Camp Tekoa 60th Anniversary Reunion

Saturday, October 31, 2009 – 10:00am-4:00pm
SAVE THE DATE!

Staff, campers, and parents from past to present, join us to celebrate Camp Tekoa’s 60th Anniversary! Come spend the day at Tekoa and see what is new while reflecting on our great memories of the past with all of your many camp friends!

This is a drop-in event. You and your family can stay all day or just for the food. We will have activities lined up for this wonderful occasion. Activities include: music, boats, zipline, giant swing, camp tours, hayride, fishing, store, campfire and more.

A picnic lunch will be served at 12:30pm.
Please send RSVP to reunion@camptekoa.org and indicate how many people in your party will be joining us for lunch.

We hope to see you for this great celebration!

-- Mike Pruett, Program Director

Camper Turned Counselor Shares Her Memories

I received an e-mail from a former staff member from the early days at Tekoa (Tekoa is celebrating it's 60th anniversary this year!) and was given the go-ahead to share it with you. If you remember Sarah and would like to contact her, click on her name below!

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Hi. I grew up in the foothills (Hildebran) and attended Camp Tekoa as a camper probably in the early 50's. Later returned as a counselor the summer of '59 I think (summer after freshmen year at "Women's College in Greensboro"). It was a great experience in both roles with the exception of losing a beautiful ring in the lake when I was a counselor.

While surfing the net looking for a summer camp for my grandson, I happened upon your site and thought, what the heck, I will take a look. Don't know if my grandson is ready to be away from his parents, but I am going to broach the subject with his dad, my son. If not this year, maybe next.

I live in Orlando now and have been away from NC for 26 years but it will always be home. I still have siblings there as well as my son, step-daughter and three grandchildren. I am retired from education (teacher and administrator in K-12) and higher education (also teacher and administrator).

Camp Tekoka was a special place and I am sure that it still is. Look forward to listening to the stories and songs. Hope your summer is full of laughter, learning, and fun...

Sarah Cooke Magann

Jack Tales and Camp Songs of Tekoa

In 1995 David Porter, son of Jack Porter the camp director at the time, set up some recording equipment in Laurel Lodge to make a collection of camp songs and Jack Tales told by his father. It was quite professional, I might add. I remember doing several takes on some of these songs for David to get the sound just right. Out of those recording sessions he made cassette tapes for everyone working on staff that summer. For some reason the tapes were not able to be massed produced for the camp store, so the only copies of these tapes are in the hands of the 1995 staff. I found mine in an old cassette tape carrying case I used to put tapes in for travelling in my car. Though the tape was chromium quality, I wanted to preserve this collection for posterity, so I burned them onto a CD, then loaded it onto my computer.

Here I provide for everyone's listening pleasure that recording session in its entirety. Some of the files are only a few minutes, while some of Jack's storytelling tracks last as long as 10-18 minutes. If you hear anyone singing out of tune, it was probably me. My wife said she could pick me out of the chorus of voices when I turned it up loud on the computer!

One of the facets of working at Camp Tekoa that I was most fond of and found most inspiring was the songs and music. Whenever campers and staff got together, whether it be at mealtime or around the campfire, I could feel the presence of God around us when we filled the air with his praises. I hope these songs and stories bring back fond memories for you as well.

Camp Tekoa Song
Sanctuary
Pharaoh, Pharaoh
Hardy Hardhead
Seek Ye First
Lord, I Lift Your Name
Search My Heart
The Golden Teepee
I Will Call Upon The Lord
Wesley Grace
The Love Round
Soap, Soap, Soap
Rock Of My Salvation
The Snakebit Hoehandle
Amazing Grace
Singing About His Love
The Gift
Humble Thyself

Order now from K-Tell Records! Just kidding. I'm still new to this type of file-sharing technology, but I would think all these songs are public domain. After you click on a link, you can choose to download or just listen to the song. If anyone out there who knows more about music or file sharing knows any reason why I can't offer these songs free to anyone who wants them, let me know as well. Otherwise, enjoy!