By Rosemary Messenger
THREE RIVERS – Mr. and Mrs. George Cooper turn their attention this week to their last group of youthful Eberhart boy campers after waving goodby to their last group of 22 girls.
”Coop,” as the campers have dubbed the 74-year old father of Camp Eberhart just west of Three Rivers, and his wife, Elsa, plan to retire at the end of this season.
Cooper discovered the site of the South Bend-Mishawaka YMCA summer camp while on an outing in 1911. He joined the staff in 1916 and became the organization’s director in 1920.
During the “off-season,” the Coopers live at 1606 Dorwood Dr., South Bend.
Cooper’s wife, called “Mrs. C.” by the youngsters, was camp nurse when he married her in 1944. She now is “Assistant director” and camp mother of more than 500 boys and girls a year.
One counselor phrases their donation to Camp Eberhart this way: “Coop and Mrs. C are the spirit of Camp Eberhart.’ We grow from their philosophy of life – and become something because of it.”
The spirit of Camp Eberhart becomes evident during any meal in the camp’s mess hall. Coop and Mrs. C., who directs the girls’ camp during the first eight weeks of the summer, turn the head table into an “office on the spot.”
They are surrounded by camp counselors, who discuss both little and the big problems.
Most of them are over pranks or a situation such as that created by a snake being brought into camp by an over zealous wildlife admirer.
The three-week camping period for girls ended last week. The eight-week session for boys has just begun.
”I’m going to miss it,” said Cooper.
The summer program ends Aug. 22 but the camp will remain open on the weekends into October.
While Cooper will retire from Camp Eberhart late this summer, he will remain with the YMCA until May 1965.
”I promised I would stay on until work begins on the new YMCA building in South Bend,” he said.
Cooper said he was retiring with regret.
”But I’ll be 75 years old in October,” he said. “I think it’s about time I moved on.”
During the camping period, he’s on constant alert for homesickness among young campers. After spotting a victim, he usually turns his red Jeep into a welcome wagon. Aiding him is his dog, Suzie.
Another welcome spot is “Coopers’ Coop,” the Coopers’ home on the camp grounds.
After a typical hectic day swimming in Corey Lake, horseback riding over camp trails and cleaning up camp grounds, the last day of girls’ camp closed with a ceremony in honor of Mrs. C.
Camp counselors and counselors in training presented Mrs. C. with a plaque commemorating the camper’s award initiated in her honor. The Elsa Cooper Award will be presented to the outstanding camper, who has met the camp ideals of knowing, growing, doing and becoming.
The counselors hastened to note that the award will not necessarily be presented every year but only when such an outstanding camper is discovered.
After the many years of rising to reveille every morning at 7:30 and ending their day with taps at 9:30 p.m., what will the Coopers do next summer? Go camping. Mrs. Cooper said they intend to travel northwest – with a camping unit in tow.