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CLICK HERE FOR WINGMANN'S OFFICIAL
WEB SITE
The camp's rustic setting is ideal for prayer and meditation.
Camp Wingmann, once the summer stomping ground of three generations of young Florida Christians,
is returning to service, thanks to the prayers and dreams of a small group of clergy and lay
Episcopalians. The Diocese of Central Florida had owned and operated the camp, which is near Avon
Park, since the 1930s, but sold the 31-acre site about 20 years ago.
While the property lay fallow, Fr. Jim McConnell, rector of Church of the Redeemer in Avon Park,
often visited the site for prayer and meditation.
In early 1997, he talked about the camp with The Rev. Canon Bill Yates, then canon to the ordinary
at the Jacksonville-based Diocese of Florida. Canon Yates had camped there as a boy.
"I got the idea that it would be great if we could rescue the place," said Fr. McConnell, a
former camp director who stays involved with local scout troops. "This could be the jewel of the
diocese."
Fr. McConnell later found that it was for sale, and called Canon Yates.
"That's when God stepped in," he said. The spark grew into a flame, and soon three former
campers -- Canon Yates, his brother, Dr. Davis Yates, and architect John White -- got the
financial and organizational ball rolling to once again acquire and renovate the camp as an
Episcopal youth center.
The camp board has installed Fr. Yates at the camp as its new director, and hopes to renovate
enough camp buildings to begin a small summer program by June 1999. Organizers stress that the
camp's primary goal is to fill a need long-missing in the diocese -- "Our focus is kids and
Christ!"
Campers traditionally autographed the dining hall.
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