A longtime member of the Camp Trinity community, Marlys Smith passed away during the summer of 2021. She was 98.
If you were a camper, counselor, or visited Camp Trinity between 1960 and 2010, then you enjoyed the good food she prepared and most likely overheard her distinctive laugh coming from the camp kitchen.
Marlys was the Camp Trinity Food Services Director for 50 years, overseeing the hiring of the kitchen crew and cooks, planning the menus, ordering food, and making sure all those ingredients were assembled into delicious meals for (literally) generations of campers. She was famously frugal, expertly managing her Food Service budget, and doling out the cookies personally at the foot of the Sunday Hike bag lunch table. She was also incredibly thoughtful, remembering birthdays with a gift of homemade fudge, and mailing out cards that (thankfully!) arrived in time to remind one of their own upcoming wedding anniversary. Marlys also served as a member of the Bar 717 Ranch Core Staff, a dedicated group of camp alumni who shepherded management of Camp Trinity during the years following the retirement of the founding Directors, Grover and Erma Gates.
In addition to her work at camp, Marlys was Camp’s nearest neighbor, living just two miles down the road on land she and her husband Ray moved to soon after the end of WWII. It was on that property they built their own house, raised a family, and put in orchards and gardens whose abundance over the years won her mountains of ribbons at the annual Trinity County Fair.
Marlys had tireless energy. She grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, becoming an accomplished ballet dancer before moving to Hyampom. She drove Trinity County’s mountain roads in all weather—and often at a high rate of speed—to visit friends, see plays, act in plays, and participate in rural civic life well into her 90s through her volunteer work for the Lions Club and Hyampom’s weekly community lunch program, Food For Folks.
In 2000, when Marlys was 77, we threw her a surprise party at the end of the season to recognize the conclusion of her 40th summer of hard work at Camp Trinity. I believe we all imagined it might be a soon-to-be-retirement party too, but true to form, she wasn’t about to slow down, going on to manage the hustle and bustle of the camp kitchen for another ten years. We dedicated the kitchen building to her that day, placing a sign over the door that reads “Marlys’s Kitchen”.
Grover, Erma, Marlys – I remember them all fondly. Marlys passing marks the last of the old-timers that I remember from my camp days.
Such a warm and gracious lady! Always welcoming!
Amazing all the recipes and various deadlines that were met, day after day all summer long.
Marlys was my real first boss, and was certainly my most memorable boss! What a character. She was a force of nature, and she cared deeply about Camp, and took her job so seriously.
When I applied for the Kitchen Crew job at age 16, she didn’t hire me because I had gone to Camp as a camper for 9 years or because my father had been camp doctor – she hired me because I had worked as a walk-around vendor at Giants games, and she was impressed that I had a job and had experience in food service (sort of) at that age.
I’ll never forget Marlys. Thank you for this tribute.
I ll never forget Marlys , she made me my 1 réal américains meals and my best meals from 1985 1988
And thé day we made Steak aux Poivres with a Wine sauce
Back in the late ‘70s when we were counselors, we loved to raid the kitchen late at night. One night, Marlys caught us, “reprimanded” us, and then created counselor snacks for us. What a sweet, warm person she was!
If someone told you something 50 years ago and you still remember it, that was a memorable person.
“Marlys, why do we always have roast beef on the first night of camp?”
“I never know when the busses will get here. I can leave roast beef in the oven an extra hour or two and it will still be OK.”
Marlys, thousands of campers remember you fondly and will miss you.
I had the pleasure to work in the kitchen in 2006 with Marlys and she was so energetic and sweet
I still have the tone of her voice in my head
She cared for all of us
Thanks for the tribute
I first came to camp in 2001 and continued yearly to 2012. I began exchanging holiday cards with locals during those years. I always looked forward to Marly’s handwritten notes below her typed/printed letters. She always had a few personalized notes. I am super sad that there will be one less card heading to Hyampom this Xmas.
Ps: I think I gained street cred with her when I cooked for one of the international dinners. With three different items I was in that kitchen for hours.
I’ll never forget the year my platform hosted Bar 717 trivia for our harvest festival booth and we discovered that Marlys had been a ballerina. It was like discovering a superhero’s secret identity; we were thrilled and stumped a lot of people with that one at our game.
Marlys was an essential part of the staff on the Ranch. I worked with her in ’72 and ’75 when I was a counselor and remember that she was always one to lend a helping hand. She is an example of a life well lived. Thank you for this tribute to her.
I worked in the kitchen and at Gates kitchen for about 6 years in the early 1990s. Loved Marlys. She taught me how to load that hot, fast dishwasher and to make lasagna for a camp. An amazing woman.
Oh dear Marlys. So sorry to hear of her passing. Such a great influence on me and my boys. Loved her smile and her laugh. I have many sweet photos of her. AND I knew where the candy was hid! But the fear of being scolded and deep respect keep that candy safe. God bless you Marlys.
Bar 717 helped us raise our children with wholesome living in the camp community and nature every summer. Marlys was so much a part of that experience. Such a big heart, such a knowing twinkle. Joining you all in deep appreciation of Marlys and her cheerful caring for generations of campers, counselors and staff.
I will never forget Marlys. She had a smile for everyone; she was like a cheerful Energizer Bunny! She is one of the true hearts of Bar 717 for sure. (and Steve, I think it was the 80s, not the 70’s! I can’t believe you talked me into the midnight raids of the kitchen with you…forgive us, Marlys!)
Marlys was an inspiration for me to go into professional cooking. She was behind favorite meals that I still cherish. She taught me to bake in a wood fired oven, and I will always cherish the blackberry jams we made. Thank you Marlys for the cocoa and friendship!
Yes- I grew up waking to the bell and hearing her laugh amid the clattering plates, from my bed on the platform.
Marlys never forgot who we were- even decades after she’d seen us.
I took over her job as cook for the school in ’72. She was taking a break for Ray’s health, but became an incredible mentor for me in my terror to face this new job assignment. I so much treasure that time with her popping in to give me tips, and giving me the run of the camp kitchen …So proud on pie making days, carrying them down to Gates Gables from Lydia’s bakery.
Peggy and I lived full time at 717 from 1978 to 1983. During the non-summer months we took on some chores: feeding animals, milking Brandy the cow, processing the milk, simple veterinary stuff, pruning fruit trees, starting seedlings for the garden, best ways to keep the skunks from living under our bedroom in Shules House, etc. Certainly these were not skills that I had as a native of Pacific Palisades! A city boy for sure! Peggy was more at home with this stuff than me, being from Merced with roots in rural Minnesota and South Dakota. Marlys was our farm advisor. We called her often to ask for help, to pick her brain, and to help us out in a myriad of ways. If there was ever a question or a problem we just called Marlys. If there would have been such a things as speed dial back then, we would have had her on it! But, to this day, almost 38 years to the day after we left 717, I still have her number on the tip of my tongue. I wonder if she’ll pick up in heaven if I dial it now?
As a camper-aged kid, Marlys kept us all honest when it came to the Sunday hike lunch-packing table. She stood at the end of the table, handing our 1 or 2 (no more) cookies to each camper, to ensure everyone got one. She was the enforcer of fairness, and the heart of the kitchen.
As a college-aged camp counselors, Marlys helped us feed our campers on overnights, counseling us on preparation in the backcountry, and keeping us honest (once again) in our counselor years. I was eating a vegan diet one of my years as a counselor, and I remember her being firm about not giving us vegan/veggie folks special treatment, but she always made sure there was something for me to eat.
As I got older and returned to camp as a visitor and volunteer in my post-counselor days, I got to know Marlys more as a member of the community through the Hyampom Pie Auction, where she dutifully fed the folks that showed up to helped support the local schools and community. In later years, I’d drop by her house with Jessica to say hello and check in on her when we visited camp for New Years. She always had a story to tell, and that laugh rung through her house just like old times.
Marlys was, and is, a core part of my memories of growing up at the ranch almost every summer of my teen and young-adult years. I can only imagine her now, standing at a food table somewhere, making sure everyone gets their cookie 😉
Another sad transition of our wonderful Camp family. She really did an amazing job nourishing all of us so nicely and running a kitchen so well. I really enjoy the loving feelings we all have about Camp even decades after camping there (in my case ’69-’72), and I am so happy it is still in the Gates family! So unique in today’s world!
Marley’s!
You lit us up!
Nancy Dulberg
myself
Monet Zulpo-Dane
Esther Dulberg Dane
Et Al…
OsXs
I remember her very well and I am sad about her passing. I worked in the kitchen one whole Summer and you can only imagine how much one learns about kitchen management and frugality! I truly enjoyed her character and wisdom to manage every detail in her kitchen. May God bless her soul!
I remember Marlys with great clarity. I was a 17 year old from Connecticut and was looking for an adventure. I got hired as a cook in 1991 and worked for Marlys. She made me feel so welcomed and looked after me as I sorted out all the details of working in a kitchen. I loved listening to her stories about dancing and dealing with bears at her property. She pushed me to work hard, and I did! I will miss her and the staff from that summer.