in eastern Snohomish County.
Ryan’s daughters were counselors at Killoqua, and she, too, spent 11 years in Camp Fire. She earned her Wohelo Award, Camp Fire’s highest achievement, in 1974. Referring to the organization’s colors, Ryan said, “I’ve got red and blue in my blood.”
More than 10 years ago, Brannon and her husband, Richard, contributed extensive work to Camp Killoqua’s beach and dock on Crabapple Lake. Grace Bargreen, another longtime board member, was another major contributor to renovations, Douglass said.
“Killoqua is the jewel of this council,” Brannon said.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
Camp Fire turns 100
Camp Fire Girls was started in 1910. In 1975, the organization expanded to include boys and its name changed to Camp Fire USA.
Snohomish County Council of Camp Fire USA and Camp Killoqua information: www.campfireusasnohomish.org.
Camp Fire USA’s history: www.campfireusa.org.
The annual Camp Fire candy sale begins Jan. 22.
