Before the Central Texas Floods, the Owners of Camp Mystic Were a Fixture

Like the Guadalupe River meandering through the cypress trees or the tall rocky bluff with the large Mystic sign welcoming campers, Dick Eastland was a part of the scenery for generations of females at Camp Mystic. The executive director of the camp, Mr. Eastland, and his wife, Willetta, who everyone calls Tweety, had relocated to the Texas Hill Country in the 1970s.

When flash floods came through the camp in the middle of the night, Mr. Eastland, 70, perished there on July 4 after his truck was washed into the river. According to Camp Mystic, the flood also claimed the lives of 27 personnel and campers. On Thursday, Kerr County officials reported that one counselor and five campers were still unaccounted for.

Days before the storm, the camp’s disaster safety plan was approved by state inspectors. However, a number of cabins, particularly the ones where the camp chose to keep its youngest campers, were located within the flood zones of the river. As the waters swiftly rose, teenage counselors were forced to use flashlights and screaming to communicate. The American Camp Association, a nationwide organization that upholds standards for camp safety and disaster readiness, did not accredit Mystic, in contrast to a number of other summer campers along that section of the river.

Lawsuits are almost certain, and the parents of the deceased children have refrained from discussing the Eastlands in public. For the time being, a large number of Mystic graduates, counselors, and even parents of campers who made it through the atrocities at the Christian ladies camp have remained steadfastly devoted to the Eastlands.

Many would question everything they valued about the school, including the network of accomplished, aspirational women that comprise the Mystic alumni network and the happy childhood memories, if they were to mistrust the family’s judgment.

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