Twin Lakes Camp serves Special Needs, At Risk and other children and youth from the Midwest States of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa and other states. Twin Lakes Camp provides physically challenged kids and young adults the opportunity to interact and socialize with others with disabilities. Campers come from diverse ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds.

One of the First Teachers of Handicapped Children In the Chicago Public Schools.

THE EARLY YEARS – 1858-1896

Born at her parents’ farm home in Jericho, Chittenden County, Vermont on September 6, 1858, Flora E. Prouty later became known as Florence E. Robinson.

Her parents were one of New England’s oldest families, dating back to Richard Prouty, who came from England in 1667 to settle in Plymouth Colony. Her mother’s profession was that of a housekeeper; her father’s occupations varied from farmer to cabinetmaker to wheelwright to undertaker.

It is assumed that the family lived in a wooded frame house where the kitchen served as family living room and where the parlor was used for courting, weddings and funerals. Homes were heated by cast-iron stoves, lighted by kerosene lamps and protected from insects by iron meshed screens. Cooking was on a wood or coal stove and water was either pumped or hauled from a nearby well. A wooden washtub served for the weekly bath, and the back house served other basic human needs.

The cow barn, which doubled as a horse stable, afforded plenty of storage space for root crops and hay as well as space for country-dances. Much of the family’s recreation revolved around church socials. Horses served as pet, transportation and sport.

Little is known about Ms. Prouty's education. She undoubtedly attended an old-fashioned country schoolhouse. Since the nearest high school was some fifteen to twenty miles away, she either did not attend or boarded with a family nearer to the school and returned home on weekends. It is doubtful that the Prouty family could have afforded one of the private academies of higher learning. It is also unknown what prepared her for the life, which she would soon undertake in Chicago.