DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, the land underneath the Texas Lions Camp has got a story that goes back further than the camp itself. It once belonged to Joshua Brown, the founder of Kerrville.
So right away, you know this ground has been part of something bigger than itself for a long, long time. By the nineteen twenties, the American Legion had established a sanitorium right here on this land, and then in 1925, the United States Veterans Administration set up a hospital. This was already a place dedicated to healing before anybody even dreamed what it would become next.
Then came 1948, and with it, a nationwide polio epidemic — the kind of thing that touched nearly every community in America, that sent a cold shadow across every parent's summer. Into that moment stepped a man named Jack Roe. Local Lion, social worker with the Texas Department of Public Welfare, and somebody who had seen with his own eyes what happened when handicapped children showed up at summer camps and got turned away.
Turned away. He'd seen it, and he didn't look the other way. Roe made it his mission — and that word mission is earned here — to create a place where children afflicted with polio could experience the joys of nature at a camp designed specifically for their unique needs.
He worked with the Kerrville Lions Club, and together they started reaching out to Lions clubs across the whole state of Texas. They weren't just building a camp; they were building a movement. And in 1949, that movement got a real shot of momentum when they received endorsement from the Lions International Convention.
That's not a small thing. That's the whole organization saying: yes, this matters, this is what we stand for. Now, land doesn't come free, and 504 acres of land certainly doesn't.
So they launched a statewide fundraising effort, and they had some help from a then-United States Senator by the name of Lyndon B. Johnson. With that effort and that assistance combined, in 1950 they purchased those 504 acres right here from the federal government.
The very same land where Joshua Brown once walked, where the Legion had built a sanitorium, where veterans had healed — now it belonged to the children. The camp officially opened on June 8, 1953, with 40 campers. And just a few weeks later, on July 3, 1953, those children participated in the formal dedication celebration.
Forty kids. That's where it started. By 1958, the camp had expanded its purpose, providing training facilities for clients of the Texas Commission for the Blind — a program that ran all the way to 1984.
Then in 1971, special programs for children with diabetes were added to the mix. The camp kept widening its arms. And then came 2003 — fifty years on — and the Texas Lions Camp marked a milestone: service to a total of fifty thousand children since that opening day.
Fifty thousand kids who came here, who got to experience what Jack Roe believed they deserved: education, entertainment, and memories to last their lifetimes. The Lions clubs throughout Texas still support these programs to this day, living out the Lions motto — We Serve — on this ground that has been about serving people since before most of us were born. Forty campers to fifty thousand.
That's not just a number. That's Jack Roe's mission, carried all the way home.
What the marker says
Located on land once owned by Kerrville founder Joshua Brown, this has been the site of rehabilitative facilities since the 1920s, when the American Legion established a sanitorium here, followed by a United States Veterans Administration hospital in 1925. In 1948, as a nationwide polio epidemic raged, local Lion Jack Roe, working with the Kerrville Lions Club, promoted the concept of a special camp for children afflicted with the disease. A social worker with the Texas Department of Public Welfare, Roe had seen handicapped children turned away from other summer camps, and in response he made it his mission to create a place where they could experience the joys of nature at a camp designed for their unique needs. Roe and the local Lions Club members worked with other clubs around Texas to promote establishment of the camp, and in 1949 they received endorsement from the Lions International Convention. A statewide fundraising effort and the assistance of then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson led to the purchase of 504 acres of land at this site from the federal government in 1950. The camp officially opened on June 8, 1953, with 40 campers who participated in the formal dedication celebration on July 3, 1953. The camp also provided training facilities for clients of the Texas Commission for the Blind from 1958 to 1984, and since 1971 has included special programs for children with diabetes. It celebrated a milestone in 2003, marking service to a total of 50,000 children since its opening. The Texas Lions Camp has served as a place of education and respite for children with special needs for more than half a century. Its programs, still supported by Lions clubs throughout the state, reflect the Lions motto "We Serve" by providing campers with education, entertainment and memories to last their lifetimes. (2005)