Doris “Mabel” Nielsen’s name may be familiar to all, but her legacy is more significant than most know.
Coming from a background in theological studies and psychology—with degrees from both Houghton College and Columbia Bible College—Doris decided to pursue her love for the outdoors by earning her Master’s in Physical Education from the University of Buffalo. Doris immediately jumped into recreation programming as the director of Camp Sandy Hill, an all-girls’ outdoor retreat in North East, Maryland.
At Houghton College, where she moved with her husband Ken and became a full-time professor of Physical Education and Recreation in 1961, Doris immediately saw the potential for robust, thriving wilderness adventure programs. The inviting Allegheny County landscape—with its pastoral farmlands, rolling hills, and untamed forests—seemed like the perfect place to establish such student activities.
In pursuit of this vision, Doris helped establish many of the hiking and biking trails that wind through the trees behind the athletic complex. (To this day, one still carries her name.) She pushed for the construction of a ropes and initiatives course in the Houghton woods, which has helped countless students discover and overcome their personal limitations. She organized backpacking trips far from the familiar, introducing students to the rugged majesty of the Alaskan wilderness and the beauty of the Grand Canyon. Closer to home, she led the Pioneer Girls Club at Houghton Wesleyan Church, helping young women explore the Bible and discover their own potential.
The Highlander Adventure Program, which she founded in 1979 and oversaw until her retirement, remains her most lasting legacy on the Houghton campus and community. Doris envisioned the program as a chance to give young, potentially nervous students positive experiences that would teach them problem solving skills, build their self-confidence, and “carry them over the valleys” of their challenging first year. By connecting students with a community of other first-year participants, Doris hoped that her fledgling initiative would encourage them to rely on their own inner strength, their classmates’ encouragement, and God’s continual provision.
Dividing her students into groups of ten, she set off for the dirt paths and mountain tracks of Western New York. Cadres scaled challenging rock climbing courses, lugged their heavy backpacks over muddy trails, and shouted urgent directions to each other as they scrambled through the on-campus ropes course that Doris had earlier that year.
In 1988, Doris founded the first STEP Adventure Program, an experiential wilderness experience designed for high-risk youth in the community. Just four years later came an appointment to the directorship of Upward Bound of Allegany and Cattaraugus, a federally-funded program aimed at students in similarly high-risk situations. Coach Robert Smalley, who worked alongside Doris during her time at Houghton and inherited her directorship of the Highlander program, remembers her with a smile. “High-energy, lover of the Lord, lover of people, and lover of the outdoors,” he describes her. “She was a high-energy person who impacted many lives.”
Although Doris and her husband, Ken, retired from full-time service at Houghton in 1997, they continued to find new ways to serve the community. With its distinctive focus on wilderness adventures and its focus on connecting with Houghton’s abundant natural resources, the Nielsen Center reflects its namesake’s passion for the outdoors: a closet packed with camp stoves and well-used tents, a collection of kayaks and bundles of ski poles, a climbing wall dedicated “to the glory of God.”
But Doris’ most lasting impact on Houghton College is reborn every school year, not in the buildings and trails that bear her name, but in the hearts and aching legs of the students whose first introduction to the community comes through the Highlander Adventure Program. “Endurance, community building, integrity, and choosing challenge are all principles of Highlander, and all carry over to the way one lives out faith in Jesus,” says Emma Steele ’18, a student participant and two-time Highlander leader. “I’ve seen participants make what they can out of little, physically pull each other up, and learn trust. I’ve seen groups become teams, and teams become families.”
One reply on “Remembering Doris Nielsen”
Doris Nielsen, also known as “Chief”, was the Director of Camp Sandy Cove, a Christian camp for girls in North East, MD. She was the Director for many years before completing her Master’s degree at UB. She did love the outdoors, but that was not the reason she worked at camp. Her main reason for being there was to share the Gospel, which she did willingly and wonderfully. God used her to minister to thousands of girls, many of whom lives were changed because she showed them Jesus’s love and never gave up on them. She was a prayer warrior and a true servant to the Lord she loved.