Countdown to the 100th: the 1950s

Another month means one step closer to our 100th celebration, and this month, we are celebrating the 1950s! What a great decade to be a camper; the 1950s were a wonderful time to be at Greystone. After a change in camp leadership and world instability in the 1940s, the 1950s provided a content community of campers and staff. Camp felt good - stable, close-knit, uplifting, and unified. Campers loved being campers and were genuninely very happy. Greystone continued to grow, and campers continued to enjoy the traditions of Greystone’s first 30 years. You will love learning about this exciting time in camp’s history!

Popular songs written in the 1950s:
1950: Happiness
1952: Bless This Camp
1953: We Love Greystone
1954: I’m a Greystone Girl
1955: Hi There
1958: Hail To Greystone’s Colors

Riding the Train to Camp

For many decades, Greystone girls loved arriving to camp by train. Uncle Roy Brown would organize the trips, reserving Pullman cars with the railways for the Greystone girls. He would arrange for girls to meet at various points, while also assigning counselors to each train. Girls loved riding the train!

• Girls hardly slept along the way due to the excitement. Campers could often be heard singing camp songs and other fun melodies along the way.
• Many younger campers would play hide-and-seek in the porter’s cabin.
• During layovers, girls would buy silly magazines and their last candy bars for eight weeks.
• Girls would eat breakfast in the diner, with Uncle Roy often hurrying them along when their meal was finished. As a souvenir, each camper received a menu with ‘Greystone’ printed at the top.
• Virginia Hanna, along with a group of counselors, would be waiting to greet the girls at the Zirconia station.

Average enrollment: 50 counselors and 240 campers

Did you know?

• In 1950, the Odd and Even teams started electing lieutenants along with captains for their team leadership.
• The Korean War ended during the summer in 1953, with many campers remembering this as a monumental moment during their time at camp.
• The 1950s was a time prior to Day Light Savings time, so Evening Programs like the Council Fire ceremony took place in darkness, adding to its sense of excitement and mystery.
• Favorite Council Fire stories told by Mrs. Hanna during this time include a story about a palm tree wounded by a nail, a story relating the way jewelry was only as strong as its weakest link, and the all-time favorite story of the Meme bird.
• Mary McConnell came to camp for the first time in 1953 as Miss Jean’s secretary. As was recommended to her when she arrived, she kept her musical talent a secret, but by 1954, the secret was out. Mary played the piano at meals for all the Greystone songs from that point in 1954 until her death in 1999.
• Many senior archery shooters were also advanced canoeists, so counselors combined the two as part of an Archery Club outing on the Upper Green River. Campers would shoot targets from their canoes (which also helped to get rid of old arrows).
• The Riding Show of the 1950s included a “pairs class,” where two horses that looked alike competed together, along with their 2 riders, who were also dressed alike.
• A property known as High Acres was purchased in the 1950s for camping. As many girls didn’t have a sleeping bag, they were taught to make a bed roll by placing their belongings in a blanket and rolling it lengthwise, wearing it on their backs like Civil War soldiers.
• During the 8 weeks of camp, campers enjoyed fifty Evening Programs. Each counselor was in charge of directing one.
• Campers often dreaded the 9 a.m. morning swim in Lake Edith. They would pray fervently for it to rain heavily so that it would get cancelled.

Jean Agnew joins Miss Hanna as Co-Director

In 1950, Virginia Hanna felt that she needed someone to come alongside her in her directorship role, and Jean Agnew fit the bill. Having come to Greystone in 1927 as the Hiking and Nature counselor, Miss Jean then served as Head Counselor from 1932-1949, making her a natural choice to join Mrs. Hanna. In 1950, Jean Agnew officially became co-owner and co-director, making Miss Jean the only person outside of the Sevier-Hanna-Miller family to ever have ownership rights in Greystone.

As described in Camp Greystone: The First 80 Years, “For the next eighteen years, the words ‘Virginia and Jean’ were paired like a hand in a glove. They functioned effectively as a team. Virginia was responsible for camper recruiting, Council Fire talks, Sunday supper meetings with the Honor Council, and other Greystone traditions…Jean Agnew paid meticulous attention to detail.”

Miss Jean continued as co-director into the 1960s. As her health began to decline and as camp’s leadership switched to the next generation, Jean sold her minority financial interest in Greystone to Libby and Jim so that camp was once again completely family-owned. The Jean Agnew Churchill Trophy is still given each year in her honor to the champion of the Archery tournament.