It’s been almost 70 years, but Wini Collis still remembers how she counted down the weeks until she could go to her first overnight camp in the woods of West Virginia.
She had turned eightÌý— old enough to spend two weeks at Camp CliffsideÌý— and couldn’t wait to stay in one of its log cabins near the Coal River.
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Her older cousin and other children in her rural community had been to the summer camp, one of several in the state run by the Union Carbide Corporation. The chemical company had a long tradition of sending the children of its employees to camp, and Collis was eager to experience the adventure.
On her first day in 1957, Collis recalls her parents packing her trunk and driving her down the road to Cliffside. Though the camp was less than 10 kilometres from her family’s home in Tornado, a small town outside the state’s capital of Charleston, her mother worried that Collis would be homesick.
But Collis didn’t miss her parents one bit.
“I went in the cabin door and never looked back,†said Collis, 76, a self-professed proud Canadian since 1975. “That camp experience defined my life.â€

Wini Collis, right, at age 11 with a fellow camper at Camp Cliffside. She was a four-star honour camper that summer.Ìý
SuppliedCollis loved everything about Cliffside. Swimming in the camp pool. Singing campfire songs. Learning archery and making countless crafts in an open-air log building. She still remembers the sound of the bugle that woke campers to a new day.
“You heard that bugleÌý— it was a record and not a real buglerÌý— you got up, made your bed and climbed the hill to the mess hall for breakfast,†Collis said, adding that she enjoyed the camp’s daily routine, right down to the morning room inspections.
When Collis wrote to her parentsÌý— campers were expected to send daily postcards homeÌý— she asked them to bring fudge and more comic books when they came on visitor’s day.
“Some kids got sad seeing their parents. I was glad to see mine but also couldn’t wait for them to go so I could get back to whatever fun thing I was doing.â€
Counsellors remember Bolton Camp, a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star fresh air fund camp where moms found freedom and even met Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson.
Counsellors remember Bolton Camp, a ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star fresh air fund camp where moms found freedom and even met Group of Seven artist A.Y. Jackson.
After that first summer, Collis went to a Union Carbide camp every year until she was 15.
“We waited all winter to be able to go to camp,†she said. “We loved the freedom of those weeks.â€
When Collis was 12, she started going to Camp Carlisle, the Union Carbide camp for older girls that was more remote than Cliffside. One night, she and a group of other campers hiked into the woods for an overnight stay. Torrential rains flooded the nearby creek and Collis recalls being rescued by older camp counsellors on horseback.
“We were led back to camp through chest-high water with rattlesnakes and copperheads floating by,†she said. “There was a long line of people holding on to ropes as we made our way to higher ground. We were really blessed with great counsellors and staff who kept us safe.â€
Collis said those memories resurfaced following the recent catastrophic flash flooding in central Texas that has killed at least 130 people, including 27 campers and counsellors from Camp Mystic, an all-girls camp located in the floodplains of the Guadalupe River.
“I had totally forgotten about our experience,†Collis said, referring to the 1961 flash flood in southern West Virginia that killed 22 people and destroyed hundreds of homes. “I had no idea back then how much devastation there was. I’m sure our parents were happy to have us back home from camp that summer.â€

A postcard of Cliffside Camp, one of several camps in West Virginia run by the Union Carbide Corporation for the children of its employees.
SuppliedAs Collis got older, she transitioned from a camper into a counsellor. At 15, she was a junior counsellor at Camp Carlisle, where she remembers cleaning the dining room tables and mopping the floorsÌý— “whatever the older counsellors wanted us to do.†Collis said she didn’t mind the work because it meant she got to go to camp for four weeks, instead of two.
A few years later, at 19, Collis spent the summer as a full-time counsellor at Camp Carlisle, her first real job. She said some of the skills she gained, including self-drive and discipline, have stuck with her through her various careers.
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In 1970, Collis moved to Canada with her first husband. The couple eventually settled in the Town of East Gwillimbury. When their two children were old enough, Collis said there was no question they would go to camp.Ìý
“My son loved it. My daughter, not as much.â€
In her mid-40s, and a freelance law clerk at the time, Collis went to an overnight camp in northern Ontario that opened its doors to adults after kids went back to school. The experience, Collis said, was “a hoot and a half.â€
Collis had wanted to send her two grandsons who live in Ontario to camp. But the soaring costs of overnight camp has left her unable to afford that dream. Instead, Collis said she donates to the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star’s Fresh Air Fund to help other kids enjoy time in the woods, away from home and out of the city.
“I feel badly that I can’t give my grandsons the same experiences that I had, but I can support a larger organization that opens up kids’ eyes to camp and the outdoors,†said Collis, who has been a Fresh Air Fund supporter for more than a decade. “If I won the lottery tonight, I’d sign them up for a camp experience for sure, but it’s out of reach for so many people.â€
Collis wants to encourage more people to donate to the Fund, saying that even $10 from every Star subscriber would help. More kids, she said, deserve to create lifelong memories at camp.
“If we all pull together, we can get it done. That’s a lesson I learned at camp, too.â€
The ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Star Fresh Air Fund
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TO DATE:Ìý$431,964Ìý
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