Summer Camp Owner's 'Last Act of Kindness and Sacrifice' Was Trying to Save Campers in Texas Floods, Friend Says
"[H]is last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers," a friend, Paige W. Sumner, wrote in a tribute to him in the local Kerrville Daily Times.
Eastland and his wife, Tweety Eastland, directors of the private Christian camp, had been with the camp since 1974 and were third-generation managers of the facility, which has been in their family since 1939, according to the Camp Mystic website.
Tweety Eastland reportedly survived the devastating floods, spurred by nearly unprecedented rainfall.
Tributes to Dick have poured in online, praising him as a caring surrogate dad and grandpa, enthusiastic fishing teacher and smiling and warm presence on the campgrounds.
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"Generations of girls have been and will continue to be positively affected by him," Natalie Hayes Dunning posted on Facebook. "There aren't a lot of people that I know that are going straight to heaven, but Dick Eastland is one of them."
Former camper Rachel Thornton recounted Dick's encouragement while she tried to learn to fish.
"On the last day of class, he came up to me and said, 'As long as I've been here, I've never had a girl not catch a fish. You're catching one today,'" she wrote in a Facebook post. "Dick did not leave my side the entire class until I (mostly Dick) reeled one in, a tiny little perch."
Thornton wrote that despite the fish's size, Dick lavished her with praise.
"I remember someone saying perch were the smallest fish and Dick looked at me smiling and said, "Well it's the biggest perch I've ever seen anyone catch!" she wrote.
Both Dick and Tweety Eastland attended the University of Texas in Austin, according to a camp biography.
The Eastlands were parents of four boys. One son, James, died in 2015, according to the camp's website.
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