The friendships of camp often began before sessions even started!. Many knew friends from school or had cousins who attended at the same time and numerous women stayed in touch their whole lives after meeting new friends at camp.
Young girls Helen Hasty (1943-50) met at Camp Maqua would go on to become some of the best friends of her life, including Bernie Van Pelt. They shared the same sorority and Helen stood up at Bernie’s wedding. “It was truly a remarkable place. I am so happy my Mom had the foresight to send me there. It enriched my life and played a large part of my growing up years. It was a happy, peaceful place and everyone seemed to get along”,
“Everybody I talked to about camp thought it was special,” said Audrey Graff, who began in 1948. “It was life-changing and Maqua was not an ordinary camp. I was a counselor in college at another camp, but it was not the same experience. There was something intangible about Maqua—a feeling of community and interrelationships. It was a wonderful way to spend the summer. I made idyllic friendships and I think the wonderful spirit at Maqua came from the top down. There was always such a spiritual feeling. The whole atmosphere at camp was positive. I had a sister who died of degenerative disease at eight and it had been an agonizing few years. Maybe camp made a difference–to be with happy people, happy counselors—it just added to me having a good time.”
“In sixth grade, Mardi Jo Link and I became inseparable friends, “ said Michele Patterson (1971-76). “ I am mentioned in her book “The Drummond Girls” as Mike, not Michele. I camped every year with her. One parent would drive us up and another parent would pick us up.”
“I learned the true meaning of friendship with girlfriends, which was not the same as the boys in my neighborhood. It influenced me as much as anything did in my life. It was a big experience of my growing up years. The friendship piece was big. I think the empathy for others due to hearing the stories of so many girls from diverse lives–stories of alcoholic parents, and abuse. My life was no drama. I had a nice little life. I learned the ability to listen and it came from Maqua.”
“I also gained an understanding of group dynamics from participating in groups. We were in groups for swimming, our cabin, our meals, and all the activities. As part of the group, you had to find your way in the group. I had a lot of energy and was athletic, so I was a doer. I listened to suggestions. This doing carried out throughout my outer life.”
“I was the only girl out of four kids in my family,” said Sarah Smith, whose mother Joyce was President of the YWCA Board and the main fundraiser in the seventies’. “I went to Maqua three summers in a row from 1968-1970 and that first summer I was scared out of my mind!”
Her mother, who had grown up with parents who had gone to college, valued her days at Mt. Holyoke College where it was all girls and valued those friendships. “She sent me on purpose to an all-girls camp, so that I would understand the world was not all about men!”
“My Mom told me I could not go with anyone I knew when I suggested, “how about so and so goes with me”. She told me the whole purpose of going to camp was to meet new friends. It was the best thing she ever did for me! I grew up with three brothers and I had to learn to hold my own. With no boys at camp and no competition, I loved it! I blossomed into the person I was to become. There was some great energy being with all females—wonderful camaraderie.”
“My parents were big fish in a little pond where we lived and they knew I needed to be on my own. I think since my Mom wouldn’t let me got with people I knew, she knew I would go into this new group and make friends. And I liked getting to know people who didn’t know my parents! I was proud to be their daughter, but this experience helped me to develop leadership skills. I had an innate outgoing personality and I admired most of the women there who reaffirmed me and were great role models. Growing up, going through puberty, living around older women who had talents that I admired and couldn’t do—it was just a very sweet, soft and lovely time in my life and even more so as a grown woman.”
Did you make new friends at camp?