From Camels to College Park: The Unique Journey of Maryland Softball’s Jaylee Williams

Most third graders bring toys or rocks to show-and-tell. Jaylee Williams brought her pet camel.

One Maryland softball outfielder didn’t grow up around traditional pets. Her childhood is filled with memories of kangaroos, zebras, camels, and so much more.

Williams grew up in Bear Creek, North Carolina, a rural town with a population of just over 4,000 people. Williams’ junior class at the University of Maryland boasts over 8,000 students, creating quite the shift for Williams following her transfer from Appalachian State. 

“My uncle and my grandparents started a little business called Wilkie Farms,” Williams said. “It started out with just goats, llamas, and horses, and it was more like a little family business that everybody helped out with.”

What started as a petting zoo quickly became something out of a movie: a farmhouse with all sorts of unique animals running around and running the show. 

“My uncle decided to go to a few sales where they sell exotic animals,” Williams said. “He started buying all kinds of exotic animals. Eventually, when it got so big, he decided to open up a stationary farm in Loris, South Carolina. It basically became a little zoo with all the animals that he had. He had zebras, camels, donkeys, kangaroos, and water buffalo. If you name it, he had it.”

As a young girl looking to make an impact on her classmates, Williams crafted a foolproof plan to grab their attention and steal the spotlight.

“I decided that I was going to bring my camel to school,” Williams said. “I had my mom, my dad, and my grandparents bring our camel, Clyde, to show and tell. Needless to say, I was hot stuff in the third grade.”

When school would end, Williams would take the bus home, meet up with her grandfather, and immediately take on whatever chores there were to do and care for any critters that needed attention.

“I was around animals all the time,” Williams said. “Every afternoon, I would go home to my horse, Little Britches. I would ride her up and down the driveway and in the pasture as my little hobby after school, before I even started doing my homework.”

Each summer, the family would head up to the Greensboro Fair, stay for the two-week event, live out of a camper, and orchestrate a petting zoo for the fair’s patrons. Never wanting to be too far from her animals, Williams never missed a moment to demonstrate her pride and love for her unique summer travels.

“One of my favorite memories is being able to hop the fences while everybody else stood there outside,” Williams said. “I got to be a little show off, playing with my animals from the inside while everybody else is doing the same thing through the fence.”

“She’s my favorite niece,” her uncle, Jason Wilkie, said. “She’s like my own and I love her to death. She grew up around all my animals, and there’s nothing I’d ask her to do that she couldn’t get done.”

Williams’ faith traveled to every fair with her, giving her a special job during the trips.

“I used to make little cross pieces out of wood,” Williams said. “While my family was making money by doing the petting zoo, I was sitting there cutting wood, making them into shapes of a cross, and selling them for 25 cents.”

Her Christian faith is the root of her kind heart, her compassion for others, and her ability to face each day and circumstance with overwhelming joy. It’s an identity she shares with not only her family, but her entire community.

“Faith is a very big part of me, my family, and the town we live in,” Williams said. “We have a very small church in our hometown, and we do nativity scenes and Christmas plays. We actually brought the camels inside the church one year to do the Christmas play. We were the three wise men, riding on the back of the camels to see baby Jesus in the manger.”

The camels’ claim to fame doesn’t stop at show and tell or nativity scenes. They’ve been featured in Dolly Parton’s Pirates Voyage Dinner & Show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“My uncle and I are probably the biggest Dolly Parton fans ever,” Williams said. “Somehow, he got in contact with the owner of Pirates Voyage, and the camels just started doing the nativity scenes for the Christmas part of Pirates Voyage.”

“I’ve had camels for many years,” Wilkie said. “They reached out about wanting a full-time animal person there in Myrtle Beach, so I left Bear Creek and was there for 8-10 years providing nativity animals for the Dolly Parton dinner theater shows.”

Daily life caring for the various animals poses all types of expected challenges, but the hardest animal to care for? That’d be the kangaroos, Williams says. She recalls watching them bounce around the family bathroom as they tried to keep them warm.

“You basically have to take them everywhere, because they have to be fed every two hours,” Wilkie said. “She's walked around with the bag on her shoulder to many different places. They're so quick. They can hop around, they can turn on a dime, they're slippery little suckers when they're that size.

“Everybody gets a kick out of baby kangaroos and their pouches. If we have to go into Walmart, we can’t leave them in the car, so they're in there with us. You'll be walking and all of a sudden that baby kangaroo pokes his head out, and the person beside you gets a huge startle, but that’s what Jaylee grew up with.”

Despite the odd jobs and the daily hustle to keep up with the animals, Williams still found time to become a Division I softball player and compete at the highest collegiate level. Passions for softball and riding created a well-rounded individual with a love for competition.

“I always wanted to be a trick rider,” Williams said. “I started out doing a little bit just around the house, not really competing or anything. When I really had to decide what I wanted to do when I grew up, my parents were more on the sports side. They still rode the horses and everything, but they just loved ball. I started playing softball at the age of three, and I just grew to love it.”

When she was about 11 years old, softball became more than just a sport. It became something that she saw a future in. Lifted and supported by her family, she started looking at ways to play at the next level.

“She puts her all into everything,” Wilkie said. “She is one of a kind. I know she's my niece, but she's some kind of special. That girl, she can do anything she puts her mind to. She has a heart of gold. Not only animals, she'll do anything for anyone, she's like a little angel.”

Growing up around the animals gifted Williams with profound responsibility and independence. She’s as well-rounded an individual as imaginable, raised by faith and driven by a passion to make her family proud.

“I’m just a small town country girl that loves her family, misses home, but has enjoyed coming to a new city, being challenged, and getting to know myself more,” Williams said. “People should know that no matter where I go, my roots will always be a part of me.”

The vision of the business has shifted. Wilkie and Williams’ grandparents are building two condos back in Bear Creek to run everything out of. Instead of primarily attending events, the family is working on creating the perfect place for people to come see and learn about their animals. 

“I’m in the process of rebuilding the farm,” Wilkie said. “We’ll open it up for people to come out on the weekends and see things that aren’t so typical. I like to work with kids that are less fortunate. I like to have them out at the farm, because it’s amazing how quickly they can bond with an animal. I love to be able to give back.”

Whether she’s lacing up cleats or pulling on her riding boots, Williams brings her faith, joy, small-town charm — and maybe even a camel — wherever she goes.