Arizona
Friendly Pines Camp, one of the West’s premier children’s camps nestled in the tall pines of the Bradshaw Mountains near Prescott, is proud to announce its 70th anniversary of providing a place where boys and girls could go to not only get “out of the summer heat” but also to just enjoy being kids.
Friendly Pines Camp is nationally known for leadership, programming and progressive standards. In continuous operation since 1941, the camp occupies an ideal location among the tall pines just six miles from Prescott. Children thrive in the clear, cool, pollen-free air with an elevation of 6,300 feet.
The history of this legendary camp is pretty astounding...
It was in the mid-twenties when the dream began for Bud Brown, an undergraduate at Dartmouth College. He'd just finished the summer as counselor in a boys' camp in the Adirondacks, and knew that he was already beginning to yearn for someday having his own camp for children. Through some marvelous quirks of fate, a few years later, in Arizona, he met and was awed by the bright, beautiful and accomplished Mary Isabelle Fuller, a ranch girl born and raised in the Tonto Basin, Arizona Territory. Before they were even married he shared his "camp" dream with her, a concept she found astounding and perhaps a bit ridiculous.... that parents would actually send their kids out to her Dad's remote ranch on the Mogollon Rim for weeks at a time to learn riding, branding, roping and ranch chores. She'd done that all her life and didn't find it any too thrilling...just a way of life, especially coping with the awful mud that built up during the rainy summers up on the Rim!
At last he convinced her, and the kids came, for several summers. Later they moved their camp to Flagstaff, where they had several acres near Mt. Eldon, for all the same activities. When his teaching career (mostly high school Economics, Government, and English) took him to the Phoenix area, he still longed for camp and the high country. He learned of a small camp operating near Prescott, AZ, in the small community known as "Groom Creek," which was coming up for sale, as the owners were getting ready to retire. The Browns looked it over and fell in love. Three things they had worried about as they searched for property all over Arizona, were: mud, poison ivy/oak and rattlesnakes. This camp had not one of those drawbacks, and they managed to become its new owners, in the forties.
"Uncle Bud" and "Brownie", as they were called by many generations of campers, plunged head-long into their new venture (and she with as much enthusiasm as he). It was very small at first, with only a handful of kids for the first few years. (They decided to make their camp co-ed, having daughters.) By the mid-fifties there were approximately 75 children in both of the two sessions, which were each four weeks in length. Life was good, kids were happy, and the camp thrived. While horses "built" Friendly Pines, amenities were added as could be afforded, such as tennis courts, swimming pool, more cabins, and additions periodically to the Dining Lodge. Bud continued his teaching at North High School in Phoenix, and also, in the mid-forties, he and Isabelle founded the renowned "Bud Brown's Barn", a legendary place out in the desert in north Phoenix, for private parties only. It featured western entertainment with barbecue dinners and square dancing to follow, and housed the family's enormous collection of everything from branding irons, wind-up music boxes and horse-drawn vehicles to an 1890's mahogany bar and the hide of a mountain lion bagged by Isabelle's dad, Ross Fuller. Both the teaching and "The Barn" meshed nicely with the Camp, which operated only in the summer, while school was out and The Barn was closed for the summer.
Fast forward to the 1960's, when the Browns' daughter Bebe, and her husband, Jack May, joined them in the operation of Friendly Pines. The next few years brought the arrival of a son and daughter, now Christopher May, M.D. and Rosemary (May) Taylor. Gradually the May’s purchased the camp, but the Browns remained active in the operation for many years thereafter. Children continued to come from all parts of the world to ride, water-ski, hike, canoe, fish, enjoy the exciting ropes/challenge course, and a great many other activities. Many of the campers over the years were the children, and then grand-children, of some of his North High students in bygone years.
And now, in 2010, a glance in the rear-view mirror at the road the old camp has traveled over what is now 70 seasons of its life: Brownie passed away in 1997, after almost 68 years of marriage to her beloved Bud, who passed away in 2001 (at nearly 98 years of age, and sharp as a tack!). Friendly Pines is proud and happy that things have conspired to maintain their original standards of camping excellence, and that the continuation of the Brown and May family is still intact. With capable and dedicated staff, Bebe and Jack May continue to operate Friendly Pines, backed up by the third and now fourth generations, who are also involved in staff positions.
An alumni weekend reunion, bringing in former campers from all over the USA, over the Labor Day weekend, will celebrate the strong and vibrant dream that lives on, even after 70 seasons! Any interested Friendly Pines Alumni can get information by visiting the website at www.friendlypines.com or by calling 1-888-281-CAMP.
Friendly Pines Camp is located at 933 East Friendly Pines Road Prescott, AZ 86303 and is on the world wide web at www.friendlypines.com and can be reached at 928-445-2128.
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