The History of LMC...continued!

The Decade of the 70's was a period of Rapid expansion LMC. Becky Michelfelder served in the early portion of the decade as Associate Director, coordinating weekend retreat groups during the fall winter and spring, and program offerings during the summer. Deb Yandala became the first Director of Environmental Education in 1976 and schools began to arrive at camp during the fall, winter, and spring weekdays. Margie Fiedler was called as Associate Director, which had become a fulltime position, and LMC, as a retreat center, began to come into its own. Later, 255 acres of land was purchased to bring the total camp size to 428 acres. Creative programming led to more off-site programs. One of them, Homestead, a popular program to this day, began with covered wagons placed off-site south of the main camp area. Family camping and adult retreats continued growing at a steady rate.

By the early 80's, Lutheran Memorial Camp was serving as an Outdoor Ministry Center for a large number of adults and children on a year round basis. In June, 1981, the Priebe Staff Center was added in the woods just east of the swimming pool. On February 1, 1982, Pastor Tom von Fischer passed the directorship keys to Pastor Lea Johnson, who became the first full-time Resident Director of LMC.