Camp Gray 60 years ago was built on faith, fun, and dynamite

	Camp Gray — pictured in the early years — is marking its 60th anniversary. (Contributed photo)

BARABOO — Parishioners at St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo helped Fr. Francis Xavier Gray — later Monsignor Gray — buy the land for a Reedsburg youth camp on Shady Lane in the early 1950s.

Not long after, they used dynamite to clear stumps from the athletic field and built cabins from wood they salvaged from crates of ordnance produced at the nearby Badger Army Ammunition Plant just outside of Baraboo.

Today, as it marks its 60th year, the Catholic youth camp and retreat center has weathered change. Generations of campers built memories as they spent summer weeks in those cabins, went on snipe hunts, and tagged up at first base on the ball diamond.

Now Camp Gray is preparing for the future.

“We are improving Camp Gray — project by project — but the same fun, values, and faithfulness all remain. That’s what we’re all about,” said Jeff Hoeben, who, along with his wife Rebecca, directs the camp.

“We know how important the Camp Gray experience is. We’ve kept the experience intact and are working to upgrade the facilities.”

Camp Gray plans 60th anniversary celebration On Saturday, Sept. 7, Camp Gray will celebrate 60 years of faith, friends, and fun at an open house between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Lunch will be served between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and Mass will be celebrated in Camp’s St. Francis of Assisi Chapel at 4 p.m. For more information or to make a donation, contact Jeff Hoeben at [email protected] or visit www.campgray.com

Improvements completed

After a 2001 capital campaign that raised $1.1 million, Gorman House, a residence for the camp’s directors, a new chapel, and other improvements were completed.

Since 2011, Camp Gray has built a new office and gathering hall, replacing its leaky and cramped headquarters.

It’s also completed a renovation of the dated St. Vincent Retreat Center, installed a new swimming pool after raising money through a challenge grant, and installed new outdoor basketball courts using a grant from Baraboo paving contractor D.L. Gasser Construction.

Future plans

A master plan just prepared for the camp by Vierbicher Associates envisions moving ahead by replacing the outdated gym and constructing a new and expanded dining hall.

The existing dining hall, called Helen Hall, seats 60 and a nearby pavilion seats about 100. Hoeben said the camp’s popularity and its uses as a year-round retreat center for groups require a 200-seat dining facility with a new kitchen.

“We’re still cooking on a commercial stove that’s decades old. It has six burners — and half of those sometimes don’t work — and a 24-inch griddle. Try making French toast for 200 people on a 24-inch griddle,” Hoeben said.

Instead of mounting a broad capital campaign, Hoeben has recently focused on raising funds for one project at a time. He hopes that the dining hall project can be completed sometime in 2015.

Improvements in place

Hoeben noted that Camp Gray will not expand, but will improve in place. The first priority will be constructing the new gym, with a staff gathering area, on old basketball courts near the swimming pool.

The new facility will have a 22-foot ceiling, higher than the old gym which (in places) has an eight-foot ceiling, a feature that’s not exactly jump-shot friendly. The old gym would then be razed to make room for the new dining facility.

Fr. Larry Bakke served as camp director from 1977 to 1993 and knows the challenges of camp maintenance.

“When I started, it was in pretty rugged shape. Nothing was winterized and the bathrooms, insulation, and wiring needed a lot of work,” said Father Bakke, who today is pastor at St. Clare of Assisi Parish in Monroe and director of the Apostolate to the Handicapped.

Father Bakke said the recent improvements and plans for future development at Camp Gray “are very exciting — something that I used to dream about, but never had the time or expertise to accomplish.”

Change for the better

Pat McDonald, a Janesville lawyer who worked as a camp counselor and head counselor while attending the seminary and law school from 1970 to 1977, has seen Camp Gray change for the better over the years.

“I come to Camp Gray and I’m thrilled to see the changes and the plans for the future,” McDonald said. “The emphasis on bringing God into the program and running the retreat center year-round is great.”

McDonald recalled that the camp in the 1970s included a rifle and shotgun program, with 12- to 15-year-olds learning to shoot skeet. It also used grant funds to bring inner-city youth from Milwaukee to the camp to enjoy a week in the woods.

“For some of those kids, it was the best week of their lives,” he said. “I learned that I loved working with kids. You’re with them 24 hours a day. I don’t know how many times that, by the end of the week, they’d mistakenly call me ‘dad.’ That was a great feeling.”

The changes already made at the 225-acre camp have enhanced the camp experience, said Susanna Herro, who had three children attend camp in the 1990s.

“I can hardly recognize camp now,” said Herro, a former member of the Camp Gray board of directors. “But I love it. It’s come a long way and it is still a fantastic place.”

Ev Sonsalla, a Baraboo insurance agent, has also seen camp change for the better. In the late 1960s, Sonsalla began bringing his Boy Scout troop to Camp Gray for campouts and cleanup projects. His son, David, planted 10,000 trees there as an Eagle Scout.

“We stayed in cabins one winter weekend when it got down to 18-below, and you could see the moon through the slats in the cabin walls. I don’t think I slept a wink. I had to keep a fire going in the old rec hall,” he recalls.

Since then, his grandkids have gone to camp, his daughter was married there, and he still helps tend Camp Gray’s garden. He is also a longtime member of the Knights of Columbus council at St. Joseph Parish in Baraboo that was a major force in buying the land and continues to do volunteer projects at the camp.

“It’s changed a lot, but it’s still terrific. The counselors are really good kids and great role models,” Sonsalla said.

Carrying on camp tradition

The proposed changes will bolster the Camp Gray tradition, Father Bakke said.

“Camp Gray has created a safe, sacred environment for young people, provides a wonderful experience in the Church, and shows how family, camp, fun, and faith can work together,” Father Bakke said.

The camp’s future won’t alter the bedrock values and simple fun that keep kids coming back year after year, Hoeben said.

“The idea is to capture that fun, enrich kids’ spiritual lives, build on the tradition that’s grown since 1953, and carry it into the next 60 years,” he said.