Church Camp Memories Continued

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

We will continue our memories of church camps this week. When I was attending East Clinton Elementary School, I normally spent most of the summer days playing in the playground in an activity being hosted by a college student working for the city. Softball was our favorite activity. But, one week of each summer I was also entertained by attending Vacation Bible School. And then there was one more summer activity which I loved, and that was Church Camp.

In 1956 I attended Central Presbyterian Church on Randolph Street. I was living on East Clinton at the time. Most of the young folks going to church there ended up going to Huntsville High School, but there is a chance some of my Lee High classmates were also church members at Central. I don't remember exactly how we traveled to Ovoca, but I think it was in cars because I do not remember a bus ride at the time. It was located in Tullahoma, Tennessee. In the photo above I am the one on the left of the picture, to the left of the man kneeling with the strap across his body. 

There was a lake and a waterfall at the camp, and the main building was the dining hall which was at the top of a hill with a road leading to it. On each side of the road were cabins. The girls' cabins was on one side and the boys' cabins were on the opposite side. The main indoors activities were in the dining hall and outdoor's activites were spread around the camp. I remember there were several craft sessions throughout the week which were fun. I think there was a ball field, but the most notable thing was the waterfall. I want to recall that the most popular activities were swimming and great sing-alongs around campfires and in the dining hall. One night we were treated to a huge watermelon feast, which I remember well. I remember we called the adult counselors "Uncle" and "Aunt" and the college-age counselors "Cousin."

Two other things I remember about camp still live in my mind. The first memory is that one of the counselors drove a Volkswagen Bug to camp. There was a fad going on at the time and we wanted to try it. It was a challenge to see how many campers we could cram in the car. If my memory is correct, I think it turned out to be 17 of us young campers packed inside. The other memory is that one year, about two days before the camp was over, I came down with the mumps. I don't remember being taken home early, rather I was just isolated for those final two days. I was concerned that when I got home I would infect my brother Don, but I wasted my time worrying. I was shocked to find that Don also had the mumps when I got home. We must have been exposed to the same person at the same time.

I was looking through a bible of my father's and in the front of it there was a note saying "Snow at Ovoca" and a date I cannot remember. I don't know if he was ever at Ovoca, but he was less than one year old when his mother died leaving him and three older brothers. He eventually was adopted by one of his aunts, but whether or not he ever was at Ovoca is still a mystery.

Before it ever became a youth camp or retreat center, Ovoca (located just outside Tullahoma, Tennessee) was a 400‑acre residential home for widows and orphans, operated by the Knights of Pythias, a national fraternal organization.

Key documented facts:

• The Knights of Pythias purchased the Ovoca property around 1908. 

• It was explicitly described as the “widows’ and orphans’ home of the order.” 

• Multiple buildings were constructed for this purpose, including cottages, dormitories, a dining hall, and administrative buildings. 

• The orphans themselves participated in public events hosted at Ovoca, such as welcoming visitors during Pythian conventions. 

• After decades as a Pythian home, the property eventually transitioned away from orphanage operations.

• By the mid‑20th century, it was commonly used as a camp and retreat center, which is how many Tennesseans remember it today.

• Ovoca was sold in 1976 to a private owner (Dan Marcum), long after its orphanage era.

Below is a photo of the dining hall at Ovoca. Also there is a picture of people stuffed in a VW Beetle. It is not of my group but one I found on the internet. And that is the memories of my church camp experiences. Surely some of you must have gone to a church camp with your own church members. What was the name of the chruch camp you attended, where was it located, and what do you remember about it?

The Wayback Machine

"Kum ba yah"

The Seekers

One of the songs I still associate with my church camp experiences is "Kum ba yah". Although we also sang it around the campfies in the Boy Scouts, it sounds more appropriate to associate it with the religious experiences of church camp.

"Kum ba yah" ("Come by here") is an African-American spiritual of disputed origin, known to have been sung in the Gullah culture of the islands off South Carolina and Georgia, with ties to enslaved Central Africans. Originally an appeal to God to come to the aid of those in need, the song is thought to have spread from the islands to other Southern states and the North, as well as to other places outside the United States.

The first known recording was made by the folklorist Robert Winslow Gordon in 1926. It features an unaccompanied tenor voice identified only as "H. Wylie" singing in the Gullah language. The piece became a standard campfire song in Scouting and summer camps and enjoyed broader popularity during the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. In American politics, the song title gave rise to the phrase "sing Kumbaya", commonly employed sarcastically to criticize expectations of reconciliation as unrealistic.

The song enjoyed newfound popularity during the American folk music revival of the early to mid-1960s, largely due to Joan Baez's 1962 recording of the song, and became associated with the civil rights movement of that decade. For example, there is a recording of marchers singing the song as "Come By Here" during the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery (Alabama) march for voting rights.

 I just got back from a 7-day/6-night Diamond Tour bus tour to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Nice trip with beautiful weather.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, And Comments

Rod White, LHS '67,  "Thank you for the link, Tommy."

Delores McBride Kilgore, LHS '66, “Thank you, Tommy.”

Johnny Roberts, LHS ‘66, "Happy Birthday, Tommy. My birthday wish for you is for you to be able to continue to publish this awesome communication piece for us all. Cheers."

Carolyn Burgess Featheringill, LHS ‘65, "Happy Big Birthday to you, Tommy, and to the members of the Class of ‘64!  You were role models for the classes behind you, and we’re so grateful for all you and your classmates do to keep us connected!  Cheers to you all!"

Ruth Ann Wikle Dean, LHS ‘69, "I appreciate all you do."