Civic, school leader Camp dies Monday

  Emory C. Camp, who led major building programs for Rockdale’s hospital and school systems, and played a huge role in helping to create and preserve Richards Memorial Hospital, died Monday at age 69.
 A celebration of Camp’s life will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at Meadowbrook Baptist Church.
 Camp was a third generation member of a legendary Milam County family of attorneys and civic leaders.
 He served 16 years as Rockdale ISD school board president with his tenure including the successful 1978 bond issue which led to the construction of Rockdale Junior-High School.
 When federal regulators threatened to shut Rockdale’s 1940s-era hospital in the early 1970s, Camp, Rockdale Hospital Authority president, successfully led the effort to assure federal funding and approval for a new hospital.
 Richards Memorial Hospital was constructed in 1973-74.
 Fifteen years later, when a changing federal approach to rural hospitals threatened to close RMH, it was Camp who called public attention to the crisis then led a ground roots citizens campaign which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep the facility open.
 In 1994, when a similar crisis again had RMH on the brink of closing, Camp led the successful effort to create the Rockdale Hospital District which insured the hospital’s survival.
 RMH rebounded economically and was acquired by a private group in 2006.

mike@rockdalereporter.com

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