Casey Colwick Fisher
Camp Nakanawa Camper and Counselor
My life has been full of adventures and opportunities, especially at Camp Nakanawa! I was a Senior camper at Nakanawa for three summers, 1953 through 1955. Summer 2016 will be my 44th summer to be a Nakanawa counselor. How fortunate I am!
I first heard about Nakanawa when I was an eighth grader in Midland, Texas. Helen Hood, a good friend of Director Elisabeth Mitchell’s and a Canoeing counselor at Nakanawa, told me that she thought I would like being a Nakanawa camper. Boy, was she ever correct! After my family moved to Dallas and I met Highland Park High School friends, some of whom attended Nakanawa, I decided to give Nakanawa a try during the summer after my sophomore year. Life was great in Cabin 8! The next two summers I was a Tent Row girl and was Captain of my Amazon team in 1955. I learned so much as a camper, not only about athletics and cabin life but also about leadership. Nestled in my mind even then was the desire to pay back what had been given to me so lovingly by camp’s directors, the caring counselors, and my close friends. Here I am with my good friend Nan Chamberlain in 1955.
My chance to become a Nakanawa counselor came in the early 1970s. Mitch and Scooter traveled to Dallas, invited me to dinner at the Dallas Country Club, and proposed that I come to Junior Camp in the summer of 1972 as one of the Head Counselors. My children, Sharon and Scott, were old enough to be campers, and during the weeks I was working in Junior Camp Scott attended Camp Hy-Lake and Sharon was a Junior camper at Nakanawa. That first summer began a long tradition of summer camp adventures and opportunities for all of us.
I was Head Counselor of Junior Camp from 1972 through 1985 and then again in 1991. After I “retired” from being Junior’s Head Counselor in 1985, I went to Senior Camp until I was asked to be Junior’s Head Counselor again in 1991 for the Two-Week and the Six-Week Sessions. Since 1991 I have counseled in Senior Camp and have had opportunities to teach classes, write the Newsletter, run camp errands in Crossville, work as a secretary in the Office, and help in the Commissary. The classes actually assigned to me have been Handbells, Golf, and Canoeing. I have assisted from time to time in Swimming, Diving, Glee Club, and Tennis. In Junior Camp my first summer as Head Counselor I was also Head of the Waterfront. I love this picture of Lou Lloveras from 1991.
In Junior Camp some of my favorite moments included walking through the cabin area before Taps sounded and listening to the cabin counselors tuck in their bunkies by reading to them, singing to them, playing an instrument for them, and praising them for a day well spent. I remember trying to retrieve a $500 orthodontic retainer from Lake Aloaloa after a young camper threw the retainer away in a fit of aggravation. I remember saying “We wuv you, Wug!” when it began to rain as well as allowing the children on the “Little Side” to leave the Dining Hall after lunch, put on their raincoats and rainboots, grab their umbrellas, and come to the Games Field to do their dance routine to “Singing in the Rain”! I remember spending time every night with the counselor staff as we worked on the Operetta sets in the Council House, and I remember flipping those sets during the show and getting tempera paint in my eyes! I remember the days of the small Coca-Colas which flew out of the red machine if I put a quarter in the slot. We used to get one of those Cokes, take it to the barn, and ask the horse Sundance if he would enjoy having a Coke. He would tilt his head back, give us a loose bottom lip, and down would go the Coke, complete with Sundance’s tongue trying to lap up every drop. That in itself was a singular adventure!
In Senior Camp some favorite moments for me are preparing the morning snacks so the graham crackers, apples, and yogurt will be ready for the campers when they line up at the door after third period. Hearing the Evening Entertainment laughter during Double Trouble and Human Bingo warms my heart! Listening to camp songs, blowing the starting whistle during a swimming relay race at a Water Meet, watching the fire at Council Ring and being proud of the campers who receive Recognitions in their activity classes, munching on a hamburger during a camp cookout, admiring the friendly competition and good sportsmanship of the Valkyrie and Amazon teams, oohing and aahing over the handiwork of the campers who take Arts and Crafts and Pottery, enjoying a tight tennis match, wishing I could be as good in the water as our form and distance swimmers, loving the harmonious blend of young voices when the Octet sings—all have happy niches in walls of my memory. Knowing so many Nakanawa girls as young campers, then watching them grow into Tent Row girls and eventually become members of the counselor staff, and then seeing them as young mothers with their own children beginning their lives as Nakanawa campers are among my fondest memories.
Etched above the auditorium at Highland Park High School are the words “Enter to learn, go forth to serve.” Those words have been crucial to my philosophy about how to live life, and they have been part of my personal prescription for my roles at Nakanawa. Opportunities to serve others and adventures which spark imagination await us at Camp Nakanawa this summer. I look forward to seeing you there in June!
Love,
Casey
My first experience with Camp Nakanawa was the summer of 1971. I had just graduated from Southeastern LA. University, had a teaching job lined up for the fall but had nothing to do for the summer. A graduate-assistant, who had been to camp, told me about Camp and got me the information.
I am approaching my 30th summer as a Nakanawa Counselor. I continue to come back because Ann & Pepe let me and because I feel like a special person when I’m here.
