“Our children’s lives were not a business inconvenience.” A Texas couple who lost their daughter in the Camp Mystic floods discusses re-opening application.
HOUSTON — Camp Mystic could be allowed to partly re-open should state officials approve their license renewal.
The Kerr County camp where 27 campers and counselors lost their lives in the 2025 July 4 floods applied just before Tuesday’s deadline. The decision to apply to have the license renewed is a controversial move for families who lost their children.
Stacy and Johnny Stevens lost their daughter Mary Barrett. The couple said they are shocked the camp would ask to re-open less than a year later with questions still needing answers.
“It is so rash, considering, uh, the lack of understanding that we have. About an event that took 27 girls’ lives,” Johnny said.
Sitting side by side Stacy and Johnny tell us about Mary Barrett.
“She was going to do really great things, and I’m so proud to be her mom,” Stacy said.
“She was the best and um we love her very much and we miss her very much,” Johnny said.
Mary Barrett was one of the 27 campers and counselors staying in the Guadalupe portion of Camp Mystic when the deadly July 4th floodwaters swept through the area.
Nearly nine months later the camp has applied for a license to partly re-open.
“Our children’s lives were not a business inconvenience. They, these girls were loved and their families and their communities, and their schools, and we deserve to have answers,” Stacy said.
The couple’s attorney Kyle Findley said they are fighting to uncover those answers.
“I hear Camp Mystic talking about reopening, but I don’t hear them talking about what their new emergency plan is,” Findley said.
In a March 4 temporary injunction hearing Camp Mystic’s Guadalupe Campus Director Edward Eastland took to the stand.
The legal team for the family of Cile Steward, the final missing camper, questioned him. They were the ones who had initially filed for the temporary injunction, which left the Guadalupe campus effectively closed indefinitely. An appeal has been filed by Camp Mystic’s legal team.
“We asked that director, Edward Eastland. What was your plan? On March 4th, he still could not even identify what the plan was on July 4th, July 5th, or March 4th,” Nix Patterson Attorney Brad Beckworth said. “What are you going to tell all these children? Are you going to have them swim in the same water that may hold Cile or somebody else that they’re still looking for?”
Cile’s parents previously wrote a letter, which called out Camp Mystic leadership for wanting to re-open.
“I think for Will and CiCi, it’s unconscionable that they would invite campers back, uh, period,” Nix Patterson Attorney Christina Yarnell said.
KHOU 11 did request an interview or statement from Camp Mystic for this story. We were told due to previous commitments they were unable to provide once. Previously, Camp Mystic did release this statement to KHOU 11:
“Camp Mystic has submitted a license application for Camp Mystic Cypress Lake with the Texas Department of State Health Services. The Camp Mystic Cypress Lake campus is in compliance with all aspects of the state’s new camp safety laws and has implemented additional safety measures that exceed the requirements of those laws.”
State officials said the license approval process takes several weeks as they review applications in the order they’re received.
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