Latest news with #TweetyEastland
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
To Honor Those Lost at Camp Mystic, I Made the Owner's Signature Cookies
Here in central Texas, the grief from the July 4 floods is ongoing. It's crushing to think of what so many families have lost, and how many are still waiting for their loved ones to be found. It's hard to cope and impossible to understand, so people are finding meaning in doing what they can for the places and people they love. One bright spot for me in covering these stories has been hearing about Camp Mystic's Tweety Cookies, as beloved as they are iconic. I've heard several times of people thinking to make them spontaneously and independently, to offer thanks and drive connection after first having them at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas. They've been made at home in remembrance, delivered to first responders helping with search and recovery and sold at lemonade stands to raise money for the efforts. Everyone who talks about them has a twinkle in their voice, even in the midst of such great pain. They can't be bought, though, either at the camp or back home. If you want to try one, they have to be earned — or made. Mary Kathryn Strong was a Mystic counselor in the 1990s, and her 18-year-old daughter Evelyn was a counselor for the first time earlier this summer, after attending as a camper for 10 years. They remember the cookies fondly and camp owner Tweety Eastland with devotion. 'It just made you feel good to get them,' says Strong, explaining that they were always made by hand in Tweety's home kitchen and given only for special reasons, like winning the clean cabin inspection or to comfort a homesick girl. 'That's why it was such a treat. It was one batch and Tweety made them with love … It's such a little thing, but these girls just treat it like it's gold.' Girls at the camp transition to being a counselor's aide in their senior years, serving the younger girls and cooking with Tweety in her own kitchen. At the end of term, they're given a recipe booklet with the dishes they learned to make — including the cookies. Strong and her daughter have made them at home many times to bring a little piece of camp home. When they were preparing to help out at a Lubbock lemonade stand to benefit the camp last week, Evelyn knew what she wanted to make. 'These girls are taught from an early age to lift each other up, by this family and this camp,' says Strong. 'That's all they know how to do, is to lift each other up.' Making Tweety Cookies to share with others naturally felt like an act of recognition and comfort in hard times. I also spoke to Ellen De La Hunty just a couple of days after she made Tweety Cookies for her brother-in-law and other first responders working in search and recovery, only a couple of days before she gave birth to her second child. De La Hunty was a Mystic camper like her great-grandmother and her great aunt before her, every summer from the ages of 9 to 18. Although the most momentous memory of hers might be meeting her future husband at a dance with a local boys' camp, she also remembers a lot about the food, and how the menu was designed to make things special. Sunday was for fried chicken, and enchiladas always came with sherbet. 'Hershey bars and Coca-Cola were a real commodity because they weren't given at the commissary,' De La Hunty tells me. 'They were saved for special occasions. It added to the magic of it.' And of course, she remembers the Tweety Cookies. De La Hunty describes the reason the girls built up such an appetite — days filled with horseback riding, yoga, arts and crafts, archery and fishing taught by Tweety's husband Dick, who tragically died trying to rescue campers on the morning of the flood. She remembers her time at Mystic as formative for the person she has become because the Eastlands had a way of pushing you to try new things, to be independent and to enjoy the peace of nature without distraction. 'They would make so much effort with intention to interact with every girl at the camp, and that's hundreds of girls coming every term,' she says. 'They knew my name.' Like the Strongs, De La Hunty received the recipe booklet at the end of her last term at camp, and she has offered a photo of the recipe. So, I'm going to make them in my own act of remembrance. Like many recipes passed from warm hand to warm hand, it's a little short on details, because the recipients learn by making them together and then eating them. I got a few pointers from devotees, and from the carefully made notes, I can see it's important to use old-fashioned rolled oats, Nestle chocolate chips and Fleischmann's margarine. I can't find Fleischmann's at my local grocery stores, so I've chosen a different margarine with similar ingredients that I hope will be close enough. Although every brand has a slightly different flavor, any solid margarine with the first ingredient listed as oil instead of water, or even real butter, should work similarly. Tweety's ingredient ratios are unique — more oil than the classic Tollhouse chocolate chip and a lot less oatmeal than the standard oatmeal cookie. The mixing instructions are unusual, too. Usually the creaming step is only butter and sugar, but in this recipe, the egg goes in as well, and this might mean the sugar dissolves into a smoother texture. With room temperature eggs and margarine, they blended together perfectly well. From there, it's only a matter of adding the other ingredients in sequence and scooping them onto the cookie sheet. Since the dough is very soft and unchilled, I expect them to spread quite a bit, so I'm leaving about three inches of room all around, and only baking six at a time. After nine minutes, they're done in the middle and a warm, golden color all over. With a two-tablespoon cookie scoop, I got 36 cookies. Once they cool enough to handle, they have a lovely crispy-chewy bite, with an almost lacy surface. The texture reminds me a bit of a Florentine. The oatmeal adds complexity and extra chew, but this is not what I would usually think of as an oatmeal cookie — there's no cakiness to it. It's crisper than the usual chocolate chip cookie, too. They retain their chewiness the next day, and might even be better then. As I was packing up my batch of cookies, I received a follow-up from De La Hunty; she and her husband had welcomed their second child over the weekend. She told me that while they had been preparing for the birth with joy, their hearts had also been heavy with grief for the lives lost. 'To honor them and share the Mystic love,' De La Hunty wrote, 'I spent the day before my baby arrived baking Tweety Cookies for the hospital staff who would help me welcome this new life. A small gesture of gratitude, in hopes to bring some healing and connection as we hold space for both sorrow and joy in this tender time … I let each nurse, doctor, anesthesiologist and staff member know our story and what Mystic meant to me. If it wasn't for Mystic, I wouldn't have had my little family.' The cookies tasted exactly as she remembered, she continued. They're just … special. And, knowing what they mean to so many girls and women, I can taste the magic too, even if it is bittersweet. This article was originally published on Solve the daily Crossword
Wall Street Journal
08-07-2025
- General
- Wall Street Journal
How a Flash Flood Turned Camp Mystic Into a Disaster Zone
It was a Monday afternoon, June 30, and Dick and Tweety Eastland were in their customary place at this time of year: welcoming another crop of girls to the summer camp in Hunt, Texas, that their family has presided over for most of its 99 years. The previous day, girls had reached Camp Mystic's main campus for the start of the summer's second term. Now it was opening day at its sister campus just down the road, Camp Mystic Cypress Lake.
Dubai Eye
08-07-2025
- Climate
- Dubai Eye
Hopes fade for Texas flood victims as death toll tops 95
Three days after a torrential predawn downpour transformed the Guadalupe River into a raging, killer torrent, a Christian girls' summer camp devastated by the flash flood has claimed at least 96 lives, many of them children. Ten girls and a camp counselor were still unaccounted for, officials said on Monday, as search-and-rescue personnel faced the potential of more heavy rains and thunderstorms while clawing through tons of muck-laden debris. The bulk of the death toll from Friday's flooding was concentrated in and around the riverfront Hill Country town of Kerrville, including the ill-fated grounds of Camp Mystic. By Monday afternoon, the bodies of 84 flood victims - 56 adults and 28 children - were recovered in Kerr County, most of them in the county seat of Kerrville, according to the local sheriff. As of midday Sunday, state and local officials said 12 other flood-related fatalities had been confirmed across five neighboring south-central Texas counties and that 41 other people were still listed as missing outside Kerr County. The New York Times, one of numerous news media outlets publishing varying death tolls on Monday, reported that at least 104 people had been killed across the entire flood zone. While authorities continued to hold out hope that some of the missing would turn up alive, the likelihood of finding more survivors diminished as time passed. Camp Mystic, a nearly century-old Christian girls' retreat on the banks of the Guadalupe was at the epicenter of the disaster. "Our hearts are broken alongside our families that are enduring this unimaginable tragedy," the camp said in a statement on Monday. Richard "Dick" Eastland, 70, Mystic's co-owner and director, died trying to save children at his camp from the flood, multiple media, including the Austin American-Statesman reported. He and his wife, Tweety Eastland, have owned the camp since 1974, according to its website. "If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for," Eastland's grandson, George Eastland, wrote on Instagram. National Weather Service forecasts on Monday predicted that up to 4 more inches of rain could douse Texas Hill Country, with isolated areas possibly receiving as much as 25 cm. Allison Santorelli, a meteorologist with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, said the potential for renewed flooding was particularly heightened by the saturated condition of the soil and mounds of debris already strewn around the river channel. A flood watch was posted until 7 PM. State emergency management officials had warned on Thursday, ahead of the July Fourth holiday, that parts of central Texas faced the possibility of flash floods based on National Weather Service forecasts. But twice as much rain as was predicted ended up falling over two branches of the Guadalupe just upstream of the fork where they converge, sending all of that water racing into the single river channel where it slices through Kerrville, City Manager Dalton Rice said. Rice said the outcome, the result of an unpredictable combination of circumstances, was unforeseen and unfolded in a matter of two hours. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday asked a government watchdog to investigate whether budget cuts imposed by the Trump administration contributed to any delays or inaccuracy in forecasting the floods.
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Camp Mystic Director Dies Trying to Save Young Campers from Floods as Death Toll Surpasses 50
For more than 50 years, Richard "Dick" Eastland, 70, has been at the heart of Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp that he purchased in 1974. Tragedy stuck the campgrounds on Friday with historic floodwaters in Texas. With multiple cabins washed away in the floodwaters, many of Camp Mystic's young campers are among the heartbreaking casualties and those still missing. On Saturday, Eastland himself was counted among the deceased, as reported by The Kerville Daily Times. His nephew was first to announce his death on Facebook, per KSAT, in a post that is no longer available. Talking to the Washington Post after his death was announced, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said that Eastland died in a helicopter on the way to a hospital. He'd reportedly been rescued after trying to save girls at his camp, rushing to one of the camp's 23 cabins when floodwaters swept it away. "It doesn't surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers," wrote a former camper in a column written for the Daily Times. She wrote that she and many of the girls who attended Camp Mystic saw Eastland as a father-figure, and looked forward to spending time with him and his wife Tweety each summer. Tweety was found alive in the couple's home on the camp grounds, according to Texas Public Radio. As search-and-rescue operations continue in and around Kerrville on Sunday, more than 43 people are confirmed dead in Kerr County alone, and 59 total from the devastating floodwaters of the Guadalupe River which rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes early Friday morning, per ABC News. Officials in Kerr County said that the speed at which the water rose made it impossible for them to issue evacuation orders in time, with Kerrville city manager Dalton Rice telling the outlet, "This happened very quickly, over a very short period of time, that could not be predicted, even with the radar." Among the dead are 21 children, while 23 girls from Camp Mystic remain missing and have not been since the flash flood washed away many of the cabins. The total amount of people reported missing, beyond the children, has not been released by authorities. "I urge every Texan to join me in prayer this Sunday — for the lives lost, for those still missing, for the recovery of our communities, and for the safety of those on the front lines," Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement, vowing that search efforts will continue working around the clock as the water recedes, opening up new areas. Founded in 1926, the Eastlands are third-generation owners of Camp Mystic, per The Daily Mail. The camp's mission is for the camp to "bring out the best" in its young campers, emphasizing the forging of lifelong friendships and a "wholesome Christian atmosphere." NBC News states there were approximately 750 girls at Camp Mystic when the flooding began. The camp told parents via email in the aftermath that if they had not been contacted directly, then their daughter or daughters have been accounted for. In the four-week summer sessions, girls enjoy horseback riding, dances, fishing, and water activities. The river, which is usually idyllic and peaceful, is prone to flash flooding, but officials are calling this a 100-year-flood after receiving what they characterized as months of rain in an extremely short span. Several families have confirmed the deaths of their own daughters in heartbroken social media posts and statements to the media, but as the identities of the missing and deceased have not yet been released, it is not known if officials are acknowledging those losses yet in their figures. At least five Camp Mystic girls are confirmed dead, according to family members, including Renee Smajstrla, 8; Sarah Marsh, 8; Janie Hunt, 9; and Lila Bonner, 9, and Eloise Peck, 8, as reported by the New York Post.
The Sun
07-07-2025
- General
- The Sun
Camp Mystic director's tragic final act to save girls from Texas floods as wall of water tore through cabins killing 27
THE director of Camp Mystic desperately tried to save young girls in a heartbreaking final act before the vacation spot was swamped by flooding. At least 27 campers and staffers were killed in the deluge that has been branded 'nothing short of horrific' by Texas governor Greg Abbott. 7 7 7 The death toll stands at 82 and dozens still remain missing. Dick Eastland and his wife, Tweety, were the third-generation of their family to manage the camp, having bought it in 1974. He was trying to rescue young campers when the flooding hit the camp on July 4, located around 80 miles northwest of San Antonio. The Christian summer camp was overwhelmed after the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. Eastland's grandson, George, revealed his grandpa had died when the water crashed through the walls of the cabins. 'If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way—saving the girls that he so loved and cared for,' he wrote on Instagram. 'That's the kind of man my grandfather was. He was a husband, father, grandfather, and a mentor to thousands of young women. 'Although he no longer walks this earth, his impact will never fade in the lives he touched.' Eastland, who had previously fought brain cancer, was found dead near his car, as reported by the San Antonio Express News. His body was discovered near some of the others killed in the flooding. Two brothers in miracle escape from Texas floods after they swam for their lives as water reached top bunk in camp cabin Tweety, meanwhile, was found safe at the family home. Paige Sumner, a family friend, has led the tributes to the camp director. In an op-ed to the Kerrville Daily Times, she said the girls at the camp looked up to Eastland as if he was a 'father figure.' Dick Eastland's grandson's tribute DICK Eastland, the director of Camp Mystic, was killed in the floods while trying to save young girls. His grandson, George, penned a tribute on social media. "If he wasn't going to die of natural causes, this was the only other way, saving the girls that he so loved and cared for. "That's the man my grandfather was. A husband, father, grandfather, and mentor to thousands of young women, he no longer walks this earth, but his impact will never leave the lives he touched. "Daddy Dicky, you were not just my grandpa, but my dear friend, fishing buddy, hunting guide, golf partner, avid Texas Longhorns fanatic, my #1 fan, and above all else: a hero. I remember looking out the window on my way to my first career playoff game as Kerrville gathered to send us off. "My entire family was busy and I didn't expect anyone to show, but he was there with a big poster hoisted above his head, and an even bigger smile. "I'm proud that I made you a grandfather Daddy Dicky, but blessed that you made me the man I am today. "Although I am devastated, I can't say I'm surprised that you sacrificed your life with the hopes of someone else's being saved. "Life cannot possibly be the same without you, but the Eastland family will continue to remain faithful during these times. "We love you Daddy Dicky." Source: Instagram 'Dick and Tweety were also role models in their loving relationship,' she penned. 'When we looked at them, they were still that much in love.' She revealed that the couple were kind and welcoming when meeting them for the first time. Sumner also highlighted how Eastland was a selfless character, who would put the needs of others first. 'It doesn't surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers,' she wrote. Ann Conner Yarbrough Armitage also wrote how it wasn't a surprise Eastland would try to save the lives of the children. ' He was so approachable, he always remembered my name, he was positive, kind and he loved his family,' she wrote on Facebook. 'This is an unspeakable loss.' Texas lawmaker August Pfluger also paid a glowing tribute to Eastland for his bravery. 'Camp Mystic's Dick Eastland no doubt gave his life attempting to save his campers,' he wrote on X. 'Thank you Mr. Eastland. We love you and miss you.' Camp Mystic officials have confirmed that 27 campers and counselors have died. Around 750 kids were at the camp when the floods hit, according to cops in Kerr County. VICTIMS IDENTIFIED Janie Hunt, who is related to Clark Hunt, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, is among those who have been killed. Eloise Peck, eight, and nine-year-old Lila Bonner have also been identified as among the victims. Sisters Blair and Brooke Harber were holding tightly onto each other when their bodies were found - 15 miles downriver, according to their school St. Rita Catholic Community. Brooke was described as an accomplished basketball and soccer player, while Blair was an avid member of the yearbook team. Blair was looking forward to starring in the 8th grade play, according to the school. The sisters sent their parents a final text saying: 'I love you,' before they drowned. Blair and Brooke's parents were staying in another cabin near Hunt. High school coach Reece Zunker and his wife, Paula, also died in the floods, while dad-of-two Julian Ryan was killed trying to save his family. Meanwhile, survivors have recalled the chaos that unfolded as the cabins were being flooded. Campers were washed away within minutes, Amanda Sue Jones told CNN. 'It was just immeasurably fast,' she added. Piers and Ruffin Boyett swam out of their cabins when it was flooding. "The cabins were flooding and the walls, they broke down," Piers told the ABC affiliate KSAT-TV. DEBRIS IN THE RIVER Volunteers taking part in the rescue mission have told how debris is slowing down the efforts. One person coined the operation 'nonstop turning and burning,' per CNN. Nick Sortor, who is part of Louisiana's United Cajun Navy, revealed pathways had to be created for rescue boats to access. Sortor said the river was filled with obstacles - some of which had to be chainsawed. Search teams have had to navigate snakes and debris as they comb the river. Meanwhile, Scott Ruskan, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, has been credited with saving 165 people, as reported by Good Morning America. He helped usher between 10 and 15 children at a time to helicopters, so they could be taken to safety. Kids were escorted onto Black Hawk UH-60 and MH-65 Dolphin aircraft to higher ground. Ruskan explained how he was trying to keep the children calm during the high-stakes rescue mission. He revealed that many of the survivors were without shoes and in their pajamas when they were evacuated, per The New York Post. Kristi Noem, the Director of Homeland Security, described Ruskan, who joined the Coast Guard in 2021, as an 'American hero,' saying he showed 'selfless courage.' Officials at the National Weather Service have come under scrutiny and they have defended their flood warnings and forecasts. The area that was impacted in Texas Hill Country is known as flash flood alley. Flood risks in areas of central Texas have been upgraded. Officials have warned that regions could be vulnerable to flash floods. 7 7 7
