Ken and I were both teaching in Fort Worth at Rosemont Junior High (now Middle School) during the 1957-58 school year. One of my assignments was co-sponsor of Y Teens, a girls club under the guidance of the YWCA. I was to help a veteran teacher who had sponsored the group for several years. I did whatever she told me. This worked well for both of us. Perhaps change was inevitable.
The club had an annual overnight campout at Camp Carter located on the Trinity River. There had been heavy rains earlier and parts of the river had flooded. As the date for the campout neared, the water receded. Wire was placed along the sides of a swinging bridge we would be using and the area was declared safe for camping.
The sponsor, Mrs. B., was having difficulty recruiting parents to go along as chaperones. We decided to ask Ken and our good friends Betty and Earl Walden to help chaperone. Earl was a fellow faculty member. Betty would stay in a cabin with me and Earl and Ken would fish. They would be nearby in case of an emergency
The first hint of trouble came when Mrs. B began to get sick. She forged ahead assuming that everything would go smoothly. She would rest and give me directions. I had no clue what was in store other than having to sleep on a cot in a cabin full of excited 9th grade girls. Yes, I really thought Betty and I would get some sleep.
We arrived at the camp after school on a Friday and settled into the cabins. All of the evening activities went well. There was plenty of food and entertainment around the campfire. Everyone had a good time. Some time near midnight we got the girls into the cabins. I thought we were secure until morning. Mrs. B was feeling increasingly worse. She took some meds, went to the back of the cabin, and went to sleep. Betty and I, with their Weimaraner, Duchess,* relaxed on cots near the front and only door. The girls were talking, singing, and having a good time.
Mrs. B had not told me to keep a count of the girls, but I began to miss some faces. I checked the bathroom. It was empty. Some of the girls were trying to hide guilty sideways looks at me. I did pick up on that clue. We were missing some girls. Even though there were no cell phones or any way to communicate, we soon found out their boyfriends knew where they were. Apparently plans had been made. The only way out without passing Betty and I was through the bathroom window. Betty and I had grown up as compliant teenagers. That any girl would sneak out had not occurred to us. That had to be what had happened. We were shocked to find the girls outside in their cute little sheer baby doll pajamas sauntering toward the entrance. Oh my! Betty and I certainly would never have let a boy see us in our night clothes. Our parents would probably have sent us to a convent until we were 18. Couldn’t these girls have at least put on a robe? I took a deep breath, told them to go back inside the cabin and stay or I might call the police. A little voice said, “Oh no, don’t do that. My Dad is a Policeman.” Good, maybe our problems were solved.
We got the girls back inside. We realized we needed to be more observant and keep a better count of our charges. The dog was the only one relaxed.
We had just gotten settled again when there was a tap and the door opened. A mother with girls in another cabin had gone outside for some fresh air. She looked across the river toward the main entrance. There were lights on that side and she saw cars arriving. As she watched, boys began to get out of the cars.
I had no clue what to do. Mrs. B was asleep. We had no idea where Ken and Earl were fishing. The mother told me not to worry or wake Mrs. B. She would handle the situation. I was glad (read relieved) to let her take charge. She had a large flashlight which was turned off. She told me to follow quietly and do whatever she did. I dutifully followed behind her. We could see the boys start across the swinging bridge Indian style, one behind the other. They were walking on tiptoe not making a sound. The mother stopped close to the bridge, crouched down beside the path and motioned me to do likewise. The boys could not see us. She waited until the leader was within about 5 feet of us. She jumped up with the flashlight aimed at the face of the leader and clicked it on. A few expletives flew and the boys jumped straight up. She definitely had their attention. She very calmly but authoritatively told them they had proven what they set out to prove, which was they could get into the girls camp without being caught. She told them she expected them to go out the same way or there would be trouble. They hung their heads, humbly crossed back the way they had come, got into their cars, and left.
At this point, Betty and I decided we needed to be outside the cabin on the little porch. We knew if we dozed off inside, girls might try to slip past us. The night had gotten cold. Duchess was a big dog and warm. Betty got on one side of her and I got on the other. I scooted up against the dog. When the side next to her got warm, I turned and warmed my other side.
No fishing was going on for the guys. The perimeter of the camp had a 6 foot fence topped with barbed wire. The land outside the campsite was rugged. That did not keep boys from scaling the fence and getting in. Earl and Ken patrolled the perimeter all night chasing boys back over the fence. This went on until near daylight. When they felt there were no more intruders, they finally began to fish. They caught a few fish but were so tired they did not want to clean them. They gave them to Mrs. B.
I had completed another rung up the learning curve ladder.
*Duchess was mother to Schultzie, The First Dog