James Avery, the Kerrville-based and nationally renowned jeweler, is giving back to its hometown — and to the Camp Mystic girls who’ve been devoted to the brand for decades.
The company, most popular for its charm bracelets, has pledged $1 million toward flood relief efforts in the Hill Country — and will also donate 100% of the proceeds from its “Deep in the Heart of Texas” charm, which sold out within a day.
As of Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed 95 deaths from Friday’s fatal floods in the Kerr County area. Camp Mystic is “grieving the loss” of 27 campers and counselors, while 6 more girls remain missing.
For decades, the jeweler has had close ties with Camp Mystic. Bracelets with chunky silver charms, handed out at closing ceremonies or tailor-made for individual cabins, were “very much the thing” among Texas girls, former camper Katherine Howe told The Barbed Wire on Monday.
For generations of Mystic women, the James Avery bracelet was a “symbol and souvenir” of everything the camp had to offer — growth, lessons, memories — former camper Summer Wise told The Barbed Wire.
“It’s a ritual,” said 49-year-old Wise, who attended Mystic in the 1990s. “It does create a connection among all of us.”
“Every girl goes to the headquarters store in Kerrville after the camp term ends, a long caravan of suburbans along Hwy 39,” Wise wrote on Facebook. “We’d pick out new charms to add to our bracelets. The charm for your cabin was a must-get. Then we’d usually get one for our activities. Sometimes we’d earn charms for accomplishments.”
A physical record of a girl’s years at Mystic, no two bracelets were ever the same.
Wise had collected an arrowhead charm for archery, while Howe, who attended Mystic in 1987, won an ‘M’ for most improved. An angel for aides, older campers who helped serve food and bus tables at mealtimes (“that’s a big milestone for any Mystic camper,” Wise told The Barbed Wire); charms for cabins like Bubble Inn and Bug House. Tribe charms for the blue Kiowas or red Tonkawas. Some campers even collect charms years after leaving the banks of the Guadalupe — Wise’s latest charm is from a camp reunion in 2003.
“Each bracelet is a unique reflection of a girl and their camp experiences, personality, and memories,” Wise wrote in her Facebook comment. “Each charm tells stories and sings songs. Some are lost to the river now, and we’re all wondering, unsettled and raw… what will become of this tradition?”
Founder James Avery launched his business as a “one-man operation” in 1950s Kerrville, piecing together bits of jewelry in his in-laws’ garage, The New York Times reported in Avery’s obituary. By the time of his death in 2018, the franchise had expanded across 80 stores in the South. But Avery always remained loyal to his hometown, commissioning unique charms for camps across Texas Hill Country: Mystic, Waldemar, Kickapoo.
“The recent floods in the Texas Hill Country and surrounding areas have had a devastating impact on our cherished hometown,” the company said in an update on its social media pages on Tuesday. “We’re humbled by the support you’ve shown our friends and family in the Texas Hill Country and surrounding areas.”
“Camp Mystic and James Avery are just woven into the fabric of Texas culture,” Wise told The Barbed Wire. “I’m not at all surprised that James Avery is arranging this fundraiser. At the same time, it’s no less remarkable that they are, given the fact that they are (at) the epicenter of this tragedy.”
Now, Wise’s bracelet is getting polished at the jeweler’s. Howe still has hers, too.
“When we grew up,” Wise wrote online, “and our bracelets got tarnished in our jewelry boxes, we sang camp songs to our babies.”
