Camp is the Place to Make Lifelong Friends

Two women met at sleepaway camp in upstate New York when they were only eight years old began a friendship that has endured for over 50 years.

“She’ll definitely be in my life in some aspect to the end. She’ll always be there,” says Stacy Lewis of her friend Renee Pearl Sigler. The two met in 1970 at Camp Echo Lake in Lawrenceburg, NY.

“We were best friends at sleepaway camp from our first summer,” Lewis, an advertising creative director, continues. The bunkmates were drawn to each other because they were both competitive athletes with the same interests and sense of humor, raiding other bunks and pulling harmless pranks. The pair were also the first girls at their co-ed camp to climb Mount Marcy, New York State’s tallest mountain.

During the winter the girls were pen pals and Sigler, who hails from Montreal, visited the Lewis family on Long Island.

After eight years of archery, free swim, and Tribal War games, Lewis didn’t return to camp, but the two friends would touch base via phone and connect in person at camp reunions or when Sigler came to New York. “I always felt so close to Renee,” she explained, “even when I hadn’t seen her for a while. We fell right into conversations, no problem. There was no awkwardness.”

Then they lost touch with the ad exec citing that careers got started and life got busy. But the dawn of social media brought them back together. “I looked for her [online] immediately,” said Lewis. “Because of camp, she was someone in my life who I loved.”

Although Sigler still lives in Canada, her daughter relocated to Manhattan where Lewis has been a resident for forty years, and was eager to help out with getting the young woman situated. “I would do anything as soon as [Renee] asked me,” she admits. “I see her more often or speak with her more because her daughter lives here, and then of course there’s the crazy small world stuff because her cousin is dating a former colleague, who lives in Toronto now. I’m connected to her in different ways now.”

When asked what it is about camp friendships that differ from those at school or in your neighborhood, Lewis says, “You live together for eight weeks in a tiny cabin and do everything together. It makes you close.”

Besides an enduring friendship, Lewis found camp to be an invaluable experience. She says: “I’m dedicated to this camp. I was such a good camper. I always won awards—All Around Camper, Best Camper, Nicest Camper. They always put me with the new kids because I was the friendly one. I always made everyone feel comfortable.”

And still does. Of the one-time summer friends who she sometimes runs into around the city, she affirms: “I think of my camp friends as, not exactly family, but there is a trust. I would do anything for anyone from camp.”

Lewis also concedes that she didn’t always realize how good she had it. “It was about getting away and being on my own; being exposed to different people and new things, and learning basic life skills. Going to camp was a big part of my life, my heart, and who I am today.”

Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of three novels, most recently “The Last Single Woman in New York City.”