The devastating Texas flood claimed the lives of many and 8 years old Blakely McCrory became one of the unfortunate children who lost their lives in the same. Blakey attended Camp Mystic for the first time this year and it was like a family tradition since her mother, step-mother, step-sisters, and sisters, everyone had attended this before her.
Blakey was understandably excited about visiting the Christian summer camp, which sits on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas Hill Country and according to her mother Lindsey McLeod McCrory, the kid was “ecstatic” to be going there. Lindsey further said, “She could not wait to be in the outdoors. It was like having the biggest sleepover you can imagine as a little girl, because you’re in a cabin with 11 girls who become your best friends, right?”
She also added, “You get to do all of these fun activities for four weeks. You get to do horseback riding, swimming, basketball, fishing — everything she loved to do.” Therefore, Lindsey did not feel worried at all when she first heard about the flood on July 4. She it was like something herself had experienced during the summer of 1987 and it would mean that the kids would have to spend the day indoors.
Her first thought after learning about the flood was, “They’re probably having a blast.” Lindley and her sister were in Europe at the time and it was only hours after that initial flooding information that Lindsey got a call from one of her best friends who told her the gravity of the situation and also let her know that there were campers who could not be found.
It was at this point that Lindsey realized what had happened and she and her sister took a flight back home the same evening. As they were heading back home, Blakey’s half-brother and his mother also went to search for her, but it did not yield any positive result.
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Blakey remained unaccounted for even on Sunday and still, Lindsey had hope in her heart as she told PEOPLE. She said, “I thought, ‘Oh, maybe she and one of those counselors are somewhere dry, but they’re just lost.’ … ‘Maybe they’re just lost, and I don’t know, they’re surviving together somehow.’ I mean, of course, you want to think these things.”
Unfortunately, the news of Blakey’s death arrived on Monday and according to Lindsey, while that was terrible news, she felt lucky to know what had happened to her daughter. Lindsey said, “I think the most terrifying part of this ordeal was the confirmation that she was unaccounted for originally. Because I always had this fear of someone kidnapping her, and just not knowing what happened to her. That was the biggest, the fear of the unknown.”
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She also talked highly about the ranger who gave her the call to give her this unfortunate news as she mentioned that her job was really difficult. She further added, “And I guess I had prepared myself mentally for that phone call, that I might get that call, that she has passed.”
Blakey, in Lindsey’s words, “was a live wire, just had a fun, spirited attitude, the type of child that doesn’t stay down for long” as PEOPLE reported. She also revealed that a letter had been found from Blakey’s cabin that she had written to her mother.
It read, “Dear Mom, How are you? I am good.” The letter also mentioned that she was having a great time at the ‘amazing’ camp and her excitement about playing Tennis and Horseback riding. And as Lindsey said, this final letter would stay as a loving memory of her daughter.
