Groundbreaking

Shirley Katzenmoyer Maney was one of the people who turned a shovel of dirt in 1950 to dedicate the site on which Lutheridge would be built. Shirley was 8 years old, and as a member of Grace Lutheran Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina, she was chosen to represent the children of the church at the groundbreaking ceremony.

“I didn’t understand what a groundbreaking was,” Shirley recalls, “but I got a new dress for the occasion, and I thought that was good.” As a part of the dedication ceremony, Shirley came forward for her turn in the dirt. “I remember I had to practice my part so I knew what to do. I was surprised to learn I would have to use a shovel in my pretty blue dress.”

The moment Shirley turned over some dirt at the current site of Efird Hall was captured in a picture Shirley has treasured for 75 years. “Being that girl in the picture followed me,” Shirley laughs. “Whenever I was at Lutheridge, Dr. Thornburg (the camp director) would always call me up in front of everyone to say, ‘This person was part of the groundbreaking.’”

Shirley didn’t go to Lutheridge as a camper the first summer, but soon after that her parents took her to camp to show her how the site was developing. “I fell in love with it,” Shirley remembers. “When I got home, I called my friend from church and we registered to go together.” Shirley went back for summer camp for many years. “I loved being a camper, everything about it,” she says. “Even as a junior in high school, I had a job but took a week off to be at camp.”

All these years later, Shirley still carries with her many of the experiences she had at camp. “Every Sunday night here in my retirement community we have a ‘vespers’ service,” Shirley shares. “I had not heard that word very much since my camp days, and when I see that on the Sunday schedule, I can’t help but have good memories of outdoor evening worship services at Lutheridge.”

As Lutheridge approaches the celebration of its 75th Birthday, Shirley is glad for the chance to reminisce about her time at camp. “I’m planning to go to the birthday banquet,” she says, “and I am looking forward to hearing stories from the past and remembering. Lutheridge has a very special place in my heart.”