Former camper remembers Camp Mystic
Digest more
Hero Texas camp director Richard “Dick” Eastland battled floods for decades and even saw his pregnant wife once airlifted off the grounds to a hospital because of a deluge.
Camp Mystic co-owner Dick Eastland, described as "one of the most selfless men," reportedly died trying to rescue campers from catastrophic flooding.
Federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic's buildings from their 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain in the years before rushing waters swept away children and counselors, a review by The Associated Press found.
"Their focus is fighting through that grief to stay connected with the families of their campers and helping them in any way they can," a camp spokesperson says
The duo offered a place where parents knew their daughters would be enriched and happy. During the tragic floods, Dick Eastland died trying to save them.
Bubble Inn saw generations of 8-year-olds enter as strangers and emerge as confident young ladies equipped with new skills from the great outdoors and lifelong friends – bonds that would one day prove vital in the face of unfathomable tragedy.