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JD Walker Courtesy photo
In the late 1950s, Earl Ayres, Madill businessman, civic leader and Elder of the Madill Church of Christ, bought Pettijohn Springs Amusement Park from owners Lynn Gruwell and Mable Ruth Stong. Ayres bought the land as an investment but never intended to reopen the park.
For almost 18 years, the park remained in a state of hibernation, untouched by human activity. The once vibrant picnic grounds were now a wilderness of grass, bushes,weeds,andtrees.The pool,atestamenttothepark's natural beauty, remained filled by the spring but was left to decay.
In1966,theMadillChurch of Christ Eldership hired 42-year-old Weldon Jefferson Davis (J.D.) Walker as the new minister for the church.
Walker was born in Collinsville, Texas, on March 21, 1924, to Jefferson Davis Walker and Annie Marie LaRue Walker. He was the sixteenth of seventeen children of J.D. Walker, Sr. In his youth, Walker and his family moved to Ringling, Oklahoma, where Walker graduated from high school.
Shortly after finishing high school, Walker enlisted in the United States Army and rose to the rank of Warrant Officer. He was eventually assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division as a paratrooper. During his four years in the Army, Walker wasdeployedtotheEuropean Theater.
The 82nd Airborne Division was involved in several of the war's key battles. From the invasion of Africa and Sicily to the D-Day Invasion, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. Asaparatrooper,Walkerwas involved in some of the war's fiercest battles.
Following World War II, Walker returned to Oklahoma, where he married Joyce Engle from Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, in May of 1946. Followingtheirwedding,J.D. and Joyce settled in Pauls Valley, where Walker and a business partner purchased dry cleaners.
While running his dry cleaner business, Walker began part-time preaching at the Church of Christ in Pauls Valley. After about six months, he was hired as the full-time minister for the Maysville Church of Christ in 1953. By 1954, Walker returned to the Pauls Valley Church of Christ as the fulltime minister.
In 1955, Walker enrolled in the Biblical Studies program at Abilene Christian College in Abilene, Texas, to study and train as a minister. WhileinschoolatACC,Walker was the full-time minister at the Throckmorton, Texas, Church of Christ and then later the Daingerfield, Texas, Church of Christ.
In 1960, Walker and his family began a mission residencyinSweden. Walker worked as a missionary in Sweden for about two years before returning to Texas, where he accepted a minister position at the Athens, Texas, Church of Christ. He remained in Athens until February 1966, when he accepted the Madill Church of Christ position.
Within a few months of arriving at Madill, Walker approached the Church's Elders to express a desire to establish a summer youth camp where young people could come together to study the Word of God, have fellowship with other Christian adults and youth, and grow spiritually. Walker had been involved in some previous Christian Youth Camps conducted at state parks in Oklahoma and Texas. Because of the proximity of Lake Texoma State Park, Walkerhopedtopersuadethe Eldership to explore a camp at Texoma.
Over the next several months, Earl Ayres and Walker spoke frequently about a Christian camp, and so Ayres began showing Walker different properties he owned around the lake as possiblecampsites. However, theformaldevelopmentofthe campnevermaterialized,and Ayres passed in early 1968. Shortly after Ayres passed, his son Don Ayres was appointed administrator for Ayres’s estate.
Several months later, Don Ayres stopped by the church office to visit with J.D. Walker about his dream of establishing a Christian camp. Ayres then asked Walker to take a little ride with him, and Ayres took him out north of Madill to a piece of land along Pettijohn Springs Road that his father Earl had purchased several years earlier.
Walker later wrote about that day by saying, “Don had a site he wanted to show me. We walked all over the “site” of trees, rocks, etc. An old house, a log cabin, and an Olympic size swimming pool were located near the old highway on the property. There were numerous springs, and one of them flowed into the swimming pool, keeping the water level constant. Needless to say, my excitement grew as I visualized the possibilities!” He then wrote, “Don informed me that the Ayres family would like to donate this property in memory of their father and mother. The one and only stipulation was that it be used and developed for a Christian camp!”
On December 16, 1968, the Madill Church of Christ Elders established the Pettijohn Springs Christian Camp, a domestic, notfor- profit Oklahoma Corporation, by filing articles of incorporation with the OklahomaSecretaryofState. The Estate of Early Ayres then deeded the park land to the camp corporation, and Pettijohn Springs Christian Camp was formed.
A Board of Directors was elected to oversee the construction necessary for a successfulcamp. Theoriginal board members were Idus England, Don Ayres, Cole Tidwell, Olden Cook, Les McGalliard, Larry Sullivan, Jim Conrad, Clint Williams and J.D. Walker.
Over the next year or two, brush and weeds were cleared,androckswereraked and removed to create large grass lawns. Trees were trimmed or felled, and areas of the park were cleared for a mess hall, cabins and men’s and women’s shower facilities. Also, a large lake was constructed for fishing and boating activities and as a water supply for the camp. After trees and brush were cleared, the cabins were built, alongwithamesshallshower and restroom facilities.
One of the biggest projects was rehabilitating the swimming pool. By 1969, it was about forty-five years old, and time and nature had taken their toll. The pool was built along the side of a hill, and over the years, the hill had shifted, and it was pushing in the north side of the pool. Efforts were made to reinforce the pool's north side, but those efforts were unsuccessful, so the pool was drained, and the north wall of was rebuilt about ten feet south of the original wall. This reduced the size of the pool, but it made it usable again.
The last major hurdle was constructing a water system for the camp. Concrete vats were built on the lake's downhill side, and the lake water was filtered to meet state drinking water standards. To create pressure to pump the water up to the top of the hill where the mess hall, cabins and shower facilities were located, more systems had to be built.
Don Ayers found two huge water tanks for that purpose. But they needed some welding repair work done. Don Ayres approached Doc Watkins to do the welding, but because of the number of rush jobs at W.W. Trailer, Watkins declined to do the work. An old water well driller, Scat Vanderpool, assured Don he would see to it that Doc's welders would repair the tanks. So, using his big truck, Scat dragged those two tanks into the doorway of Doc's building and blocked the shop so that Doc could not get materials in or trailers out. The tactic worked, and W. W. Trailers repaired the tanks. These tanks and the system served the camp for several.
To equip the mess hall with the proper kitchen equipment, Walker and his wife began searching for used appliances. During their search, Joyce Walker noticed that a few cafes and restaurants in Oklahoma Cityweregoingbankruptand selling kitchen equipment at auction, so she and Walker drove to Oklahoma City to check out the different sales. The search was successful, and the equipment needed was found in almost new condition.
Because of these efforts, the camp was able to purchase all the equipment at a fraction of its value. Walker and his wife bought the equipment and brought it to the camp in a U-Haul truck. Three of the church elders, John Murray, Otis Wilson and Bill Hansford, helped unload the equipment. Now, the camp had a commercial kitchen capable of preparing meals for several hundred people daily.
The three church elders were so committed to the camp's success that they each personallysignedpromissory notesforabankloantosecure sufficient funds to complete the construction. Clint Williams also signed the note, as did several other church members.
While the construction was ongoing, the camp began a search for a camp manager. Several men applied for the job, but because of the camp's specialneeds,J.D.Walkerbelieved that only one applicant was qualified: Vance Crowe. Crowe and his wife, Aimee, lived in Caddo, Oklahoma. They had two children.
The camp's problem was that they did not have money for a salary for the manager. Because of this, the board felt it would be useless to contact Vance. With a family, Crowe needed money to live. However, Walker was impressed with Crowe from a previous conversation, where they talked about camping. During that previous conversation, Crowe told Walker that he wanted to work with the camp. He wanted a shot. So, WalkerthoughtCrowemight accept the job, even without a salary.
Finally, the board reluctantly agreed that Walker should travel to Caddo to visit Crowe, explain the financial situation at the camp to him clearly, and let him decide. Crowe listened to the presentation, asked a few questions and said he would talk to his wife and get back to Walker about his decision. It did not takelongforCrowetosayyes, and he and his family moved to the camp.
Crowe agreed to manage the camp without a salary, but the camp provided a house and utilities. The house was the large house that Dr. Chris Stevens built for his family in 1924, the same house where Dora Tubbs and Jack Blalock lived duringtheirrespectiveoperations of the park. Crowe and his family moved into that house in 1969.
Crowe was a good carpenter, so he did small jobs for people around the area to supplement his living expenses. He was also a good preacher, and he held gospel meetingsallaroundsouthern Oklahoma and north Texas. He also provided “fill-in” preaching at congregations when their local minister was ill or on vacation. In these variedways,Crowemanaged to provide for his family. However, he always put the camp first. Crowe also did some beautiful carpentry in the camp house, and he modernized the old home for his family and for managers yet to come.
Because of the stress of building the camp and for health reasons, J.D. Walker left the Madill Church of Christ in 1972 and moved to McAlester, where he became the minister for the 2nd and Washington Church of Christ. He stayed on the camp’s Board of Directors until 1975.
Thecampfinallyopenedin June 1971 with a small contingent of campers, but it was considered a success overall. The next year, the numbers improved, and by 1975, each session averaged about two hundred campers and staff. In 1975, Carrie Lou Little and her family donated one hundred thousand dollars to construct an air-conditioned chapel to accommodate three hundred people. Before the chapel, all worship services were conducted in the mess hall, named after Clint Williams, or held outside. The Little Chapel became the center of camp life.
A few years later, the old original pool reached the point that it could no longer be maintained, and a new pool was built on the top of the bluff. In addition, a few more buildings have been built, but all the original camp structures are still in good condition and used yearly.
To this day, the house built by Dr. Stevens and his family serves as the home of the camp manager. The original pool is still full of water, continually fed by Pettijohn Spring. But today, the pool is full of aquatic life and is effectively a “cement pond.”
This summer will mark the fifty-third year of operation for Pettijohn Springs Christian Camp. In its fiftytwo years of operation, the camp has impacted the lives of tens of thousands of young people. Because of the vision of Earl Ayres and his family, J. D. Walker and his family, and scores of other dedicated Christians, thousands of souls have been saved, and God has been glorified.
From its inception, Pettijohn Springs has endured transition and change. Pettijohn Springs has survived from its beginnings as a place of family fun and pleasure through a period of ill repute and debauchery to a place of tragedy and devastation and, finally, to a place for spiritual growth. Despite all the ups and downs, one might think that God had a plan from the beginning. The truth is, God did have a plan.
The last individual owner, Earl Ayres, was a lifelong member of the Church of Christ and an Elder in the church. But more interestingly, Dr. Chris Stevens and his family, who built the amusement park, which made the site perfect for a church camp, were also members of the Church of Christ. The Stevens family worshipped at the Madill Church of Christ in the early 1920s, and they all remained members for the remainder of their lives.
But the best proof that God had a plan is the fact that the original owner of theland,thewomanwhowas the namesake of the site, the park and now the Christian Camp,NanniePettijohn,was herself a life-long member of the Church of Christ. Nannie and her family worshipped at theOaklandChurchofChrist during their years living at the site, and after moving to Texas and then Florida, Nannie remained faithful to God and to the Church.
God does move in strange and mysterious ways. Pettijohn Springs is proof.