Camp Gailor-Maxon

07/10/2025

If you’re in the Nashville area, join us Sunday, July 13th for Compline under the stars at the Diocesan House.

12/27/2023

An update from the DuBose Conference Board of Directors and a reflection from the Rev. Hester Shipp Mathes

https://edwtn.org/journey-to-the-mountaintopa-farewell-to-dubose-conference-center/

05/01/2023

(reposting from the Alumni page)

If you didn’t make the ceremony yesterday, we missed you. But I want to share with you something Ms. Christy Beesley and I stumbled upon last week…

We were digging through the archives, and we were quite impressed with the number of historic documents we found...still preserved...still in great shape. We were also somewhat amazed to find every single camper and councilor application from the last 40 years...I was personally amazed at how philosophical I thought I was at age 18. But the historic documents were what we focused on...

We found documents dated 1911, 1920, 1924. We read program books from the very first graduation of The DuBose Memorial Training School. We found camp song books from 1934. We found original purchase deeds signed - in ink - by Dr. DuBose himself.

But what I want to share today feels especially relevant, taken directly from an original program book:

“On St. Matthews Day, September 21st 1921, the DuBose Memorial Church Training School Opened its doors. In the opening address made by the Dean, these were the first words spoken: the dean said ‘Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof”. All beginnings are more or less uncertain and attended with weakness, and our DuBose School is no exception to that rule. We simply have to feel our way.”

He really said that.

That was 101 years ago. Yesterday 37,110 days later we found ourselves standing on the exact same dirt saying the exact same words. “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning”. I think they mean the end is special because we were so lucky to have enjoyed it while we had it.

We don’t know what is next for DuBose, or our Camp, or the spirt of that place that has fused so many of our lives together. But in 1924, the original DuBose campus building burned to the ground and everything in it was destroyed. Quoting again:

“The spirit of the school manifested itself in a most remarkable way. The students telegraphed saying that they were ready to come back and rebuild. While we were in our temporary quarters, every effort was put forth to erect a campus suited to our needs, and here we are now in a wonderful well-equipped building. The only objection that can be found with our new building is that it is too good! The farm speaks for itself. Fences everywhere and every acre under cultivations. The fields stand so thick with corn that “it laughs and sings”.

It really said that. The corn laughs and sings.

It's not 1924, but again it’s time for us to rebuild. The DuBose grounds have always been cultivating. But instead of corn, this time DuBose has been cultivating us. After today, we won’t ever be able to step on the grounds of the DuBose we knew, but like the corn from 1924 we can stand, and laugh, and sing. Knowing that we do so because we were grown here too.

DuBose conference center. Camp Gailor-Maxon. Layman’s Conferences. Corporate Retreats. Weddings (like mine). None of these things are what made our place special. What made that place special is you. It’s me. It’s all of us. And now we owe it to Dr. DuBose - and the tens of thousands of others who have called this place home - to keep the spirt of these grounds alive.
‘Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof’.

Let’s embrace this ending today, and be thankful for the new beginning we have ahead of us.

Love,

Nic Dugger

04/24/2023

If you plan to attend the service at DuBose on Saturday, please RSVP to [email protected]. If you have RSVP'd as a comment on Facebook, please send an email instead. We are working on a head count and need your responses.

Thank you!

04/10/2023

Please join us on the Mountain as we celebrate the 72 years of DuBose Conference Center’s service to the three Diocese of Tennessee. On Saturday, April 29th at 3:00 pm, Bishop John Bauerschmidt will join us for a service to deconsecrate the property as it will no longer be utilized as an Episcopal camp and conference center.

DuBose has been such an important place for so many throughout the years, including the institutions of Camp Gailor-Maxon and the annual Layman’s Conference as well as many other events on the property.

Our hope is that these institutions will find new locations to continue their long history.

When plans are finalized and the Board and the Bishops are allowed to discuss steps forward, more information will be available.

Bring a picnic and a spirit of joy. Overnight accommodations at DuBose will not be available.

RSVP to [email protected].

07/23/2022

Vena B. Champion went to her heavenly home and was welcomed into the Lord’s light on the morning of July 20, 2022 after a difficult and courageous battle with cancer.

Vena was born on December 27, 1973 to her loving parents Richard and Shirley Bagwell. She was raised in Fayetteville, TN and graduated from Lincoln County High School in 1992. Vena had a love for the performing arts and was an avid and talented dancer and musician from early childhood and throughout her life. Vena’s love of her church and Monteagle Mountain (including many summers at CGM) led her to attend The University of the South (Sewanee) for her freshman year where she participated in the university dance program and felt the call to teach dance as a profession. Vena transferred to the University of Alabama where she received a B.A. degree in dance with a minor in business. Vena opened the Cumberland Dance Academy in Cookeville, Tennessee, where she positively influenced the lives of hundreds of students over the course of several years.

Vena met the love of her life as a teenager at the Episcopal Youth Event in Montana in 1990. Greg and Vena remained long-distance friends for several years and reconnected in person in 1996. Vena and Greg were married at St. Mary Magdalene’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville in 1997 and took up residence in Cookeville, TN. As their family grew with the addition of their sons Drew and Alex, the Champions moved from Cookeville to Mt. Juliet and finally to Chattanooga.

Vena’s love of the arts was inherited by her boys who are both excellent actors and musicians. To support them and follow her own interests, Vena worked for the Chattanooga Theater Center and the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts where her boys attended school. Vena served one year as chair of the Dubose Conference Center board of directors and one year as the director of Camp Gailor-Maxon, the Episcopal Church’s summer camp in the Diocese of Tennessee. Vena also worked as an Account Executive for WDEF News Channel 12. Vena’s love of her family was shown in every decision she made. Her husband and boys were everything to her, and she will be greatly missed by all her family and friends.

Vena is survived by her husband Greg Champion, her sons Drew and Alex, her parents Richard and Shirley Bagwell, her brother Rick (Stacey) Bagwell, and many loving nieces, nephews, and in-laws.

A Celebration of life service will be held at Saint Martin’s of Tours Episcopal Church in Chattanooga on Saturday, July 30, 2022, at 1pm EST . Her ashes will be interred at a later date.

Vena asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Drew and Alex’s college fund. Donations can be sent to

My sister Vena Bagwell Champion passed away at the age of 48 on Wednesday, July 20th. S… Richard Bagwell needs your support for Drew and Alex's College Fund

05/18/2022

It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that DuBose Conference Center is temporarily pausing operations. Decreased demand for camp and conference facilities, with the additional challenges that DuBose has faced during the pandemic, make this move necessary. Despite the efforts of our many loyal supporters, the DuBose Conference Center has continued to struggle financially, as church groups and other meetings have not returned at pre-pandemic levels. The Board has decided to cut back the operation by not booking new activities at this time and canceling some future activities.

The temporary closure also includes canceling Camp Gailor-Maxon, scheduled for June. After two years away, we had hoped and made plans to return to our home on the mountain, but registration for camp is lower than expected and budgeted.

The DuBose Conference Center Board of Directors is entering a period of discernment regarding the best path forward. The Board will reassess the operation of the Conference Center in the upcoming months.

The board continues to look at our financial ability to refund deposits. We will be back in touch when we know more.

For questions or inquiries, please email [email protected]

03/14/2022

Don’t miss the Early Bird discount deadline Tuesday, March 15th. Click here to register - https://www.duboseconferencecenter.org/cgm

03/11/2022

We are thrilled to welcome Betty Carpenter back to the Camp Gailor-Maxon family as our 2022 Camp Director. Get to know more about Betty.

03/01/2022

Camp Gailor-Maxon registration is OPEN! Join us this summer!
www.duboseconferencecenter.org/cgm
Pre-Camp / Mini-Maxon (rising 1st - 3rd graders with adult):
Thursday, June 9 - Sunday, June 12
Camp I (rising 10th graders- HS Class of 2022): Sunday, June 12 - Saturday, June 18
Camp II (rising 7th - 9th graders): Sunday, June 19 - Saturday, June 25
Camp III (rising 4th - 6th graders): Sunday, June 26 - Saturday, July 2

02/15/2022

Apply to be a CGM staff member this summer! Application deadline is March 1. https://forms.gle/Znsb4Ftqjxb6Qony7

09/15/2021

Save these dates for Camp Gailor-Maxon 2022!
Pre-Camp / Mini-Maxon (rising 1st - 3rd graders with adult): Thursday, June 9 - Sunday, June 12
Camp I (rising 10th graders- HS Class of 2022): Sunday, June 12 - Saturday, June 18
Camp II (rising 7th - 9th graders): Sunday, June 19 - Saturday, June 25
Camp III (rising 4th - 6th graders): Sunday, June 26 - Saturday, July 2
Check back for details and registration in the coming months.