Alumni stories

Eighty years of people who were here.

Pulled from HUME magazine and published here in their authors’ own words, not a summary of them. Most are first person, written by the person the story is about, which is why every one carries a byline and the issue it ran in. New ones get added as Hume runs them, so this list is never really finished. Some of these people you knew. Some of them knew you. Different years, different stories, different generations, all woven into one Hume family.

The 1940's onward

1940's–1970's
Walt & Frances Warkentin
The guardians of Hume
Hume's first director and his wife, remembered by their daughter: the white uniform and the clipboard, the meal whistle at 7:15, and the office that is now the Welcome Center.
Staff 1946–1978 · Hume's first Executive Director
HUME magazine, Fall 2023

The 1950's onward

1950's–1980's
Ken & Melba Poure
A legacy of joy
He came in 1959 to speak for a few weeks of summer camp and found his life's calling. Twenty years later he was running the place, remembered by his daughter, and by everyone who can still quote a Kennyism.
Hume's second Executive Director, 1978–1985
HUME magazine, Fall & Winter 2024

The 1960's onward

1960's–2020's
John Drake
His favorite place in the world
In 1964 he sold commercial kitchen equipment to a customer named Frances Warkentin. He had no idea he'd just met the place that would hold his family for four generations.
Leaseholder from 1967 · Board of Directors, nearly 30 years
HUME magazine, Fall & Winter 2024

The 1980's onward

1980's–2000's
Norm & Patsy Daniels
The artist behind the themes
Sixteen years on full-time staff. He drew the artwork for the camp themes, led Dawn Patrol, and helped design the Wagon Train treehouse. She was the lifeguard he met at Meadow Ranch in 1980.
Full-time Hume staff 1989–2005
HUME magazine, Fall 2023

The 1990's onward

1990's–today
Andy & Liz Friesen
Four generations deep
Andy Friesen's grandfather co-founded Hume in 1946. Eighty years and four generations later, his family is still writing the same story: as staff, as volunteers, and now as the parents of the next generation of counselors.
Staff 1994–2002 · volunteers ever since
HUME magazine, Summer 2026
1990's–today
Kip & Michal Strawbridge
Welcome back, Strawbridge family
Summer staff at Wildwood in 1998, Wagon Master Shep by 2000, and now Site Director at Hume New England. All three of their children were born at Hume Lake.
Staff 1998–2013 · Hume New England 2015–2018 · now Site Director, Hume New England
HUME magazine, Winter 2026

The 2000's onward

2000's
John Jennings
Generational impact
He didn't apply to a single college. He applied to Joshua. And a friend of his mother's, who didn't have a lot of money, wrote the check that got him to Israel.
Joshua Wilderness Institute, class of 2007
HUME magazine, Fall 2019
2000's–2020's
Bob & LeAnn Mull
No strangers to Hume
They made Hume Lake home in 2001. Bob was asked to lead the fire department a year later, went full-time in 2015, and finished as Site Director of Hume SoCal, in the San Bernardino mountains he grew up in.
At the Lake since 2001 · Site Director, Hume SoCal, 2022–2024
HUME magazine, Spring 2024

The 2010's onward

2010's–2020's
Cooper Carroll
Faith that endures: from Hume summers to Starlink systems
Eleven summers, starting at twelve years old. From the General Store to the Snack Shop grill to Operations, and now designing hardware for Starlink.
Eleven summers · through 2024
HUME magazine, Summer 2025