The Killdevil Lodge Experience in Gros Morne National Park

By Stewart Payne

The year 2019 marks the sixtieth anniversary of Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre, situated in the scenic Bonne Bay area of Lomond, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Gros Morne National Park.

The twofold purpose of this book is to tell when and how the site was acquired in 1959 by the Diocese of Newfoundland and developed over those sixty years, and to share the first-hand experiences of people, particularly campers and staff, who have spent time at Killdevil. More than thirty people have contributed stories of their experiences. Some of them pay tribute to volunteers who gave many years of service directing the church camps and to making Killdevil what it is today.

Everyone who passes through the gate at Killdevil is a visitor to Gros Morne National Park, an important site to Parks Canada. This book shows through personal anecdotes, historical narrative, and photos the Killdevil Lodge experience from its beginnings to present day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flanker Press
• Release date: Mar 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9781771177306

Stewart Payne

Stewart Payne was born at home in Fogo, Newfoundland, in 1932, the tenth of eleven children born to Albert and Hilda Mae (Oake) Payne. Upon graduating high school in 1949, he attended Memorial College in St. John’s to train to become a teacher. His first teaching job was in a one-room school at Wild Cove, Seldom-Come-By, 1949–1950, and he went on to teach in another one-room school on Indian Islands for the year 1950–1951. Two years after he had graduated from St. Andrew’s School in Fogo, he returned to become its principal. Stewart began performing as a choir member and lay reader for the Anglican Church early in his teaching career. The seed was planted, and in 1952 he returned to St. John’s to study theology at Queen’s College. In 1956, Bishop J. A. Meaden sent Stewart to Happy Valley–Goose Bay as a student minister. His experiences in Labrador during the summer of 1956 assured him that his future was in pastoral ministry. He graduated from Queen’s College and was ordained as a deacon in 1957 and a priest in 1958. Stewart returned to Happy Valley–Goose Bay and worked as a minister there for eight years, covering the areas of Rigolet, North West River, and Mud Lake. In 1962, Stewart married Selma Carlson Penney of St. Anthony, and they started a family in Happy Valley while Stewart continued his work there. In 1965, Stewart and his young family moved from Labrador to Bay Roberts, Conception Bay, where Stewart took over as the new rector at the parish. He worked there until 1970, when he and his family left to serve in St. Anthony on the Great Northern Peninsula. In 1978, Stewart was ordained as bishop of the Diocese of Western Newfoundland. He and Selma moved to Corner Brook, to the See City of the Diocese of Western Newfoundland. While living in Corner Brook, Stewart Payne was elected and installed as metropolitan of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada, and therefore also became archbishop of Western Newfoundland, a position he held from 1990 to 1997, when he retired. Today Stewart makes his home in Corner Brook.

Book preview

Flanker Press Limited

St. John’s

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The Killdevil Lodge experience in Gros Morne National Park : a Gros Morne National Park

experience / Stewart Payne.

Names: Payne, Stewart, 1932- author.

Description: Includes index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190053917 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190054026 | ISBN 9781771177290

(softcover) | ISBN 9781771177306 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781771177313 (Kindle) | ISBN 9781771177320 (PDF)

Subjects: LCSH: Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre (Gros Morne National Park, N.L.)—History. |

LCSH: Church camps—Newfoundland and Labrador—Gros Morne National Park—History.

Classification: LCC BV1650 .P39 2019 | DDC 796.54/22—dc23

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

© 2019 by Stewart Payne

All Rights Reserved. No part of the work covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical—without the written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed to Access Copyright, The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency, 1 Yonge Street, Suite 800, Toronto, ON M5E 1E5. This applies to classroom use as well.

Printed in Canada

Cover Design by Graham Blair

Flanker Press Ltd.

PO Box 2522, Station C

St. John’s, NL

Canada

Telephone: [phone] Fax: [phone] Toll-free: 1-866-739-4420

www.flankerpress.com

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $157 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 157 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.

Dedication

To Archbishop Robert L. and Mrs. Betty Seaborn, who brought their experience and love of church camping to Newfoundland and Labrador and planted the same in what has become known as Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre in the Lomond area of Bonne Bay.

To Reverend Canon David M. A. Pearce, who always thrived in the use of his many gifts in ministry to young people in particular and as the first executive director of Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre, 1994–1997.

To the hundreds of volunteers who gave so much, willingly and selflessly, to get Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre up and running and to keep it on track with its special ministry to people of all ages, children and young people in particular.

Contents

Foreword

Preface and Rationale for Church Youth Camps

Chapter 1

The Seaborns and the Founding of

Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre

Chapter 2

Church Camps at Killdevil

Beginning with Girls’ Camp, 1959

Chapter 3

Killdevil Boys’ Camp, 1959, and

The 1987 Boy Scouts Jamboree

Chapter 4

Youth Camp Programs, 1960 Onwards

Chapter 5

Killdevil Site Development Over Sixty Years

Chapter 6

Personal Recollections

Chapter 7

Killdevil, Property of Gros Morne National Park

and the Cordial Relationship Between the Two

Chapter 8

Paid Staff: Cooks, Caretakers, and Executive Directors

Chapter 9

Stories of First-hand Experiences at Church Camps

Chapter 10

Favourite Hymns and Songs

Acknowledgements

Index

Foreword

For those of us who have been touched by Killdevil, there is usually one defining memory which sums up the attachment we have to this wonderful place. For some it is spiritual as we remember raising a joyous sound to God, even if it was sometimes off-key, or we remember sitting alone in the silence of the chapel, so sure that we were in the presence of God as we were of our own existence.

For others it was the camaraderie, either as campers or as staff, a camaraderie that often led to new friends, even to that one special friend so dear to our hearts. Still others remember it as their first time away from home, the nervousness and pang of homesickness swallowed up quickly by the boisterous antics of fellow campers and the warm welcome of the staff. Or maybe it was the food and music, one as important to the body as the other was to the spirit.

So many stories, so many memories, so many people. Too many for one book. And yet it is to Archbishop Payne’s credit that, by bringing so much of this material together, he has captured the very essence of Killdevil.

For some of you it will be a walk down memory lane. For others it will be an introduction to an unknown but very special place.

May Killdevil continue for years to come so that others will experience the same peace, joy, and happiness which we fortunate ones have been blessed to know.

Llewellyn Hounsell

Chairperson, Killdevil Camp Committee

1979–1985

Preface and Rationale for

Church Youth Camps

In 2019 we celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre, situated in the scenic Bonne Bay area of Lomond, in Gros Morne National Park. The two-fold purpose of this book is to tell how the site was acquired and developed, and to share the memorable first-hand experiences of campers, staff, and others who have spent time at Killdevil.

I wanted to give as many people as possible the opportunity to send me a story of their camp experiences, so I posted the request on the websites of all three Newfoundland and Labrador dioceses and suggested that all the parishes therein might spread the word in their Sunday bulletins. I didn’t promise to use everything that came in but such as was important to the purpose of the book. I made it clear, too, that I would have the right to edit stories where necessary. Thirty-six people sent me precious vignettes and stories of their church camping experiences. No two stories were alike, but naturally there were a lot of similarities in them. To use all thirty-six stories would be a book in itself. In the interest of space and the purpose of the book, I had some tough decisions to make. In the acknowledgements section of the book I have listed with deep, deep gratitude all thirty-six names of the people who sent me stories. I have used some stories and parts of other stories, where I felt they fitted into the main part of the book, and some other stories which paid tribute to certain volunteers who gave many years of service directing camps and to making Killdevil what it is today.

Killdevil started with a focus on church camps for children and young people but almost immediately expanded into a camp and conference centre. The only paid staff in the early years were the cooks and the caretakers. Everything else was done by volunteers. The individual camps there are still run by volunteers. The operations were governed by several committees: the Trustee Committee, the Operations Committee, the Women’s Camp Committee, the Boys’ Camp Committee, and several smaller committees appointed to do one specific piece of work at a certain time.

I have read practically all the recorded minutes of the various committee meetings. There is no complete list of names of the hundreds of volunteers. I know the peril of mentioning some names and not others, but some people’s names inevitably come up because of their association with a particular project or event and in connection with the stories they gave me. The book is not a biography of anyone but a simple account of the development of the site and the church’s ministry to campers and others in our years of growth and development. To all committee members and volunteers, without the contributions you so willingly, eagerly, and ably made, Killdevil would never have become what it is today. Our love and gratitude to you all.

Another source of information for this book is my personal involvement in Killdevil, which began after 1970 when I became the rector of the Parish of St. Anthony. From 1978 to 1997, during my time as Diocesan Bishop of Western Newfoundland, the operation of Killdevil Camp and Conference Centre was high on my list of priorities and gave me further information to draw on. I take full responsibility for the content of this book.

One could very well ask, What is the rationale for church youth camps? Why would the church invest so much by way of dollars, time, and hard work into establishing church-run camps for children and young people?

Children come to Holy Baptism in the church so that they may grow in God’s grace and be trained in the household of faith. This is a shared responsibility of parents, godparents, and the full membership of the church. To get a better sense of this responsibility, we have only to read through a part of the catechism in the Book of Common Prayer and the Baptismal Liturgy in the Book of Alternative Services. We all promise to fulfill our responsibilities by God’s help.

We teach not simply by word but by deed and example. From birth all the way through, teaching is continuous in the life of home and family. The church has done much over the years to share in the growth and development of Christian living, for children and people of all ages. Some of the church’s work in this area would come under the name of Sunday Schools, Children’s Time in the context of