KERR COUNTY, Texas – The director of Camp Mystic was among the people killed due to the Hill Country floods, according to media reports.
On Saturday, the Kerrville Daily Times confirmed longtime owner Richard “Dick” Eastland was killed while trying to save girls at the camp. Eastland’s nephew was the first to announce the death on Facebook in a post that has since been deleted or made unavailable.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly told the Washington Post that Eastland died in a helicopter on the way to a Houston hospital.
“It doesn’t surprise me at all that his last act of kindness and sacrifice was working to save the lives of campers,” guest columnist Paige Sumner said in the Daily Times’ tribute to Eastland.
Campers reportedly saw Eastland as a father figure while they were away from home at Camp Mystic.
Eastland, a father of four boys, “had hundreds of girls each term who looked up to him like a dad,” Sumner said.
As of Sunday morning, at least 59 people have died, and 11 girls from Camp Mystic remain missing due to flooding along the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country on the Fourth of July.
>> 27 girls missing from Camp Mystic along Guadalupe River in Kerr County, officials say
Kerr County officials said that of those who died, 21 were children. Eighteen adults and four children have not been identified.
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