Camp Emmaus Celebrates its Own 'Legend,' Bill Hare

Few, if any, camp administrators in the Church of the Brethren have had a tenure equal to Bill and Betty Hare's service at Camp Emmaus in Mount Morris, Ill. The Hares completed their 40th year running the Illinois/Wisconsin District's northern camp in 2005.

The two met and married in Nigeria, and wanted to find a way to continue to be in mission when they returned to the United States. "We came home to an empty feeling," Bill Hare says. "We needed to be doing something specific. When the call (for Camp Emmaus) came, that service was what we were looking for. It was a mission field right here at home."

Bill became the camp's manager, while Betty answered phones, did scheduling, and provided nursing services. They lived on-site for summers only until a cabin was renovated into a home in 1974. The program expanded to year-round activities when a retreat lodge opened in 1980.

Camp staff this past summer put on a skit titled "Bill Hare the Legend" to honor the four decades of service. A "Bill Hare the Legend" T-shirt has been created for sale in the camp store. The Hares' dedication was recognized during a camp dinner this past fall, and the camp board gave the couple a restaurant gift certificate and purchased a Heifer International llama in their honor.

"It never occurred to us to be here this long," says Bill Hare, now in year 41. "We never thought about that."