Camp Asbury celebrates the life of Margaret Paul (1924-2020). Margaret died May 21, 2020 at her home in Freedom Township at the age of 96.
Together with her husband Bernard, who died in 1984, Margaret was a driving force in the founding of Camp Asbury. Her husband Bernard tramped around Northeast Ohio properties with Rev. Gene Hibbard in the mid-1950’s searching for the best piece of land to make a wilderness camp. They discovered the property was right under their noses, in Hiram Township, and turned their efforts toward building Camp Asbury into a site that in 1957 would begin serving the Youngstown and Akron Districts of the Methodist Church. Margaret and Bernard were leaders in building the Freedom Methodist Church. They also founded the Portage County Society for the Blind.
