There was no one who came away from Camp Maqua without some experience that affected them in a positive or negative way. From the sights and smells, to the activities chosen, or the staff that modeled behaviors, or the friendships made, the girls chose careers, hobbies, and even decorated their homes in terms of their respective influences.
“When I look back at my camping times, I can still smell that cabin smell at Camp Maqua and I liked the odor,” said fifties camper Barb Hale, and she was not alone. The smell of the bare wood in the huts and lodge were so fragrant to Bev Lemanski (1945), that she built a cedar screened porch on to her house to bring back the smell, and the white Coral Bell flower continues to grow in her garden as a reminder of camp.
“I always loved the out-of-doors, even before camp,” said Barb Cruey (1956). “When it was raining, I loved it even more. When I walk around our 325 acres up north, I can still smell the ferns that remind me of Maqua. Camp definitely affected me. I have two children and three grandchildren and I taught them all to swim and both my children went to camp, although I don’t think they enjoyed it as much as I, despite having some of the same experiences.”
Forties to fifties girl Marsha Immerman’s love affair with Camp Maqua and her experiences with horseback riding led her on a life-long passion with riding, art that depicted many parts of her camping experience and she often selected her dwellings based on a “lodgey” look.
“I am who I am today because of my love of the outdoors, horses and water. The fact that every one of my homes after I got married had to have a screened in porch, where I could sleep or listen to the rain is an indication of how much Camp Maqua influenced me. Even when my kids were little and we camped, it could be eleven o’clock at night and if our tent wasn’t going to be pitched by a body of water, I would make my husband drive to find some. I had to be camping beside water.”
Marsha also sent her two girls to camp in Colorado, but only one liked the experience. (They do remember the songs she used to sing to them from camp from her little MG until they would tell her to shut up:)
“Camp was wholesome and pure and I just loved the out-of-doors,” said Linda Doering (1967-69). “I loved the campouts and cook-outs, the canoeing and sailing, the archery, games, skits, and I remember the singing to everything. I loved singing “The Secret To Life”. I can still hear the screaming and singing at the waterfront and the sound of the Loons. I also thought I would love teaching, after doing the instruction at camp, but after teaching seventh and eighth graders who hated it for a few years, I realized it was not the same. Now I am a passionate rafter, hiker, boater, kayaker, cyclist, and I work in Austin, Texas for a small retail chain that handles outdoor items. I did get my Masters in recreation and worked fifteen years in campus recreation, in charge of outdoor programs for student and faculty. Just think camp was the start of it all!”
“I have to say Love and Respect are the two words to describe camp and for what nature gave us,” said Sally Allen (1968-73). “The property we bought in Michigan is farmland country, and peaceful. We have horses and a menagerie of animals, which remind me of camp. My girls know how to camp and my son has had extensive survivalist camping from Boy Scouts, but the older I get, the harder the ground gets!” (Sally still works at Camp Cavell in her spare time.)
Horses are still a great part of KayMary Young’s life and she owns two, having bought her first one in the thirties. The smell of sunshine and woodsy good summer smells remind her of her good days at camp in the fifties.
Susie Utter (1954-56) still rides horses and when her grandchildren turn nine, she takes them on a horseback riding Elder Hostel trip, which is proof positive that camp influenced her and many others. How did camp influence you?