These Texas twins shared made-up games and story time. They died together at Camp Mystic
Hanna was the one with endless energy who wanted to be a chef and open a restaurant to feed the needy for free. Rebecca had an infectious laugh, but also 'a killer eye-roll,' her parents said. One day, she wanted to become a teacher.
Neither will ever get a chance to fulfill those dreams. The twins, who had just finished second grade, died along with 25 other campers and counselors at Camp Mystic in horrific flooding in the Texas Hill Country that killed dozens more on July 4. The girls left behind a devastated big sister along with their parents.
'Hanna and Rebecca brought so much joy to us, to their big sister Harper, and to so many others,' John and Lacy Lawrence said in a statement. 'We will find ways to keep that joy, and to continue to spread it for them.'
They added: 'But we are devastated that the bond we shared with them, and that they shared with each other, is now frozen in time. '
More than 100 people died in the flooding across central Texas, including the 27 from Camp Mystic. Flood waters roared over the hard-packed earth after an early morning storm caused the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes.
Most of the deaths reported are in Kerr County, where Camp Mystic and other youth camps dotted the landscape. A massive search for those still missing has been ongoing, but four days have passed since anyone was found alive in Kerr County, officials said Tuesday.
'It has been an unimaginable time for all of us,' said David Lawrence, Hanna and Rebecca's grandfather and the former publisher of the Miami Herald. The girls gave their family, including their sister, joy, he said in a statement.
'They and that joy can never be forgotten."
The girls found delight in different ways. Hanna could always be found building, drawing and creating, while Rebecca was always up for a family movie night and loved all animals, real and plush. No one could make Rebecca laugh as much or as hard as Hanna did.
'They were so different, but had the sweetest friendship,' their parents said in an email Tuesday.
The twins shared a love of books, staying up all night to read to each other or spending hours playing make-believe games 'with each playing multiple starring roles.' They also shared a desire to be just like Harper, their big sister.
University Park Elementary School, where Hanna and Rebecca attended, said on its website that 'numerous' students were in the Texas Hill Country during the flooding and had to evacuate. A message seeking comment was left with the school Tuesday afternoon.
___
DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas.
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The Guardian
44 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Deep rooted' camp tradition continues in Texas despite flood devastation
As search crews were continuing to pick through the wreckage from Friday's deadly floods in Texas's Hill Country, mothers on Monday were dropping their teenage children off at Trinity Baptist church in hard-hit Kerrville for camp. For the past few days, the church had served as a meeting point for families coming to – hopefully – be reunited with children who had attended other camps in the area. One of those was Camp Mystic in Kerr county, which lost more than two dozen campers and counselors during Friday's deluge. The death toll as of Monday had exceeded 100 across Texas. And, though that grim number made them nervous and sensitive to the mourning around them, the mothers bringing their daughters to Trinity on Monday said they believed it was important to fight for a return to normalcy amid the devastation. They also took comfort in the fact that the Trinity summer camp is on a lake and unlikely to experience anything like what had happened days earlier at Camp Mystic and other communities along the Guadalupe River. One of the women at the church, 26-year-old Brooklyn Thomas, said that some of her core memories as a child had come from camp along the Guadalupe River. 'I'm sure they'll take some more precautions,' Thomas remarked, contributing to an ongoing discussion about whether public safety alerts sent out ahead of Friday's flooding reached everyone they needed to reach in time. Thomas was accompanying her mother, Toni Way, to drop Thomas's sister off at the camp. Way said their instinct to carry on with camp despite what had happened came from something 'very deep rooted' within. 'These children's parents went there when they were kids,' Thomas said. 'Every year they send the next generation to camp.' But scenes of unimaginable heartbreak had also unfolded in the very space where Way and Thomas described their battle to preserve tradition. Cliff Brown, who had been coordinating the reunification effort at Trinity Baptist, said: 'Some have found their children and gone home. Others haven't.' Brown said he found hope in how the community had reached out 'incredibly' to the families of those who had been lost to offer condolences or whatever assistance they could. Way, Thomas and Brown all acknowledged the political discussion surrounding the deadly flooding – about whether Trump administration budget cuts affecting the regional National Weather Service (NWS) office had left the area underprepared. Government officials, in part, have maintained that warnings of flash flooding were issued in advance. But some residents reported not receiving them – something Texas's lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, acknowledged while he appeared on Sunday on Fox News. Kerr county had looked into installing sirens, river gauges and new communication tools on the Guadalupe River in 2017, the New York Times reported, but the plan was not taken up. In any event, an initial NWS forecast before Friday's disaster had called for only 3-6in of rain. But the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, combined with other weather systems that stalled in the area, ended up dumping 12in of rain before dawn on Friday. That is estimated to have increased the discharge of the Guadalupe River from 10 cubic feet per second on Thursday to 111,000 cubic feet per second on Friday evening. Meanwhile, communities along the Guadalupe River became overwhelmed when the river rose 26ft (8 meters) in 45 minutes on Friday morning. A focal point of the destruction has been Camp Mystic. The nearly century-old, nondenominational Christian institution – which draws many participants from outside the surrounding area – reported the deaths of 27 summer campers and counselors. Among the dead were its director. Authorities later said 10 girls and a counselor were still missing. It marked an unfathomably dark chapter in the history of a camp that 'has always served as a near-flawless training ground for archetypal Texas women', as the magazine Texas Monthly put it in a 2011 profile of the institution. While Way was sympathetic to the families affected by the horrors at Camp Mystic, she said she had long ago resigned herself to the fact that flooding from the Guadalupe River has been a hazard throughout her life. The US Geological Survey calculates that the Guadalupe has flooded notably in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1978, 1987, 1991 and 1997. In 1998, it recorded a flood that exceeded 500-year flood projections. 'There's been so many floods it's kind of not funny,' Way said. Neither Way nor her daughter could imagine the Texas Hill Country summer camp tradition being altered no matter what changes Friday's devastation may spur. Brown, meanwhile, offered his perspective on how suddenly things devolved. 'No one had any idea the water would rise like it did,' Brown said. 'It came up so quickly it caught people off-guard.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Girl, 8, orphaned in Texas floods after family camping trip ends in tragedy
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The Independent
3 hours ago
- The Independent
Faith-based camps like those hit by Texas floods are rite of passage for many. They're now grieving
Texas' catastrophic flooding hit faith-based summer camps especially hard, and the heartbreak is sweeping across the country where similar camps mark a rite of passage and a crucial faith experience for millions of children and teens. 'Camp is such a unique experience that you just instantly empathize,' said Rachael Botting of the tragedy that struck Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summer camp where at least 27 people were killed. A search was underway for more than 160 missing people in the area filled with youth camps as the overall death toll passed 100 on Tuesday. Botting, a former Christian camp counselor, is a Wheaton College expert on the role camp plays in young people's faith formation. 'I do plan to send my boys to Christian summer camps. It is a nonnegotiable for us,' added the mother of three children under 4. Generations of parents and children have felt the same about the approximately 3,000 faith-based summer camps across the country. 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What they all have in common is a focus on building self-esteem as well as positive Jewish communities and identities — all particularly important as many struggle with antisemitism as well as the loneliness and mental health barriers common across all youth, Simon said. At Seneca Hills Bible Camp and Retreat Center in Pennsylvania, there is archery, basketball and volleyball for summer campers, but also daily chapel, listening to missionaries and taking part in Bible study or hearing a Bible story depending on their age, which ranges from 5 to 18-year-olds. 'There's a whole host of activities, but really the focus for camp is building relationships with one another and encouraging the kids' relationships with God,' said camp executive director Lindon Fowler. For many, participating in the same summer camp is also a generational tradition. Children are sent to the same place as their parents and grandparents to be around people who share the same value system in ways they can't often experience in their local communities. A taste of faith, wilderness and independence for more than two centuries Because of their emphasis on independence and spending time away from family, summer camps in general have been especially popular in North America, Lubeznik-Warner said. In the United States, faith-based summer camps date back to two parallel movements in the 19th century — the revivalist religious gatherings in tents and the 'fresh-air movement' after the industrial revolution — and boomed after World War II, Botting said. Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, as questions about children's dependence on technology have surged, interest has grown in summer camps as 'places where kids can really unplug, where kids can be kids,' Botting said. Many parents like that camp can disconnect their children from their devices. 'We're interested in campers hearing similar messages that they're going to get at home or in their church or their faith communities,' Fowler said. He added: 'I think they can hear … the meaning of things more clearly while they're at camp" and away from distractions. For Rob Ribbe, who teaches outdoors leadership at Wheaton College's divinity school, all the elements of camp have biblical resonance. 'God uses times away, in community, often in creation … as a way to shape and form us, and help us to know him,' Ribbe said. Summer camp challenges: Safety protocols and determination There are faith-related challenges, too. As children explore their identities and establish bonds outside their families, many programs have been wrestling with how to strike a balance between holding on to their denominations' teachings while remaining welcoming, especially on issues of gender and sexuality, Botting said. Rising costs are also a pressing issue. Historically, camps have been particularly popular among middle to upper-income families who can afford fees in the thousands of dollars for residential camps. And then there is safety — whether in terms of potential abuse, with many church denominations marred by recent scandals, or the inherent risks of the outdoors. In Texas' case, controversy is mounting over preparedness and official alerts for the natural disaster. Every summer, hundreds of thousands of parents trust Brad Barnett and his team to keep their children safe — physically and spiritually — at the dozens of summer camps run by Lifeway Christian Resources. Barnett, director of camp ministry, said already his staff has shared personal connections to Camp Mystic: One staff member's daughter was an alum; another's went to the same day camp with a girl who died in the flood; and a former staff member taught at the high school of a counselor who died. But the tragedy is also informing their work as they provide yet another week of Christian summer camp experiences for children across the country. 'That's the punch in the gut for us,' he said. 'We know that there's an implicit promise that we're going to keep your kid safe, and so to not be able to deliver on that and the loss of life, it's just so tragic and felt by so many.' Experts say camp staff are likely to double down on best practices to respond to emergencies and keep their campers safe in the aftermath of the Texas floods. 'It's, truly, truly heartbreaking for the whole community of Christian camping,' said Gregg Hunter, president of Christian Camp and Conference Association, which serves about 850 member camps catering to about 7 million campers a year. But the positive and often lifelong impacts on children's confidence and faith identity are so powerful that many leaders expressed hope the tragedy wouldn't discourage children from trying it. 'It's where my life took a dramatic turn from being a young, obnoxious, rebellious teenager,' Hunter said. 'My camp experience introduced me to so many things, including to my faith, an opportunity, an option to enter into a relationship with God.' Simon, a former camper and camp leader, said she is happy her son is currently at camp — even though there is a river by it. 'I wouldn't want him to be anywhere else,' she said. ___ Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno and Holly Meyer contributed. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
