She was a thin, wiry, sprightly little lady that wore a funny little black hat, a formal frilly white shirt, and a black bow tie. She loved children, and we loved her. No campfire circle was complete until she had regaled us with stories from the mission field. We imagined all sorts of scary things lurking out past the light where the shadows danced on the trees. We huddled together, afraid to hear and even more afraid to leave the security of the others gathered around the fire.

Our favorite story was “Thirteen O’clock,” and we begged her to tell it every year. Her story-telling skills were such that you imagined yourself to be right in the scenes she described. She also loved to hear good gospel music sung in the meeting tents around the camp. She could preach when asked, and nobody complained that she was a lady preacher.

I was absolutely thrilled upon a recent visit to Historic Adventist Village in Battle Creek, Michigan, to see her little hat, shirt, bow tie, and pictures displayed in the William J. Hardy home. She was Anna Knight, better known to all African-American Adventists as “Sister Anna Knight.” She was the first black missionary woman to be sent overseas by the General Conference. We laughed with her about this because she surely did not look typically black, with her keen features and very white skin complexion.

That is the way camp meeting was in the “good old days.” My dad took his vacation each summer at camp time. My family never missed a camp meeting in 66 years. Mom and the other ladies brought sheets from home, and they sewed them together to make ticks. Yes, we filled the sheets with straw from the barns at Mount Vernon Academy, and later at Pine Forge Academy! What good sleeping!

I remember the camp store on Saturday nights after the Sabbath had passed. There were always samples of the newest health foods, and we kids would get in line several times until they caught on and ran us off. Cooking around the camp stove was a social event as well as a cooking event. And you could count on the very best preaching and music ever to be heard if you attended camp meeting. It was the spiritual high time of the year.

I can hardly wait. See you at camp meeting this summer!