Our Staff

John Hill is accompanied by his wife, Holly Baker Hill, and their two children, Haddie and Emory. During the year, John is the Executive Director for Laity Lodge Family Camp . . . a Christian family camp in Texas where parents and families can experience camp together! The Foundation ministries, as well as the landscape of the Frio Canyon, have provided profound and virtually lifelong influences upon John. “I started attending LLYC when I was seven,” John said, “and returned every summer through college, either as a camper, volunteer, or counselor. The Canyon is where I accepted the Lord into my life and where I met my wife. When I was 16 and part of work crew, I met Holly who was also serving on work crew. Some years later, while we were overlooking Echo Valley from Antenna, I asked Holly to marry me. Our relationship and our family is rooted in this place and in the Foundation ministries.” John has a BBA from Southwestern University and an MDIV from Virginia Theological Seminary. John has served as Director of Program for Sky Ranch and Executive Director of Camps and Conferences for the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas. John and his family returned from Melbourne, Australia, where John was Vicar of St. Paul’s Anglican Church. WOW! He’s really spiritual!!! He’s excited to be back in the Canyon and loving on our staff and campers.

Dana serves as both Registrar for Family Camp and Assistant to Director John Hill. She received an Associate of Arts in Education Degree from Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde and later her Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Services from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia. Her passion is singing, dancing, and performing in community theater. Dana, her husband, Billy, and their daughter, Andrea, relocated from Cedartown, Georgia to Boerne. Their two grown sons, daughters-in-law, and grandson, Matthias, live in Alabama.

A long time ago, in a land far away, Mary Echols graduated (cum laude) from California State University Long Beach with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Recreation and Leisure studies. Mary has had a wide variety of camping experience having worked in camps every summer since age 14. She first came to the H. E. Butt Foundation in 1983 with her husband, Glenn. She has worked as an Arts and Crafts director, Sugar Shack director, Kitchen director, and Program Services director at Laity Lodge Youth Camp, as well as serving as a Hostess at Laity Lodge. During the school year, she is a substitute teacher in Kerrville. Her husband, Glenn Echols, is the Director of Operations for the H. E. Butt Foundation Camp. Their son, Reid, is a sophomore at Baylor University and is looking forward to working some of the Family Camp weekends. Their daughter, Rylie, is a high school sophomore who looks forward to every weekend.

Tammy Soth, Director of Food Service

Jules Thomas grew up in Lafayette, Louisiana (she loves everything Cajun), and Houston, Texas. She attended LLYC as a counselor and then as work crew boss. Jules graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in Kinesiology. She has been an active leader at McCallum High School Young Life in Austin. Jules says that being a counselor at LLYC has greatly helped her efforts and ministry through Young Life by enabling her to become more confident in her abilities to guide and walk alongside girls in high school. She says that her time spent working with both the Youth Camp and the Family Camp has filled her with such joy. Jules knows that the Fellowship Program will challenge her spiritually, mentally, and physically, but hopes it will connect things she has learned in and out of the classroom and through organizations such as Young Life into the next stages of her life.

Chelsea Jensen grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas, and has been coming to LLYC ever since she was ten years old as a Tri-Love camper at Singing Hills. Chelsea graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in Anthropology. As a member of the Texas A&M Women’s Chorus, she performed various selections of music at campuses, churches, and auditoriums around the state. They even traveled to three European countries on an international tour and sang in Hungarian, Slovakian, and Czech. (Chelsea will be a great addition to the Laity Chorale!) She has a strong personal and spiritual connection to the H. E. Butt Foundation property because she came to Christ when she was 12 years old while attending a junior high church retreat at Linnet’s Wings. The Frio Canyon and camp facilities feel like a spiritual home to her, and Chelsea expects the Fellowship Program will be an incredible place for her to grow and help others be uplifted and realize their talents as well.