CAMP LOVE STORIES
February 7, 2025
Your Camp Love Stories
We asked couples who met and fell in love at camp to submit their Camp Love Stories for a special Valentine’s Day edition of our weekly newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading their short stories as much as we did. Thank you to everyone who sent in a beautiful Camp Love Story submission! Check out how these couples met & fell in love at summer camp.
Louise & Jed Palmer – Met at Wyonegonic Camps
“We met in 2013 when I was a CIT director and Jed was a trip leader. We got together that summer, engaged in 2014 at camp, married in March 2016 and now have 2 children. We were so lucky to meet at one of the best places in the world and we are now able to take our children back to see where it all began.” – Louise
Sam & Danielle Stone – Met at Camp Howe
“We met and were getting along well. Danielle was helping a camper by the camp fire so I offered to help run the scheduling meeting she was meant to. As it was wrapping up I came outside as she was walking in with the perfectly cooked smore for me. In that moment I knew I wanted to marry her. Now we’re 10 years later with 2 beautiful children and an amazing life together.” – Sam
Danita & Timothy Ballantyne – Met at Incarnation Camps
“The summer of 1989, I was the Girl’s Village Director and Timothy was the commissary for the Pioneer Village program. It was pretty much love at first sight — we knew within a couple weeks that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. We got engaged that October and married in May, 1990 (at camp). This year we will celebrate our 35th Wedding Anniversary.” – Danita
Bud & Aly Copeland – Met at Camp Laurel South
“Aly and I met for the first time in May 2006. I was up at camp early with two other guys, and we were working with the maintenance director, Gene, on some pre-precamp projects. After a couple of cold, damp days working in the May, Maine weather, Gene’s wife and daughter brought the boys a warm, homecooked meal. That was the first time I had shepherd’s pie, and the first time I met Aly. She came to work in the office that summer. A couple of years later, on a staff day off (classic), we found ourselves chatting at the fire around 2am after everyone else had gone to sleep (or off for more shenanigans). We got married at Camp Laurel South on September 6, 2014, and now live in Salem, MA with Miller (dog) and Cooper Rose (daughter). “- Bud
Leslie & Jason Silberman – Met at Camp Matoaka
“Jason and I grew up just a boat ride apart on East Pond, each deeply immersed in the camp experience as both campers and counselors. But it wasn’t until a camp social as counselors that our paths finally crossed. From that moment, we immediately knew we shared a love for camp traditions, the Maine sky, and the lifelong impact summer camp can have. In 2004, our journey led us to Camp Matoaka, a place that became more than just a summer home—it became our life’s work and passion. Together, while raising our three children, we have had the privilege of leading and growing this incredible community. Every summer, as we watch our campers laugh, learn, and form friendships, we are reminded why Matoaka Magic is so special. Now, 20 summers and 20 wedding anniversaries later, our love story is woven into the very fabric of Camp Matoaka. It has given us more than just a family of five—it has given us an ever-growing Matoaka family. The traditions, the spirit, and the community of the Pink City continue to inspire us, and we are grateful every day to be part of this journey.” – Leslie
Lori Lerman Rotman & Alex Rotman – Met at Camp Caribou
“We met at camp when I (Lori) came back to work at Caribou after I finished girls camp and a summer leadership travel summer. I came back to work at Caribou and Alex was a Super Senior (our oldest camper) at the time. I only knew him as the funny kid at campfires and lip syncs. The next summer we actually met when he was a CIT and I was a Junior Counselor. He worked at baseball and I worked at tennis at the time…we were (just) best friends for more than 11 years, each returning to camp for the summers before we got together in a real way but that doesn’t mean that everyone we knew didn’t tell us that we were meant for each other at every turn along the way. We just needed to take our time and trust the process and ultimately take a chance that has worked out better than we ever could have imagined! 3 kids and almost 13 years married this Summer! We got married at camp, after camp, and all of our friends stayed in the bunks and it was so fun!! We’ve been working together for more than 20 years now and we’re still enjoying each day and every summer of fun!!” – Lori
Robbie McLeod & Sammy Wolf-McLeod – Met at Camp Cedar
Sammy and Robbie met at camp in 2013 when Robbie came over to teach Soccer. It was Robbie’s second year, and Sammy grew up at Cedar. They got married at camp in 2015 and now are the Assistant Directors. There have been over 15 marriages formed from Cedar relationships.
Lotte Athanasidy & Daniel Herman – Met at Ghostlight Theater Camp
“We met in the summer of 2022 during Staff Training for my first (and his fourth!) year at Ghostlight. A bunch of the counselors were hanging out in Daniel’s cabin on the third night when a camp-wide blackout revealed the starriest night sky I had ever seen in my life. We all went to the Mini Amphitheater to stargaze, and after taking it all in in silence for a while, Daniel pointed out constellations while we all ooh’d and ah’d. He and I stuck around the longest, wishing on shooting stars and getting to know one another, and even met up again later that night under the stars to see some more. The rest is history! We had our first kiss on an off night a week or so into the session, under more stars. Getting to start a relationship at camp was the most incredible experience– the gorgeous scenery in Maine, the focus on community and creating memories, and the intensity of living and working in the same space. Notably, I spent “Camp Cleanup” my first year listening to a playlist he made me about our budding relationship and the hopes we had for making it work after we parted ways. Over the past few summers, we’ve had the chance to work on the same musicals every once in a while– Daniel stage managing or making props, and me choreographing or assisting with choreography– and the songs from those shows often make it onto playlists. The sharing of playlists has been a huge part of our relationship, especially during our first year post-camp, when we were living 600 miles apart. Most recently, Daniel made me a playlist in which every song (including “Small Umbrella In The Rain” from this summer at camp) had a present that came with it, and the penultimate song’s gift was an engagement ring! (The aforementioned Little Women song came with an umbrella.) I proposed back to him a few weeks after, with a signet ring mapping the stars on the day we got engaged– a nod to the way we first got together at camp. We will be returning to camp for our fourth summer together this year!” – Lotte
Bayley Warther & James Medcalf – Met at Camp Cobbossee
“My husband and I met at Camp Cobbossee in Maine back in 2015. I was coming up from Maryland for my second summer to work in the office and he was coming from England to work on the waterfront. I arrived at Cobbossee very early in 2015 to soak in as much of the camp magic as I could but it would still be a while until I’d meet my future husband. A few weeks into pre camp I was sitting in a mini bus to go out with a group going to Walmart but then noticed my friend Joseph from the previous summer had just arrived and he was with an attractive, dark-haired boy I didn’t know. I rushed out of the bus to give Joseph a hug and to also introduce myself to his friend, who I then learned was named James. Joseph’s attention got pulled away by someone else so James and I chatted for a few minutes. I remember how comfortable it felt to joke and talk with him but then the bus was about to leave and they weren’t joining the group so we said a quick goodbye and I got back onto the bus wishing that they had come along. About a week later at the steak and lobster night before the campers arrived I was sitting with James and a few other friends. James was making all of us laugh by coming up with a backstory for the lobster he was eating and that’s when I realised I was starting to fall for him. In 2018 James and I started dating. We lived and worked in a few different countries together, like Mexico and Colombia. During COVID we didn’t see each other for about a year and a half as we have different citizenships. Long distance was hard at times but we made it through and got engaged in the summer of 2021. I moved to England in 2023 and we tied the knot in October of the same year. This past summer we added a little fluff ball named Baxter to our family. Fittingly, Baxter is named after Baxter State Park in Maine which is where James and I went on our first trip together back in 2017. Cobbossee will be a special place to both James and me for multiple reasons but it’s also the place that allowed us to meet. I’ll always recommend someone work at a summer camp, you never know what people you’ll meet and how much your life may change. I decided to work at a summer camp on a whim back in 2014 and now I’m writing this in a different country I can now call home with our dog sleeping next to me. Camp magic is real.” – Bayley
Chris & Elise Wiley – Met at Camp Fable
“The Story of Chris and Elise. I didn’t see a word/character limit so strap in! This is the story of how I met my wonderful partner. Be forewarned, this meet-cute comes bottled up with a surgeon general’s warning for it is far, far, too sugary-sweet for consumption. It even ends with a literal fairy-tale wedding. We met, got engaged, and got married at the same wonderful nerdy eduLARP overnight camp (where we still work) now known as Camp Fable.
Once upon a time at East Boston Camps I was on what I believed to be my very last year at camp in the summer of 2012. Our camp was changing locations again as we lost a bidding war to dog walkers and day camps that no longer wanted a ridiculous overnight LARP camp onsite.
I was the nerdy, D&D playing outgoing four-year veteran Assistant Camp Director known for my ability to play characters and my dad jokes (I wasn’t a parent yet so it was a bit of a Faux Pa). She was the sporty, rugby playing incoming first-time Assistant Camp Director known for her ability to work with at-risk youth and no-nonsense attitude (at least that’s all I knew from reviewing her resume). I remember showing up to the first day of training, which as everyone in the camp industry knows never goes according to plan. The directors were pulled in other directions and so it was up to the two of us to get as much done as possible. She took charge immediately. Not egotistically or authoritatively, but with a directness and kindness that let everyone know she was competent and trustworthy. It was a trait that I could not yet imagine would serve us so well in the role of co-parent to our three kids 12 years later.
I fall in love easily. Something time and experience taught me to be wary of. So I convinced myself that we needed to divide and conquer that day. I let my inner voice trying to protect me from a summer romance convince me that this rugby-playing, jeep-driving, short-haired, Vermont native had to be a lesbian and I would never have a shot with her. I was safe…until I was finally forced to spend time with her. Then, I knew I was in trouble.
At the first staff campfire that evening, we were all bonding and I was still trying to keep my distance by sitting across the campfire, especially after learning that she was divorced from her husband. Well, there went the lesbian bumper rails to protect me. On my end, I had been on a string of different relationships in a row that just didn’t work and the romantic on my shoulder whispered, “maybe…”. I was drawn to her charisma, kindness, casual nature and dummy me still tried to sit as far away from her at the campfire as possible. We were introduced as assistant directors at the campfire and were then sat next to each other for the rest of the evening (thank you universe!). I remember the moment. The exact moment. We still joke around about it and she doesn’t let me live it down. The pure ooey, gooeyness of love at first sight. As we were missing s’mores (ooey, gooey), I turned to her and caught her deep blue, freshwater cenote eyes and a face highlighted and illuminated by a firepit, seeing her truly and fully for the first time. I was done. As done as the overcooked marshmallow I roasted without realizing as I looked at her. I scanned her face for some reason to be staring (don’t be creepy!) and saw some of the s’more had caught on the corner of her lips. I said, as the first real bit of dialogue directed to her since meeting her that morning, “you have chocolate on your face.” “How embarrassing,” she responded smiling and without a hint of actual embarrassment never taking her eyes off me, she wiped her mouth.
Cupid emptied every arrow in his quiver and smacked me his bow for good measure.
That summer was one of the best of my life. The universe conspired to help us as we had every actual legitimate reason to spend all our waking (and sleeping) hours together. We were equals as assistant camp directors, trusted at the same level, and hired to support each other. As admin, we needed sleeping quarters away from the kids and I snored so no other admin wanted to stay in my room. She didn’t mind so we bunked in the same room. We never missed a beat at our duties and challenged each other to do better. Everytime she would be watching, I felt a need to be an even better entertainer for the kids putting on some of the best acting at LARP camp the world has ever seen. Every time I would glance her way, she would redouble her efforts to show how much she could make our team better at their jobs. During the day, we skipped rocks checking the waterfront, at night we told jokes while doing rounds together. We ran training as though we had designed it together. We clicked so quick and so strongly that our bosses kept using us as examples of how the team should work. I don’t think I’d recommend that for a team to work well together that they need to hold hands, giggle, and stare at the moon.
I told her stories, she sang me songs. She loved me for my playfulness in everything I do, and I loved her for her compassion in all that she did. By the end of that summer, we had lived summers worth of romance in six weeks and somehow we were able to hold our professionalism to the degree that nearly none of the staff knew until we announced we were moving in together.
Two years later, I arranged a surprise engagement back at East Boston Camps where we met. I rented out the property under the false pretense of doing a student film. I begged her to help with the film as we needed her to play a quick role due to a last-minute cancellation. This gave me the excuse to get us both dressed back in camp costuming. In the middle of a pretend scene at the same campfire where my love for her was reflected back in her eyes that summer in 2012, I got down on my knee. With two cameras trained on us, I caught every moment of surprise that transformed into her charming cockiness as her tear-filled answer to my, “Will you?” was “Yeah, I’ll do that.” Two years after that, we got married at the same campgrounds (they gave us a you-guys-are-too-adorable discount). And as I promised at the beginning of this story, it was a fairy-tale wedding. Neverland-themed to be specific. Rufio was our DJ, Smee officiated, and Hook tried to interrupt during the whole, “Does anyone here have a reason these two shouldn’t be wed” bit. Luckily, Elise and I in the role of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell pulled out swords and to the applause of our guests gave that pirate what for. 8 years, 3 three kids, and one pandemic later, that’s our legendary, summer-tinted, tooth-decayingly sweet story. And this Pan has thanked his lucky star (especially the second one on the right) for finding the summer magic that is to this day his partner in camp, life, parenting, and joy, Elise. Happy Valentine’s Day, Tink.” – Chris