Grieving Mother Receives Letter From 8-Year-Old Daughter Who Died in Camp Mystic Flooding

A mother whose 8-year-old daughter died in the July 4th Camp Mystic flooding thought she had nothing left of her daughter, until she received a piece of paper retrieved from her cabin. It was a letter that little Blakely McCrory had written. It was the most bittersweet surprise.

A Reassuring Letter Pulled From The Campers’ Wrecked Cabin

RELATED:  Two Texas Sisters Share About Surviving the Flood at Camp Mystic

“Dear Mom, How are you? I am good,” the letter reads. She told her mom that the Christian camp is “amazing” and said she was excited to go horseback riding.

Her mom, Lindsey McLeod McCrory, says having the letter is “actually very special because I knew that she was having the best time of her life.”

“I'm just so grateful to keep her spirit alive,” she said. “I want to be the type of mom that honors my daughter, and keeps that spirit close, and not forget, not put pictures away, and not be able to look at them. That's not me. She's so close to me, and I know she's watching me right now, and keeping me close.”

She Was a Third-Generation Camper

Blakely was a third-generation camper, and this year was her first year at Camp Mystic.

Lindsey says Blakely “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?”

“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,” she said.

Her Mom Also Experienced a Flood at the Camp

Lindsey also experienced a flood at the camp when she stayed in 1987. It wasn’t serious, and she recalled staying in the cabin, listening to music, playing games, and having fun. She assumed the Camp Mystic girls would be having a similar experience.

But hours later, a close friend called Lindsey, who was in Europe with her sister, called and told her how serious the flood was.

Her friend told her, "There are campers not accounted for."

RELATED: He Lost His Whole Family to a Flood, Ten Years Later, He’s There for Others in Texas

Blakely Among the 27 That Died in Camp Mystic Flooding

She checked her voicemail to find a message that Blakely was missing. She shook with concern and booked the next flight back to Texas.

Blakely's older brother, Brady, and Lindsey went to an evacuation center near the camp to search for Blakely.

“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,” Lindsey says.

On Monday, three days after July 4th, Blakely’s body was found. Lindsey received solace from loved ones and was relieved that they found her body.

“I think the most terrifying part of this ordeal was the confirmation that she was unaccounted for originally,” the mom said. “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.”

Comforted by Faith

“I felt comforted by everyone who loves me, and just by my faith,” Lindsey says.

She empathized with the ranger who broke the news to her.

 “I know she's tough to do that job,” she said, “but to make those phone calls to the families, I can't even imagine just the trauma that she's going through, call after call, you know, have to bear witness to all this.”

“And I guess I had prepared myself mentally for that phone call, that I might get that call, that she has passed,” Lindsey said. “So I was calm. It gave me some closure, and I knew she was in a safe place, with her daddy, in heaven. I knew that it was going to be okay.”

Blakely experienced the loss of her dad to cancer in March. Her uncle also passed away shortly before she did. Though the family and Blakely have been grieving, Blakely remained strong and lively.

“She was a live wire, just had a fun, spirited attitude, the type of child that doesn't stay down for long,” Lindsey said, sharing that after her husband died, Blakely “was sad, but she didn't skip a beat — a very resilient child.”

RELATED:  Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Saves 165 People From Camp Mystic, 'I Was Just Doing My Job'

Blakely Was Strong to the End

She added that Blakley had a “contagious spirit.”

“People wanted to be around her. She was so funny, and she was a prankster,” she says.

One of Blakely’s pranks was putting her pet turtle in her mom’s purse. Lindsey knows Blakely was brave right until the end.

A surviving counselor told Lindsey that Blakely had “encouraged the campers not to be afraid.”

Blakely was one of the 27 campers and counselors who died in the flood.

They are Healing Together

She, her son, and their family are “healing together.”

“It's so tough to be without her, and my husband, but we're just, we are reassured by our faith, that she is in heaven,” Lindsey said. “She's there, and she's okay, and she's looking down on us.”

“And we strongly believe that it happened quickly. She didn't have to suffer. I just have this feeling,” the mom said. “She's with all those campers and staff who died, and other children. I just imagine it as a happy place, a peaceful place.”

The Texas flood was a terrible tragedy, but it’s a blessing to know that many of the victims’ families’ faith is giving them peace in their time of grieving. Blakely’s letter is a wonderful reassurance that she was very happy before she died.

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h/t: People 

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Michaela Gordoni is an avid reader and part-time globe-trotter. With a bachelor's degree in International Relations and experience in the non-profit world, she has a passion for people and reporting. You can check out her portfolio here.