South Mountain Memories - Part I

For a little more than a week, a very special lady from my childhood - Mrs. Doris Proctor (or Mamaw Doris as most of us kids called her) - has been in the hospital preparing to meet Jesus.  In honor of her, I thought that I would share a series of posts that I wrote approximately 3 years ago detailing some of the stand-out memories that I have from South Mountain Baptist Camp.  Mamaw Doris was one of our loving and dedicated camp counselors for many years.  It takes a special person to put aside their own schedules to invest in the spiritual lives of young people and Doris was that person.  She is very loved and will be missed by many!

As a GA at Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church growing up, I got to come to camp every year from the time I was 6 years old until I stopped going with the church because I was working on staff there.


I remember my very first week at camp.....as I said, I was 6 years old. It was the first time I had ever been away from home for that long period of time. I was staying in the upstairs room to the right. One night, while trying to fall asleep, I saw this beam of light outside the window. An older girl in the room convinces me that it's aliens (give me a break, I was 6!). I stayed up petrified until I was so exhausted that I finally fell asleep. In truth, it was simply some type of light that was shining from the cabin down below us.

I remember a time in my first or second year when we locked ourselves out of the cabin. One of the boys staff was walking around camp so we called him over to help out. Back then, the cabin was not air conditioned, so the windows were open but had screens on them. The staff boy had to bend the nails back that were holding the screen and then lift me through the window.

I remember going to morning devotions with Preacher Lineberger before breakfast every day. We would sit there, trying our best to listen and not fall asleep, with pots and pans clanging in the kitchen as the staff was finishing with breakfast. And speaking of breakfast, we could get hot chocolate! Why we wanted to drink hot chocolate in the middle of a NC summer, I'll never know, but we did.

I remember when a group of us went exploring in the woods/creek back behind the cabin, lost track of time, and ended up being about 25 minutes late for lunch chapel! We probably would've been later than that if Donna hadn't almost fallen into the creek and checked her watch to make sure it hadn't gotten messed up.

I remember always being so excited to sing "Pass It On." What was it about that song? I've only ever heard it at camp, but it seems that everybody else there loved to sing it too. "It only takes a spark, to get a fire going....."

I remember trying my hardest to memorize as many verses as possible, read my mission book and tell my counselor about it, and do all the required activities for each day. I just had to get that "Gold Star Camper" award!

I remember having to get up every single morning to clean the cabin. They were hard on us during cabin inspection! The kids these days have it so much easier...

I remember feeling like I was going to die having to walk "up top" (who am I kidding, I still feel that way when I visit!). I also remember how awesome it was when we could convince Mamaw Doris to drive us up there.....and how she had to back up to make it around the curve and we would all freak out, thinking she was going to back right off the side of the mountain.

I remember Nemo. And I honestly don't think any other words are necessary. If you were there, you know and understand.

I remember baptizing each other in the pool, playing Ooga Booga every year with the new campers, having beauty pageants in the cabin, parents visiting on Wednesday nights, playing in the volleyball, softball, and basketball tournaments (back to back 3-on-3 champs!), and tons of other little things. Camp was hot (except for the chapel), and we weren't allowed to have any tech devices back then (and by tech devices, I mean we couldn't take our walk mans). Going to camp was the highlight of my summers growing up. SMBC is truly a special place and I'm glad that memories like this are still made there.

For any of you that have been there as a camper, what are some of your favorite memories?