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Dear Merrie-Woode Community,
After serving as the Co-Executive Directors of Camp Merrie-Woode for 20 years, Jim and Denice Dunn will retire in September 2022, at the conclusion of the camp season. The Dunns have led Merrie-Woode with vision, humility, and tireless care. Under their steadfast leadership, Merrie-Woode remains vibrant and true to its mission and the camp spirit, caring for every girl and young woman as she comes through the gate each summer, and maintaining those friendships with campers, staff, alumnae, and families as they go out into the world.
Jim and Denice began their tenure as Co-Executive Directors of Camp Merrie-Woode in January of 2003. They moved to camp four years earlier, when Denice began her role as Merrie-Woode’s Development and Program Director in 1999. The Dunns have continued the many traditions and the timeless mission of providing outdoor opportunities for girls, building on the legacy of their predecessors. They have worked to preserve the historic grounds and our surrounding land, as well as Merrie-Woode’s history and unique story within the American camping movement. A few of their successes include:
- ensuring full sessions for 625 campers for 20 summers;
- pursuing land acquisitions to protect and grow our campus from 250 acres to over 400 acres;
- enhancing our land use and conservation efforts;
- improving virtually every building on the property, including the rebuilding of Chapel and Castle;
- implementing the Merrie-Woode Foundation’s strategic plan;
- maintaining our American Camp Association accreditation and our status as leaders in the ACA and the North Carolina Youth Camp Association through their volunteer service;
- strengthening our vital relationship with the Cashiers community, most notably through their leadership in the Boys & Girls Club of the Plateau, the Cashiers Rotary Club, and the Summit Charter School;
- overseeing the Centennial Celebration including the weekend attended by 1,600 alumnae;
- assisting with raising over $5 million for the new Castle and our ever-growing endowment; and
- most recently, successfully managing camp’s enhanced operations during a pandemic.
Their continual focus on safety and financial stability has been the cornerstone of their tenure. They have positively impacted thousands of lives and multiple generations of campers and staff.
Jim and Denice have truly lived out the words and the spirit of the Merrie-Woode Plaque:
It is because there is a kindred spirit in you that you have recognized what Merrie-Woode stands for. God gave us a place of rarest beauty and since I first beheld it, I have tried to match His gift as best as I could with permeating love and honesty. It is a composite thing made up of all those who through the years have loved it and given it their best.
While the Dunns and the Merrie-Woode Board of Trustees have been planning for this moment for several years, saying goodbye will be bittersweet. As you know, Jim and Denice are proud parents to two grown sons, Tyler and Bradley, and now have two young grandsons. They are looking forward to their next chapter of life as grandparents, while remaining in the Cashiers area. Through next summer, Jim and Denice will continue to actively lead camp operations and focus on strategic priorities, and will work with the Board to prepare for a smooth transition to our next leadership. Camp’s mission, philosophy and high standards will remain the focus of the Merrie-Woode experience for campers, staff, and parents in 2022 and beyond.
Each of us in the Merrie-Woode Community has benefited from the caring and thoughtful leadership Jim and Denice have provided for two decades. Over the next year, we will have many special opportunities to thank the Dunns for all they have done for Camp Merrie-Woode.
The Board will communicate with the entire Merrie-Woode Community throughout the search process for the camp’s next chapter of leadership. We have retained Carney Sandoe & Associates, a national search firm, to assist us with this important transition.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I wish to express our deepest gratitude and appreciation to Jim and Denice for their outstanding dedication to Merrie-Woode and to the greater camp and Cashiers community. We look forward to celebrating the Dunns’ legacy over the next year and building on their successful leadership and stewardship of Merrie-Woode.
Sincerely,
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Clair Freeman Marshall, Chair
On behalf of the Merrie-Woode Board of Trustees
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Dear Merrie-Woode Family,
More than two years ago, we met with the Merrie-Woode Board of Trustees’ former Board Chair, Elizabeth Keenan Thompson, and our current Board Chair, Clair Freeman Marshall, to discuss our retirement plans. Those discussions led to a transition strategy that would make the 2022 summer camp season our last here at Camp Merrie-Woode. We have had the rewarding opportunity to serve the Merrie-Woode Community since our family arrived here nearly 23 years ago. It’s now time to pass the torch to the next leadership, provide support through the transition, and begin a life of retirement. We have so much to be thankful for, and we feel blessed to be part of the Merrie-Woode family!
We arrived here during the summer of 1999 with our two sons, then 11 and 7 years old, not truly sure what to expect. It was the beginning, both personally and professionally, of something that would change the lives of all four of us forever. Our boys grew up here — this magnificent 400 acres that has served as a camp home for generations over 103 summers. We, our sons, their wives, and now our grandchildren have been forever changed and transformed by the people and this place. We simply could not imagine our life without the Merrie-Woode campers, staff, alumnae, parents, and friends.
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We want to thank the Board of Trustees, both past and present, for their unending and unequivocal support, guidance, and wisdom while acting as stewards of this place of rarest beauty for the past 23 years. Without them, both we and Merrie-Woode would be in a much different place. We want to thank all of the parents and Merrie-Woode families who believed in us, even before you had an opportunity to know us. You entrusted us with your most prized possession — your daughters — and we thank you for your courage and faith. To our valued alumnae, whose continued support and engagement during our time here has been critical to the camp’s growth and success: thank you for your love of this place and your incredibly generous financial support. To the summer and year-round staff with whom we have worked closely over the years, we have enormous gratitude for your kindness, love, and tireless efforts. Thank you for embracing our passions, our happy and sad tears, and our senses of humor. We always tried our best, and we thank you for your unswerving loyalty through our daily charge to mentor, guide, and show compassion to the young women of Merrie-Woode. And, WOW…we sure had an awful lot of fun along the way! We think of you as members of our family.
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Finally, to the campers of Merrie-Woode, whom we have enthusiastically loved and cherished during our time here, you are the reason we get up in the morning and come to work. It is your energy, your humor, your ideas, your laughter, your kindness, and your joy that have made this all worthwhile. There is nothing quite like seeing shy and unsure seven-year-old campers enter through the gates, and then watching them adapt, change, and grow into confident young women. It is you that we will never be able to replace. Thank you! You will forever be on our minds and in our hearts.
Chug-A-Wump and God Bless,
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Denice and Jim Dunn
Co-Executive Directors
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