1940’s

Camp Shaped Lives–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Priscilla Johns, (above) (1968+) loved all the activities at camp—the arts and crafts, the horseback riding and nature. “I remember the first summer as I got on my horse and walked through the woods, I thought I would rather be galloping,” she said. “I learned to pick up a snake and not be afraid, even after the little garter snake bit me. I can still build a great fire from learning at camp and I know the girls used to say, call Cilla because she will get the fire started right away. And to swim in a lake or jump of the dock is simply amazing,” said Cilla. “There is nothing like a Michigan summer. Hot during the day, but you could swim and then throw on a sweatshirt and jeans at night. Ah—the fresh air! I think this is why I got into dentistry with children. I work a lot with special needs patients and I was drawn to it from my Maqua days. I always loved being silly, so I threw myself into a profession that would accommodate my personality!”

“I loved the campfires and the friendship circles and the bonding with others. Just being in nature and yet having a routine was great,”  said Laya Rose (1937-48)  “ I came from a home where my parents both worked and I was on my own a great deal. I realized that everyone needed something and everyone brought a gift to camp. My needs were met there. I think my gift was listening to others with kindness and connecting to people. I had enthusiasm for living and camping—maybe because I am not a low-key type of person. I was a people person then and I am still a people person now.”

Jenifer Penzien (1969-71) recalled the movie “The Parent Trap”, starring Hailey Mills as twins separated who find each other at camp, which aired around the time she thought about going to camp. She attributed her camping experiences for her love of horseback riding, canoeing, and kayaking—all of which she continues to do to this day.

Sue Robson’s career as a “User Experience Counselor” with web page design involves observing people using software and she feels as if her observer tendencies as a child have come in handy with her work. She also volunteers at an art center and it always reminds her of the arts and crafts of her camp days in the seventies. Barb Ballor expressed how camp fostered kindness to others, which encouraged her into the nurturing profession of nursing, as well as to send her boys to camp.

Sometimes, it was just the little things that camp taught the girls that meant the most.  For Karen Kaiser (1959-62), it was simply music, campfires, the ceremonies and “ the chance to become who we were” and for Judy Kessler, her love for the outdoors began at camp in 1946 and it was always just a magical place.

Three women, Kathy Butsch (1968-74), Randi Wynne-Parry (1969-73) and Beth Taylor (1966+) were influenced to become involved with the Girl Scouts, either as a leader or member of a troop. All three drew on their experiences at camp and to this day they all enjoy the outdoors.

For Sue Purdue(1964-68), shown on the right of this photo with fellow staff member Anne Pennington, the realization of how important the camp experience did not occur until she was older.“Who knew they would be such formative years. We had instincts and urgings of vulnerability but since it was a girl’s camp, it was instrumental in my self-esteem.  I believed in myself and I felt like I could do anything. I felt like I could speak my mind. Camp was a culmination and a big part of who I am. I always knew I wanted to work with kids after that and earned a Masters degree in guidance and counseling after my undergrad degree in physical education. I believe I came into my own and look back at the fact that I was in charge of such young kids at a young age, but Dorthe did a great job as a director with seriousness and responsibility. We had fun, we made a few bad decisions, but we were all searching for acceptance and now look………all the close friendships are being re-consummated!”

 

 

 

Camp Influenced Many Lives—

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

 

With so many girls gaining many experiences, each unique to their personalities, their home life, their own skills and interest, it is not surprising how many different answers came to the question, “How did Camp Maqua influence your life?”

Jan Schrieber (left)(1962-70), now a Psychologist in San Francisco, was the creator of the Camp Maqua Alumni page on Facebook in 2010, following the death of her mother. She was extremely close to her Mom, who she described as creative, funny and truly wonderful. “I started thinking about the things that made ME! How much of life has passed now and that was just a nugget of experience, but I stayed connected to many of those girls.”

What began as a page with about six members has grown to 250 members in the eight-year period and has been a tremendous networking forum for those who treasured their times at camp. It has also been a feeder platform for obtaining the history for the book “Camp Maqua” and the blogs on www.girlsofcampmaqua.com

“I’m an oncology nurse now and manage a research department,” said Debi Gottlieb (!968+). “I cannot imagine that going to camp did not affect me in my life. It was a place where girls could be themselves and get to know other girls without their parents,  and the usual rules. It was just a fun place to be!”

Camp transported Nancy Weber away from home in the sixties and influenced her future career. “I was the youngest child of older parents. By the time I was ten, my brother was in high school and my sister was in college. I look back and realize camp made me comfortable with my eccentricities. You can take me anywhere and I fit in. Whether it is camping, raising coonhounds, or with the gentry, I cherish that I can fit in.  It didn’t show up at camp but did later—my comfort with myself. And fifty years later, I can still fold a flag perfectly!”

“I have memories of my sister’s time at camp, and I knew all the songs before I went to camp, but it was a different time and a different experience. I have a degree in teaching and counseling and I am now a public speaker, but I sang songs to my kids when I was teaching that made me a hit.”

Read More

Camp As A Confidence Builder–

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

Whether it was gaining confidence, being nurtured for the first time, or learning new skills in activities unknown to young girls before their arrival at camp, Maqua always had a reputation for their incredible staff leadership from the top down.

“Camp was all about confidence in terms of getting along with people,” said Elaine Engibous (left). (1961-63) “I always wanted to go over my birthday because everyone sang to you and you were a very important person on that day— not just a” run of the mill” camper on your birthday, but special. The camping experience was the opening of an exciting time, where I never hesitated to take advantage of some new adventure. I learned to share. I learned that counselors knew what careers they wanted to do—architects, nurses, and it was all okay and you could do anything you wanted to. There were incredible personalities to follow—Beanie, and the counselors.”

“You know, years later I went to Girl’s State and the Lt. Governor’s wife got up to speak about how important politics were. She told us to hold hands with each other and that we would probably never see each other again. At Maqua, we were all treated well and at the wishing boat ceremony, never did we say out loud as we held hands that we would not see each other again. We would write and hope we might see each other and we might think it, but at Girl’s State, they already had us divided!”

For Susan Prieskorn (1966-72), all the exposure to new things at camp developed her confidence in her new skills. “I loved the swimming, camping outdoors, being able to cook outside and develop athleticism in an era when girls were doing more than cheerleading! It was cool to be athletic.”

Her sister Cara, (1966-71) paid little attention to the horses, as she had one at home, but “class-wise, I always loved archery, riflery, swimming, and all the waterfront activities. I know that when you did distance swimming, the miles would be posted on the board by the waterfront. I would swim for an hour and post a mile, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a mile. I worked hard for my sharpshooter badge. I still swim and shoot as an adult and I think camp taught me some practical things like how to start a fire, use an ax and identify poison ivy leaves.”

Connie Cruey (left) loved the camaraderie of the sleeping cabins in the fifties that helped her form new friendships away from her existing friends in other cabins. She loved being involved in everything from horseback riding to swimming. Her goal was to make it to the raft and she succeeded. She ended up working at camps in college, teaching others to swim, while she worked on her degree in Physical Education at C.M.U. To this day, she still does laps in the pool three days a week.”

Camp Maqua was a very positive leadership experience for Kathy Hall (1966-71). She retired from marketing, but during her career in non-profits working in the community, she felt that camp helped her develop her spirit and drive. “I liked giving back,” said Kathy, who earned the Athena award and many other international leadership awards, including the YWCA. “Maqua was a happy camp, which was a mind-altering experience for me.”

“Everybody I talked to about camp thought it was special,” said Audrey Graff (below) (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.”

 

 

 

Camp As A Slice Of Life—

Published on by Kathy Baker

Learning to get along with people at camp was an integral part of the whole camping experience. Thrown together in a cabin with seven others, or working beside counselors of different walks of life and ages made for interesting and sometimes challenging dynamics. Camp was like a microcosm of the world and a great place to learn how diverse a group of women can be!

Carolyn Waits, pictured above, insisted all the skills she learned at camp in the mid-fifties in archery, riflery, swimming, and boating contributed to her confidence as a young woman, as well as relationship building. “When you are in a situation where you have to get along with a lot of people and especially an environment without your family, you learn. I had good lessons in getting along and put them to use when I worked with NASA as a manager on the Hubbell Telescope. When you have so many different people working on a project like that, you have to get along.”

“Camp Maqua taught me to get along with other people. There was never any competition among the girls. The counselors did a fabulous job making sure of that,” said Mary Hewes (1946). Patsy Walsh (1938), who was an only child, also felt camp taught her to be with other girls and older girls, as well as conformity to rules and regulations. Audrey Delcourt (1968-69) learned skills that helped her work with people, especially when she began to teach college kids.

“For a girl like me who was introverted, camp grounded me into a natural world.,” said Kim Wynne-Parry (1963+) “I had the ability to relate to other girls in life and meet girls from all over, not just Michigan. The college girls were role models and they must have chosen them wisely because they had much to offer and emulate. It was a unique experience that I could not duplicate for my daughter. I am so grateful for my parents, who sent me there, I am sure, to experience that.”

“I had the greatest childhood every at camp,” said sixties camper Dawn Sohigian.”I cherish the memories and friendships with girlfriends. I still do sleepovers and Kathy, Missy, Kim and I sing the camp songs and know all the words. Camp taught me to be a good person. I developed bonds with women and they made me a better person who thought of others. Patenge was the best. We looked up to all those girls.”

“When you go away for a summer, all of a sudden it teaches you to adjust to new situations and to get along. Just living with others, not having your family around, and even not having your parents there to protect you, it is a very rewarding experience,” admitted Susan. Kiltie (1960-68) “ Camp Maqua was a wonderful place to go in the summer.

Pamela Hartz  (1966-75) had two career paths after she left Maqua. One was teaching special education and the other was counseling older adults and working with marketing and communication. “It is fascinating that both my careers were primarily influenced by connections and the communications of being with women. I was always more comfortable relating to other women.”

Socially, camping in the sixties helped Cindy Morrison, who feels like she can now command control of a whole room in the restaurant business. Alternately, if she is put in a room with a few people, she develops stage fright. “I was always the last one to volunteer to do a skit in the lodge, but camp taught me to get along with everyone, which I still do.”

Pat Kula (!946) learned skills she didn’t know and eating and living together with other girls were new to her. Lucille Greenwald (1947-50) learned to get along and to do her share. “Even though I had always gotten along with people, we learned to take turns.”

Dorothy Bonnen (1942) felt her timidity was lessened by learning to live with other girls, which in turn allowed her to become more friendly. Jennifer Fenton (1971-78) now feels like a well-rounded person and although camp sometimes positioned her into situations that were not always comfortable for her, she developed into a team player at camp and in life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camp Friendships–

Published on by Kathy Baker


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.”

Read More

Camp As A Family Tradition–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Aside from the wonderful experiences and skills the girls learned at camp, many were so enamored with their adventures, they made sure their kids attended a camp.

“Camp was definitely one of my top life highlights and memories that I have ever done, “ said sixties camper Holly Foss. “It was always the highlight of my year and I cried when I had to leave. There was so much bonding and it was a fun escape from living, just being outdoors and laughing so much. It was an absolute joy.”

“The confidence factor, not from the survival but the skills I learned—like sailing and canoeing and the backpack trips. I would never have done that otherwise. There was a sense of accomplishment. It is hard to know whether I would have felt that if I had not gone to camp. The girls made lifelong friendships. I know if there was a reunion right now that I would be instantly back to those days with the girls I went to camp with.”

“I live in Colorado now and there is not much of an environment for canoeing or kayaking, but when I am in Michigan, I try to fit that in. My daughter is thirteen and I send her to a Y camp in Michigan and I encourage her to do the overnight trips. I cannot wait for her to come home each summer and share those experiences with me. It is similar to Maqua, and had it been still open, she would be there.”

“I loved the arts and crafts and the decoupage boxes we made in the Craft Hut. We would beat them up and then decoupage them,” said Val Van Laan (1965-70). “I liked the whole experience at camp. Learning to swim, boat, singing “Leaving on a Jet Plane” and “Rise and Shine” with all the hand motions in the lodge. That’s why I sent my kids to camp and why I loved going to the scouting “Mom and Me” camps with them.”

Anne Shutt (1961-66) had one son and two daughters and admitted she tried to find a camp like Maqua to send her children to. One daughter was the assistant director for a Michigan camp for fifteen years. In addition to those lasting days influencing her life, she also continued her love of the outdoors with a cabin on the north branch of the Au Sable in Grayling. After camp, Anne attended an all-girls boarding school and had a great time. “You recognize who you are at camp. It was such a great time. Camp just let me be me!”

Kathy Krohn’s camping experiences at Maqua in the third through sixth grade (1965-1968)  were so memorable, that she continues to this day reading books about camps, and even sent her son to a camp as natural as Maqua, so he could have similar good memories. “I needed to share what Camp Maqua was to me—a single gender camp where most people did not know who you were, or where you came from or what you had. I did not want him in a fancy camp. I wanted a campy camp, so he went to the same one my father attended as a child.”

The camp influenced Amy Falk’s love of nature in the seventies and the simple existence, which heightened the importance of camp so much so that she sent her kids to real camps to continue the outdoor fun. “I thought it was great to be thrown together with different kids to enjoy the same things and get away from our families.”

Some. Like Pat Rehmus, (1962-65) who had triplet boys, wanted them to go to camp, but they didn’t want to go. Finally, two of them attended a camp in Lake Tahoe and the third homebody stayed home, but she found the cost of camps out west were outrageous.

“In those days camp was different. It helped mold me for sure. Just getting away from home and not being homesick was formative. It gave me self-confidence, where I could make decisions in a larger community. We had to listen to our counselors, but we had a lot of freedom, even to choose our activities.”

Carla Schweinsberg decided to send both her girls to camp, since she had such a great time in the fifties. “Where else can you all get up as a group, eat as a group, and have fun as a group besides camp? It is a place where we all learned to get along with each other and I thought it was the greatest thing in the whole world.”

Read More