Anita Joy

We spend at least a week at Lake Ottawa each year.  One of the big draws is the camp host, Anita Joy Ruohomaki.  Anita first came to the campground with her husband Sully, a Lutheran minister.  When he died, she kept right on hosting.

Besides taking care of the toilets with a broom, plunger and packages of toilet paper, she tends her flock.  She stops by to ask campers if they would like to stop by for a cup of tea and sit by her campfire for a chat. Often, one of her five children are there to lend a hand.

Anita's site is filled with pots of flowers and placards, many of them donated by her fans. "Welcome to the Lake!"  one reads.  An official of the national forest (the kind carrying a clipboard) showed up one day and told Anita all of her decorations had to go.  Campers rose up and took her side.  The official doesn't stop by any more and all her stuff remains.

This year Anita got a surprise when she went down to the pavilion to check on things and found her friends and family celebrating her 80th birthday.  Gary was there (I was in Seymour) and commented that this is also the 80th anniversary of the Ottawa National Forest.  "I guess I'm as old as the trees," she said.

This is Anita's 28th year as host.  She wants to finish off 30 years so I guess we will see her again next year for a cup of tea and a good gossip session.