Marriage of 37 years started at camp
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Sandra recalled the first time they met.
“We were from the same county but he was four years older than me,” Sandra said. “The first time I came to Camp Woodlee I was in the eighth grade and he was a senior counselor.”
But the age difference didn’t stop the pair, according to Sandra, who found she and Bill had a common interest. They both liked to “cut a rug” as the old timers used to say.
“We danced all night,” Betty recalled with a grin. “And four years later he called me and asked me for a date, and I married him.”
And they’ve been married 37 years now.
Sandra said she was impressed from the start with her future husband.
“I really liked him,” She said. “And he’s been my best friend all my life.”
Bill says Camp Woodlee has meant a lot to him over the years as well.
“I started camping here in the late 50s,” Bill said, “and camped through the 60s.”
There was a tradition at the camp that was a part of the Bedford’s meeting, according to Sandra.
“The girls slept on one side of the hill in their cabins,” Sandra said, “and the boys slept on the other side of the hill in their cabins. So they walked up the hill and forked, and the boys went to their cabins and the girls went to theirs. But after the festivities on Saturday night, or every night when they used to spend the week up here, the boys would choose a girl to walk up the hill with them, and if they were lucky, they got to kiss them at the top of the hill,” Sandra added with an impish grin.
Of course, Sandra was ready for the next question.
“No, we didn’t,” she said with a laugh. “We didn’t do that.”
The Bedfords made the trip for the 50th anniversary of Moore County’s 4H Club’s trips to Camp Woodlee, and brought along daughter LeEllen Bedford Carter and grandson Logan, making three generations of Bedfords present for the event.
“We’re really proud to be able to say we’ve been doing this for 50 years,” Sandra said.