Women’s History Month: Writer and editor Ruth (Camp) Wellman kept community informed for decades  

Ruth (Camp) Wellman grew up in Stockbridge and was raised on a steady diet of journalism.

by Tina Cole-Mullins

Ruth (Camp) Wellman is a woman who knows the importance of words. For decades, she applied the lessons learned through the example of her mother, Charlotte Camp, to carry on the important work of keeping the local community informed through a newspaper. In fact, you might say Ruth, who grew up in Stockbridge, was raised on a steady diet of journalism.

Years ago, what was the Brief Sun became the Stockbridge Town Crier under Charlotte Camp’s editorial leadership. Then, Charlotte became the paper’s owner, and Ruth grew from childhood to adulthood immersed in news-reporting and publishing. Naturally, her words became standard fare on local newsprint pages, and, like her mother, she held positions of editor and owner of the Stockbridge Town Crier.

Growing up

Wellman, the daughter of Charlotte and Robert Camp, was born in December 1948 at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. Her parents had fled Germany and the Russian army’s advancement during World War II. They settled in Austria, and there Charlotte met her future husband, Robert Camp, a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army.

The Camps moved to Stockbridge in 1948. Here they raised a family that included Ruth and her three siblings, David, Faye and Alex. Ruth graduated from Stockbridge High School in 1967 and earned a degree in education from Alma College in 1971.

Ruth pictured with her mother, Charlotte Camp.

Mother’s example

As Charlotte Camp’s children grew older in the 1960s, she became a professional writer. About the time Ruth was graduating from high school, her mother was a writer for The Ingham County News and a special contributor to The Jackson Citizen Patriot and Detroit News.

Charlotte approached Jim Brown of the Ingham County News and suggested he buy the Stockbridge paper, the Brief Sun. Brown agreed, but only if Charlotte would commit to becoming its editor. The paper’s name was changed to the Town Crier, and it was not long before Editor Charlotte Camp also became the owner.

For five years after receiving her college diploma, Ruth taught high school English, communications and history in Fowlerville schools. She also taught adult education in both the Webberville and Stockbridge school districts.

“During this time, my mom asked me to be the junior high and high school student reporter,” Ruth recalled. “I also took ads and did odd jobs starting around 1976.”

On March 3, 1996, Charlotte Camp passed away, leaving ownership of the paper to her daughter, Ruth.

Quilting is another of Ruth’s pleasurable pastimes, and she spends hours making lap quilts for the Crazy Quilters. Last Christmas, the group delivered 40 beautiful lap quilts to assisted-living facilities.

Carrying on

Ruth not only became owner and acting editor of the Town Crier, but she was also diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. She refused to allow the disease to curtail her activities or the performance of her duties at the paper, then located on Water Street in what was known as the old lumberyard.

She held her position until selling the newspaper in 2008. Then, she remained a year before bidding the newspaper farewell and announcing her retirement in June 2009.

“Controversy came with territory,” were the words she lived by and her mother followed throughout her career, Ruth said.

Today Ruth enjoys spending her days reading, and she belongs to a book discussion group at the Stockbridge Branch of the Capital Area District Library.

Prior to COVID-19 restrictions, Ruth would join locals for the seniors’ luncheons at the Township Hall, and she hopes they can soon resume this activity.

Quilting is another of Ruth’s pleasurable pastimes, and she spends hours making lap quilts for the Crazy Quilters. Last Christmas, the group delivered 40 beautiful lap quilts to assisted-living facilities.

A memorable moment

“Teaching adult education for me is my biggest achievement and reward in life,” Ruth said. “I am still today in touch with some of my students, one even living here in my apartment complex.”

She recalls the time her most memorable student—her father—received his diploma.

Having joined the Army during WWII, Robert Camp, like so many other young men of the time did not complete his education and graduate with his classmates.

With this in mind, Ruth spoke with Community Education Director Meredith Hannah to see if her father could take his General Educational Development test. Passing the test would allow him to receive his GED diploma and walk with that year’s adult education graduates.

“We wanted to surprise my mom, bringing in the last of dad’s living relatives and my siblings,” Ruth said. “This was hard, as she always attended my adult education graduation ceremonies.”

“It was going so well. We were seated waiting for the class to walk when Gary Cornish Sr. leaned forward, whispering to my mom, ‘I didn’t know your husband was graduating!’ revealing the surprise.”

Family legacy

Today, the Camp family continues its legacy of informing the community. The Camp children provided start-up funds for the Stockbridge Community News. With a generous donation at the platinum level from the Charlotte and Robert Camp Memorial Endowment Fund, the family is helping to keep a local newspaper in the area.

When asked if she had any words of wisdom for the community, Ruth shared her own work, “Camp’s Words of Wisdom,” commemorating the values instilled in her by her parents and shared within the following words of U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell:

“The Camps cared deeply for Stockbridge. They wanted the community to be successful in everything it did. They wanted the government to run well and expected nothing less than complete integrity from government officials.

“They were politically ‘incorrect’ enough to insist some things are inherently wrong, and bad, not only for those doing it but for all of us as well and had forthrightness to say what they thought.

“The Camps left Stockbridge a better place than they found it, so should we redouble our efforts in order that our children and community can benefit from our efforts to improve the lives and environment of those around us.”