The idea of there being a camp was born in 1949. Rev. Adrian Edgar, the minister at First Church in Cozad, thought the hills overlooking Midway Lake resembled the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee. The only problem was that very few people agreed with him. Why would you want to place a church camp in the middle of nowhere where you could not even grow trees? Obviously, being in the middle of nowhere is one of the neatest things about it, and as you can see now, these hills can grow trees.

Rev. Edgar related at the 30th anniversary of Camp Comeca that he had about given up on starting a camp. People just would not get behind the idea. As he was walking through the old church, he knelt down in the little chapel off of the sanctuary and prayed. He told God if he wanted a church camp, he had better give him some positive signs. He got up and went downtown to the café for coffee and when he walked in Leo Harkness said, “Adrian, how are things going starting the camp? If you need any help, let me know.” Adrian said that was sort of positive, but not anything concrete. He had been there a few minutes and Wayman May came in. Adrian was a very strong Republican, and Wayman is a very strong Democrat. Wayman approached Adrian and said, “If you can possibly accept an idea from the Democratic Party, I know how we are going to raise money to start the camp. Last week we had a fundraiser for the party. We charged $5 a plate and all the proceeds went to the party. That’s what we are going to do for this camp.” The fundraiser made $5000 and a dream was born. As Adrian said, “At that point, I knew that God had spoken and I had to make it happen. This wasn’t my camp or Cozad’s camp, it was God’s camp.”

It is not clear exactly when the camp was named, but Adrian said, contrary to what some people in the NE Conference thought, Comeca stands for Cozad Methodist Camp not the Conference Methodist Camp.

In June 1950 the first camp was held. It was not ready, and it rained and rained and rained, but Adrian could not be stopped. Walter Jewell and he drove to Grand Island to the Army Surplus Store and purchased tarps. The roof on the dining hall was not finished, and the campers had races to see whose juice glass would fill up fastest with the rain coming in through the roof. It was far from perfect, but Comeca was a reality.

From the beginning, camp had tremendous support from churches and individuals in the area. Cabins were built and paid for by churches and families. The Buffalo BBQ became an annual fundraiser and helped the camp make many improvements. As many as 1700 attended this event (the 30th Anniversary) and it gave people a chance to see their camp at least once a year.

In 1953, a full time manager was hired when Dale and Dorothy Runnels came to Comeca. They lived in a small cabin, then a small trailer, and eventually a home was built for them. With their son Dennis, they were here for 13 years and saw it through difficult times. They never lost faith that the church camp experience was one of the most important things in young people’s lives. Their leadership was crucial to the development of Comeca.

In 1965 a decision was made to terminate all four camp managers in the NE Conference. All four camp boards were disbanded, and the camps were run from the conference office in Lincoln. During that time, Ken Krebs served as caretaker. After six years, a decision was made to go back to camp boards and managers.

Chic Garner and his wife Betty Ann and their children Charlie, Jane, and Greg moved to Camp Comeca from Omaha in March of 1972. The little house was more than doubled in size to accommodate the new manager. Beth Shalom was finished in 1985 and year round camping became a reality.

In the fall of 1994, Lloyd and Katherine Wilson began giving so generously to Comeca and 5.5 million dollars worth of renovations and new construction began. Camp Comeca became Camp Comeca and the Overlook Lodge Conference Center. The building projects were completed by 1998. We now have 19 buildings and 300 beds and are able to provide