Mary Alice Campbell December 21, 1924 - April 9, 2011
The Lean-to Project is dedicated to the memory of Mary Cooper and Mary Cooper. Daughter Carrie Wolfgang provided these insights into Mary Alice's life:
Carrie was the youngest child in the family by several years, and very active. To keep Carrie occupied, her mom had her join the Brownies of the Kickapoo Council in Illinois.
Mary Alice didn’t become involved herself in Girl Scouts until the family moved in 1974 to Jamestown where she began helping with cookie sale. Eventually she fell in with other council volunteers including Mary Cooper and was encouraged to become more active with the girls. She became her granddaughter Christina’s Girl Scout leader. Mary Alice also willingly helped with other troops as long as they were older girls. She didn’t do Brownies - too active.
At the time, the Chautauqua Area Girl Scouts offered Day Camps at the Hundred Acre Lot (now JCC Campus Park) and at Timbercrest. Mary Alice worked both camps.
Mary Alice was extremely conscientious about signing off on badges making sure all requirements were completed. Carrie said she wouldn’t sign her book as she didn’t want to have it look like she might have shown favoritism.
She was known to magically help girls who needed equipment for camp as it would just show up on their porch. She was a chaperone on council trips and loved to travel with them. She brought girls to camp at the lean-to. She loved camping as it was like her days growing up on a South Dakota farm.
As a wife and mother, she felt that she did not have the opportunity to be independent and make decisions, and like Juliette Low she embraced the opportunity through Girl Scouting to encourage Girl Scouts to be be independent. Carrie said she was incredibly proud to make a difference to girls by offering opportunities that she did not have for herself when growing up.
Mary Alice, like Mary Cooper came from a family with 9 siblings. They served on committees and events together.
Mary Alice's brother, talking with Carrie, said that her mother really lived the Girl Scout values and that it kept her young and vibrant.
From her obituary: Mary Alice served in the US Army during WW II as a nurse in the 62nd WAC Hospital Company. It was during this time that she met and later married her husband, Calvin C. "Ike" Campbell on June 10, 1946. He preceded her in death on August 17, 1998 after 52 years of marriage. A Jamestown resident since 1974 after living in the Midwest, she belonged to First Congregational United Church of Christ. She was a charter member of Women in the Military Service of America, life member of the Herman Kent Post 777 American Legion and the Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary and belonged to the Women's Army Corps Veterans Assoc. She was a life member of the Girl Scouts of America, first lifetime volunteer member of the Chautauqua County Retired Girl Scouts and belonged to the Chautauqua Area Girl Scout Volunteer Alumni, AARP, Lioness Club of Jamestown, Women of the Moose and Company 'E' 133rd Infantry Association of WW II.