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Camp LaJunta & Camp Mystic [Staff Warning on OP]

2,767,798 Views | 3949 Replies | Last: 2 days ago by trouble
AF2011
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Thank you for compiling these. Will have to sit and read them all when I can have some time to cry…

This is still so heavy.
Big Al 1992
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Seeing that many obituaries in one place is absolutely crushing. Maybe that link could be stickied by staff at the top.
Badace52
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allgoaton said:

BCBAg said:

Saw this comment on FB by a Twin's 2 mom about her daughter who survived: "She was able to make it out of Twins 2 alive. Swimming out her cabin window, floating on a mattress and swimming to a tree down past Bug House. One of the girls with her had a flashlight and helped guide them to the tree. They sat in the tree for 2+ hours waiting to be rescued from the tree."

Someone upthread asked why some girls in the affected cabins were able to survive.

I MIGHT be mistaken, but remember the picture of the two young blonde girls in the helicopter that led to confusion that some lost girls had been found alive? I want to say I read those were twins girls who had been in a tree or something similar. Could be wrong, but those girls in that photo looked about the right age.


Those girls were from the Twins cabins (I believe Twins 2 but not 100% on that). One of them is the daughter of a close friend from med school. The mother of that girl grew up with my wife and went to Camp Mystic with her as well. The other girl in the photo is her close friend and they were found in a tree downstream from camp by some good samaritans in the early morning hours of July 4th.

Our med school friend contacted us around 9 AM to let us know the samaritans had called her having found her daughter with her friend in the tree and that's when my wife and I knew for sure that all the Mystic girls were not actually accounted for as was being reported. We started driving to Ingram immediately.
DG-Ag
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Big Al 1992 said:

Seeing that many obituaries in one place is absolutely crushing. Maybe that link could be stickied by staff at the top.

Obituaries are bad enough. But for 8-year old girls - my lord!
You're from down South,
And when you open your mouth,
You always seem to put your foot there.
BCBAg
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Thank you for putting this together. Heart wrenching.

I can't imagine for those parents, having to sit and put together a legacy for your child. These girls were so loved and made such an impact on their communities.
SpreadsheetAg
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One of my favorites... it reminds me to be calm and talk to God.

FancyKetchup14
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Been lurking here since this all went down. My heart has been breaking for Texas and all those involved. We have these pink flowers outside of our apartment and every time I leave or come home I see them and think about Derm and all those dealing with the fallout.

Much love from Germany.


SlygirlAg
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Big Al 1992 said:

Seeing that many obituaries in one place is absolutely crushing. Maybe that link could be stickied by staff at the top.

was about to ask the same thing - I would love to go through and read all the obits, but it needs to be a quiet moment when I can sit and reflect, and cry.
SlygirlAg
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This is great information to share. Thank you for putting it together!
If you have the knowledge, it would be worth putting it into a Google document that is shareable/editable, so it can continue to be updated as additional obits/memorial funds are created.

If you don't know how to do that, I know we have technical folks in TexAgs who could handle the task.
allgoaton
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I believe at one point folks were wondering what happened at the other cabins on the "flats".

This is a first hand account from a counselor from Giggle Box. Giggle box is the cabin next to "Wiggle Inn" where we know Badace52's young daughter survived by floating on a mattress within the cabin.

https://archive.ph/2025.07.12-104914/https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/07/12/texas-flooding-survival-camp-mystic-counselor/#selection-309.0-318.0

According to this young lady's account, she was told to stay... but instead chose to evacuate her 9-year-olds.

This article has a first hand account from a girl up in senior hill: http://archive.today/2025.07.14-172936/https://www.wsj.com/articles/camp-mystic-texas-flood-what-happened-9dbde882

(both websites have paywalls so the links will route you to an archive style link so you can read it without account access)
Agman
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God bless Ainsle and the other brave counselors and staff.
Badace52
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allgoaton said:

I believe at one point folks were wondering what happened at the other cabins on the "flats".

This is a first hand account from a counselor from Giggle Box. Giggle box is the cabin next to "Wiggle Inn" where we know Badace52's young daughter survived by floating on a mattress within the cabin.

https://archive.ph/2025.07.12-104914/https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/07/12/texas-flooding-survival-camp-mystic-counselor/#selection-309.0-318.0

According to this young lady's account, she was told to stay... but instead chose to evacuate her 9-year-olds.

This article has a first hand account from a girl up in senior hill: http://archive.today/2025.07.14-172936/https://www.wsj.com/articles/camp-mystic-texas-flood-what-happened-9dbde882



Glenn tells the Giggle Box story pretty similarly. He was sent to Wiggle Inn and Giggle Box to help the girls in those two cabins and obviously all girls in both cabins survived as we know. Not exactly the same story but pretty similar.
Anti-taxxer
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I don't know how to say this diplomatically, and perhaps it is just my interpretation, but one of those stories definitely has a much more negative spin (regarding the response of the camp) than the other, which is more of an account.

Thanks for posting these.
allgoaton
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Here is another article with some firsthand accounts from "Bug House" (who evac'd to the rec hall), "Chatterbox" (who climbed up to sky high) and "Cozy" which I believe is housed in the central office building and held some of the older (but apparently still quite young) counselors. This one is a bit harder to keep track of with the three different stories.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/13/us/camp-mystic-flooding-texas

This article includes stories of three siblings, one on senior hill, one in Bug House, one in Giggle Box: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-flooding-unfolded-deadly-kerrville-camp-mystic-rcna217712

(All the stories align fairly well)

This article has a new story I hadn't read before: the Hangout girls went first to Tumble Inn and then to the rec hall. https://www.ntd.com/positive-camp-mystic-spirit-overcomes-tragedy_1078046.html

No first hand accounts from Look In, Nut Hut, or Jumble Inn. I would assume Look In was brought to the rec center if they started with Bug House and worked back. If it is accurate that a child was lost from Jumble house, the story is that they climbed to the sky high as well (my source for that is just a pic of a handwritten note passed around early on in the search but all other names were correct so I would imagine that would be too). Not sure about Nut Hut's events that night.
DG-Ag
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Anti-taxxer said:

I don't know how to say this diplomatically, and perhaps it is just my interpretation, but one of those stories definitely has a much more negative spin (regarding the response of the camp) than the other, which is more of an account.

Thanks for posting these.

I agree. The WSJ article definitely has more of a negative/accusatory tone.
You're from down South,
And when you open your mouth,
You always seem to put your foot there.
dermdoc
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Anybody who feels moved to give
https://givebutter.com/MaryGraceBakerMemorialFund
dubi
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Donation made.
dermdoc
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dubi said:

dermdoc said:

Anybody who feels moved to give
https://givebutter.com/MaryGraceBakerMemorialFund



Quote:

[color=#000000][size=4][font=Matter, sans-serif]The parents of Mary Grace Baker have established this fund to carry on the legacy of their beautiful daughter. Every dollar given spreads the love and joy that she so generously shared in her lifetime. [/font][/size][/color]

So what type of activities will this fund invest in? I am genuinely curious in what ways that you will spread "love and joy".


I have no idea. If you do not want to give, don't. I will guarantee you it will go towards good.
And if you want to ask the parents I can arrange that.
Badace52
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That WSJ report is definitely pretty accusatory. It seems like their main source was the sister of the Twins who perished in the Twins 1&2 cabins so it is understandable it would read the way it does.
AF2011
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I agree. It also felt like the person being interviewed felt very lied to - understandably. But it doesn't seem like the senior hill counselors actually knew anything about what happened to the girls on the flats so they were just trying to be positive… and it's possible that if there was an adult leader that had been in contact with them that they themselves honestly didn't know either and relayed incorrect information…
AustinCountyAg
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Virginia has been found.
Bluto
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Are you sure?
Anti-taxxer
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AustinCountyAg said:

Virginia has been found.

Many continued prayers.
Badace52
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They didn't know anything at all on senior hill for a while. A lot of the leadership was missing. The owner was washed away as was one of his sons (the son made it and was found in a tree with several girls from Twins from what I have been told by first hand accounts.)
dermdoc
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AustinCountyAg said:

Virginia has been found.


Great to hear.
WC87
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AustinCountyAg said:

Virginia has been found.


While still very sad, I am very thankful she can be returned to her family.
Badace52
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AustinCountyAg said:

Virginia has been found.


Only one left. I saw Virginia's mom in the hallway outside the gym collapse and wail when her family members showed up telling them they hadn't found Virginia and she was still missing. I briefly talked to her dad as well who was peppering a little diabetic girl who had been airlifted from camp early for medical reasons with questions about what happened.

I've been waiting for news of Cile. Her mom and the woman who went to med school with us are very very close friends and my wife was at Camp with her mom as well.
Bluto
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AustinCountyAg said:

Virginia has been found.

Thank God. I've been praying she would be reunited with her family. My heart goes out to them all. May they at least have some form of peace now.
AF2011
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That's kind of what I figured - so the counselors were telling their girls what they knew would have happened - most of the flats cabins would evacuate to the Rec, everyone else should be fine in their cabins…
swimmerbabe11
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Ainsle is an absolute warrier. Carrying multiple girls against currents and multiple trips. Absolute badass angel. What a hero.
DannyDuberstein
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Yeah, for a teenager to be told stay by staff but then to continue to assess the situation and make the judgment call to get them out of there while they still could - that takes something special that most don't have.
txags92
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AF2011 said:

That's kind of what I figured - so the counselors were telling their girls what they knew would have happened - most of the flats cabins would evacuate to the Rec, everyone else should be fine in their cabins…


Knowing that they had poor cell service out there, an alternate means of communicating around the camp would have made a big difference out there. Even just having a radio at each main camp area would have allowed them to make it clear what was happening in each area to each other.
dermdoc
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dubi said:

Donation made.

Thank you my friend.
missinAggieland
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Big Al 1992 said:

Seeing that many obituaries in one place is absolutely crushing. Maybe that link could be stickied by staff at the top.


Yes, please. Stickie this post. I want to go back and read it sometime. When I have time to be alone and just cry and pray.
Emotional Support Cobra
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DannyDuberstein said:

Yeah, for a teenager to be told stay by staff but then to continue to assess the situation and make the judgment call to get them out of there while they still could - that takes something special that most don't have.


It makes me physically ill to think of the choice she made knowing that she and the girls could have been washed away. But she made the choice in time and that is all you can say now.

We know her family from school and they are undoubtedly proud and thankful for their daughter's actions but can only imagine the what-ifs they must be going through.
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