Mary Stevens Was Just 8 — Now a Texas Camp Is in Mourning

“I’ve trained hundreds of boys — taught them how to lose with grace, how to stand back up after defeat, how to find their strength again. But nothing in my life ever prepared me for this — for the unbearable task of living without my daughter.”

Those were the words of a grieving father from Austin, Texas, whose life changed forever in the summer of 2025. His daughter, 8-year-old Mary Stevens, had been spending her first summer at Camp Mystic, a storied all-girls camp on the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country. Known for its traditions, laughter, and focus on friendship, the camp had promised adventure and joy.

But after catastrophic flooding struck the region in early August, it became the center of unimaginable sorrow. When torrential rains…