Last Thursday, Laity Lodge Youth Camp gathered with nearly 300 people in Austin, Texas, to celebrate Chandler Pruitt and his retirement from the H. E. Butt Foundation.
In honor of Chandler’s 26 years with LLYC, the Singing Hills pavilion has officially been named the Chandler Pruitt Pavilion. Chandler was presented with the plaque bearing the pavilion’s new title, along with a painting of a riverside view of Singing Hills’ nightly gathering place.
“Working at camp was my dream job, and I got to enjoy every bit of it,” Chandler said to the crowd. He repeatedly thanked everyone who helped him through his decades with LLYC. “This was my life’s work.”
Cary Hendricks said, “Chandler hired me when I was in high school to be on crew, and it changed the trajectory of our family’s lives.”
The hundreds present had similar stories, with an audience of extended family and former campers and staff, all of whom experienced the significance of Chandler’s time with LLYC.
“If there was a Hall of Fame for youth camp directors,” David Rogers said in an Echoes article last year, “Chandler Pruitt would be the first one inducted.”
Having retired from the Foundation, Chandler is now helping launch a camp in Arkansas that was founded by a former camper of his, Tyson King.
“I don’t think that was by accident,” Chandler said about crossing paths with King. “I think God put that on the road for me.”
Below is a recorded song written and performed by LLYC alum Daniel Makins in honor of LLYC and Chandler’s work.
