An eight-year-old girl penned a letter from camp expressing her happiness prior to disaster. Her bereaved mother, family, and community now rely on that letter as a lifeline of love.
A very personal letter from her eight-year-old daughter, Blakely McCrory, is being held by Lindsey McCrory as families continue to grieve the devastating flash floods that killed several people at Camp Mystic in Texas. Days before the catastrophe, Blakely penned the letter.
Blakely was among the vacationers who perished over the weekend of July 4, 2025, when the Guadalupe River overflowed due to destructive weather, according to People Magazine. Following the catastrophe, some of the little girl’s belongings that were found in the wrecked cottage provided comfort to her family. The letter was one of the goods.
In the note, the deceased camper had written to her mom, describing how happy she was at camp. She went on to narrate the fun time she was having playing tennis and horseback riding. “Having the letter is actually very special because I knew that she was having the best time of her life,” Lindsey tells the publication.
Blakely attended Camp Mystic, a Christian camp tucked away in the Texas Hill Country, for the first time this summer. For the family, the encounter held particular significance. Years before, Lindsey had gone to the camp with her sisters, stepmother, and stepsisters.
The article claims that the distraught mother said that Blakely was “ecstatic” to be present and a “third-generation Mystic camper,” adding:
“She could not wait to be in the outdoors. It was like having the biggest sleepover you can imagine as a little girl, because you’re in a cabin with 11 girls who become your best friends, right?”
Lindsey, on vacation in Europe with her younger sister, was not concerned when she first learnt that it was raining at the camp because she had visited Camp Mystic in 1987 under identical circumstances.
“They’re probably having a blast. Because that’s what I remembered: Oh, rainy day, stay in your cabin, play board games, or listen to music, whatever. It’s going to pass,” she recalled thinking. But several hours later, her tone changed when a friend called to tell her that some campers were unaccounted for.
Lindsey heard a voicemail from the camp after that conversation, confirming that her daughter was missing. That night, the distraught mother and her sister promptly made plans to return to Texas via plane. Brady, Blakely’s elder half-brother, and his mother looked for the small girl at local evacuation centres as they flew home without hearing anything.
By Sunday, when there was still no word, the 50-year-old mother said, “I thought, ‘Oh, maybe she and one of those counselors are somewhere dry, but they’re just lost…Maybe they’re just lost, and I don’t know, they’re surviving together somehow.’ I mean, of course, you want to think these things.”
In a public statement that same Sunday, Lindsey thanked everyone for their prayers, love, and support as the hunt went on. They were focussing all of their hope, prayer, and energy on first responders and the hunt for Blakely and her campmates, even if it was difficult to be optimistic. She exhorted everyone to follow suit.
On Monday evening, Blakely’s death was confirmed. Lindsey was devastated, but she found comfort in understanding what had happened to her daughter at last:
Blakely’s father, Blake McCrory, died earlier this year in March following a brief fight with cancer. Lindsey also lost her sibling shortly after. But Blakely persevered through it all, she claimed.
“She was a live wire, just had a fun, spirited attitude, the type of child that doesn’t stay down for long. She was sad, but she didn’t skip a beat — a very resilient child,” Lindsey said, adding that “People wanted to be around her. She was so funny, and she was a prankster.”
Following Blakely’s official death, Lindsey and her family issued yet another emotional statement. They claimed that after praying for a miracle at first, they now understood that Blakely and numerous others had perished in the early hours of the deluge. Despite their grief, they claimed to have found solace in the knowledge that she was in Jesus’ safe and secure care.
Friends and family recollections of her daughter’s vibrant personality endure. As a joke, Blakely once placed her pet box turtle in her mother’s pocketbook. She also had a soothing effect on other people. Following the flood, Lindsey was informed by one of her cabin counsellors that Blakely “encouraged the campers to not be afraid.”
Now, Lindsey clings to the letter that represents her daughter’s last words. “I’m just so grateful to keep her spirit alive. I want to be the type of mom that honors my daughter, and keeps that spirit close, and not forget, not put pictures away, and not be able to look at them. That’s not me. She’s so close to me, and I know she’s watching me right now, and keeping me close,” she stated.
Lindsey, Brady, and the rest of their family continue to lean on their faith to carry them through the loss. “It’s so tough to be without her, and my husband, but we’re just, we are reassured by our faith, that she is in heaven. She’s there, and she’s okay, and she’s looking down on us,” the bereaved mother said.
“And we strongly believe that it happened quickly. She didn’t have to suffer. I just have this feeling,” she adds, “She’s with all those campers and staff who died, and other children. I just imagine it as a happy place, a peaceful place.”
When Joy Turned to Grief For Camp Mystic Campers and Families
Communities around Texas were shocked by the tragedy’s scope. There were other children lost at Camp Mystic besides Blakely. While their 14-year-old sister Harper survived the floods, Hanna and Rebecca Lawrence, twins ages 8 and 8, also perished. The kids were granddaughters of David Lawrence Jr., a champion for early childhood education.
According to reports, the twins’ father, John Lawrence, said that they gave much joy to his family and many others. He also said that the family would find a way to keep that joy alive and share it in remembrance of the twins.
The eerie contrast between tragedy and joy was further encapsulated in a post that went viral. Thirteen Camp Mystic girls and two counsellors were seen grinning and putting their arms around one another on a tennis court just a few days before the disaster. Many of the girls, including counsellor Katherine Ferruzzo, Molly DeWitt, Abby Pohl, and Ellen Gorten, are now either classified as missing or proven deceased.
In addition to campers like Sarah Marsh, Janie Hunt, Eloise Peck, Lila Bonner, Anne Margaret Bellows, Renee Smajstrla, Linnie McCown, and Mary Stevens, tributes kept coming in for the departed, including counsellor Chloe Childress, who was renowned for her leadership and generosity.
However, Lindsey believes that the spirit of her daughter and the happiness she left behind are what keep the sadness alive. Blakely’s letter serves as an enduring reminder of a youthful life filled with pleasure, resiliency, and love when the waves subside and families attempt to comprehend the heartache left behind.