Friendship Fondest Memory For Beaver Lake Park Attendants

STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Pat, left, and Gene Hamm sing a country song Aug. 22 at their campsite at Horseshoe Bend park on Beaver Lake. The Hamms have been park attendants since 1979 and have been at Horseshoe Bend since 1992. They’ll retire from the job in mid-September.
STAFF PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Pat, left, and Gene Hamm sing a country song Aug. 22 at their campsite at Horseshoe Bend park on Beaver Lake. The Hamms have been park attendants since 1979 and have been at Horseshoe Bend since 1992. They’ll retire from the job in mid-September.

Pat and Gene Hamm will miss the fresh vegetables and friendship that campers have brought to their travel trailer at Horseshoe Bend park. Campers will miss the singing when Gene picks up his guitar and the couple harmonizes under their front-porch awning.

The Hamms have been park attendants at Horseshoe Bend park on Beaver Lake since 1992. Gene, 86, and Pat, 80, have decided it's time to hitch up their travel trailer and retire from the job in mid-September.

Web Watch

Job Openings

For more information about a park attendant’s job, go to www.swl.usace.army.…

Horseshoe Bend wasn't their first park rodeo. They've worked for the Army Corps of Engineers as park attendants since 1979, mostly at parks at Table Rock Lake before coming to Horseshoe Bend.

Before that, the couple lived near Oklahoma City where Gene had a television repair shop. The Hamms enjoyed traveling and camping just like the everyday visitors to Horseshoe Bend. They talked to park and gate attendants on these trips and decided it was something they'd like to try. Their first stint was at Cow Creek park near Blue Eye, Mo., at Table Rock Lake.

It's no glamour job, keeping the restrooms clean and picking up litter at the swim beach. The Hamms won't miss that, but they will miss the campground regulars. They've become friends with several after more than 20 years at one of Beaver Lake's busiest parks.

"Everybody who comes to the lake is out for a good time. They're not here to cause any mischief," said Gene, while he and Pat relaxed in their shady campsite on Aug. 22, their 61st wedding anniversary. There's the occasional bad apple, but most visitors are courteous, Gene said.

"We enjoy where we are," Pat said.

The corps provides the couple with their shady campsite near the park entrance. The Hamms bid on the park attendant job every three years. As part of the contract, they furnish their own equipment and cleaning supplies, plus reams of toilet paper, out of their own pocket. They work six days a week, with Wednesdays off.

Mondays and Tuesdays are their busiest days when most campers leave after the weekend, Gene said.

They enjoy the independence of the job. As long as the tasks are done, the corps pretty much leaves them alone. "We have our job and we do it. Every two or three weeks a ranger might come around and just look in the restrooms," Gene said.

"You can't get rich doing this. It doesn't pay that much," Gene said. He added aspiring attendants should have a second income in addition to the attendant pay.

Michael Hurley, the corps' chief park ranger at Beaver Lake, said the Hamms have been some of the best park attendants he has worked with during his 10 years at Beaver Lake.

"We hate to see them go, but I'm sure they'll enjoy their retirement," Hurley said.

The job requires that the attendants have a travel trailer or motor home. Attendants must be a two-person team. "It's generally a husband and wife, but it doesn't have to be," Hurley said. Jobs are four to six days per week, depending on the park.

The best way to find out about openings is to contact the Army Corps of Engineers office wherever people would like to work, Hurley advised. The jobs also are advertised at the Federal Business Opportunities website, www.fbo.gov. Aspiring attendants bid on the jobs they'd like to have.

At small parks, such as Indian Creek on Beaver Lake, attendants do double-duty as park attendants who keep the park clean and gate attendants who collect fees, Hurley said. At large parks, such as Horseshoe Bend, the jobs are separate.

The Hamms have adapted to change over the years. It used to be that the couple had to bid on the job every year. At parks where they collected camp fees, transactions were on paper. Now transactions are all computerized. Campers may reserve campsites at Horseshoe Bend and other corps parks around the nation online.

Most of the campers who visit Horseshoe Bend are from the area, Pat said. Several stop by the Hamms' trailer to give them tomatoes, okra and other treats out of their gardens.

Gene can pick some salty licks on his Martin guitar, and both enjoy singing. Their campsite is the scene of frequent jam sessions with campers who come over to play and sing.

Their music will be missed when the Hamms head for Texas on retirement day. They'll move into a mobile home at Mission, Texas, near McAllen. The road trip will be a meandering one, with numerous stops along the way to visit friends and family. The couple has two daughters and a bevy of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Maybe someday the Hamms will return to Horseshoe Bend as camping visitors. Pat said they're in the market for a smaller travel trailer, something that is easier to tow than the large camper they own now.

If they don't have some veggies to share, it's a fair bet they'll have a song for the new park attendants.

Outdoors on 09/01/2014

Upcoming Events