By Caitlyn Meisner | Staff Writer
Family-owned restaurant Health Camp has spent its 74-year history impacting the Waco community from just down La Salle Avenue.
The quaint diner located right off of the Waco traffic circle attracts both local and out-of-state customers to grab a bite after a long day.
Walking toward the restaurant, faint ‘50s music can be heard, and once inside, it is all-consuming.
The red, yellow and orange dining tables shine against the black-and-white tiled floor. The mini soda machine crunches and pops as new ice flows through.
Greasy brown bags litter the trash cans, signaling a busy day for the diner. Spoons and styrofoam cups with scribbled handwriting adorn the pick-up counter, awaiting their fate to be scooped up by a hungry customer.
Three Baylor students can be heard chatting and giggling in the back of the diner while a retired couple from Colorado walks into the restaurant, deciding what they want to order.
The retirees, excited yet puzzled, take a seat at an orange table facing the Waco traffic circle, astonished they found this restaurant while waiting for their breakfast at Magnolia Table earlier that day.
Deborah Tinsley Humphreys, co-owner of Health Camp, greets customers with her southern drawl and assists her staff as customers come through.
Health Camp was founded in 1948 by Lou Stein and Jack Schaevitz, brothers-in-law from Ohio, who had recently moved to the James Connally Air Force Base in McLennan County.
As they became successful, Humphreys said, the men decided to purchase the original building, which continues to stand today. However, they argued intensely over what to name their new restaurant. Humphreys said the men eventually decided on “Health Camp,” which was etched onto the eggs Schaevitz’s father used to sell in Ohio.
Stein and Schaevitz sold the restaurant to Humphreys’ father, J. David Tinsley, in the 1980s. Since then, the Tinsley family line has owned the restaurant for 37 years.
When Tinsley died, the business went to his three children: Scott Tinsley, Jeff Tinsley and Humphreys. Humphreys said she is at the restaurant every day and closes it up each night.
According to Humphreys, the University High School class of 1959 held a reunion at Health Camp on Sept. 29. The graduates told her stories of when they would walk to the diner during their lunch breaks at school every day. The cooks would have trays full of cheeseburgers waiting for them to take back to campus.
One of the restaurant’s regular customers, Crissy Browder, said she has been going to Health Camp since around 1966 or 1967, when she was 7 or 8 years old.
“I grew up going there since I was a little girl,” Browder said. “I love going there now. It just takes me back.”
Browder said she always orders a Big Red and a small chocolate malt whenever she wants her fix. She said she typically goes when she’s in the area but will drive across town to come to Health Camp.
Both Browder and Humphreys said they hope whoever takes over Health Camp next maintains the old-fashioned feel of the diner. Browder said she remembers the jukebox that used to play music every time she came in to eat.
Humphreys said old-fashioned malts and simple cheeseburgers are the most popular orders at Health Camp. Her personal favorite is a cheeseburger with onions and ketchup, tater tots and vanilla ice cream.
The employees make their own shake concoctions. Health Camp team member Syneia McGhee said her favorite mix of flavors is s’mores and hot fudge or Oreo. She said since starting in January, she has seen some weird shake concoctions come through the kitchen.
“One time, there was an old man [who] got a peanut butter peach shake; he finished it,” McGhee said. “Somebody paid extra to have bacon in their shake, like a peanut butter and bacon shake. I think I have a picture of it because we were just so fascinated with that.”
McGhee said she has loved working at a place like Health Camp, and her favorite parts are meeting people from all across the world and learning Waco history.
Humphreys said she is proud of the business and loves watching people come in and dance to the music.
“We make errors, but we try to be perfect,” Humphreys said. “It’s old-fashioned burgers and homemade shakes.”
