1940’s

Why I Did Not Return To Camp #3

Published on by Kathy Baker

Camp was an escape from home on many levels for the girls who attended, but once they reached a certain age, other experiences, situations and relationships took precedence. Margot Homburger (1946-51) continued until she could no longer camp due to her age. For Nancy Keeler (1973-74, it was as simple as her friend Alice Pollock not wanting to return to camp for another year. Ann Meisel (1962-66),  felt the neighborhood kids became a more important activity.

“Camp was a very positive experience for me. I loved it and wanted to stay all summer. My father was an alcoholic and it was an escape for me and so wonderful to get away. It was a very happy thing for me, but my family didn’t support it. I cried so much when I left. They thought I was going to be a lesbian because I loved being with all the girls at camp. It was a remark that was thrown out and not talked about any further. I was desperate to go and wanted to go because I made such wonderful friendships. I did date and did have boyfriends later,” said Molly Olson (1946+), proving her parents wrong about the reasons for wanting to return each summer. She did not return when her Birmingham friends became more important to her.

Sharon Wilcox was born in 1936, but in the late forties and early fifties, she was a camper at Maqua in the second sessions. She reached a period in her life when she became more interested in boys, probably around the time she could have been a counselor. Wistful about never having had the chance to reside in Dutton, where the older girls stayed, she was always one of the youngest at camp.

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Why I Did Not Return To Camp #2

Published on by Kathy Baker

Camp Maqua had its own appeal, but some left to attend other camps for various reasons, and a few were disenchanted and returned to the happy camp. Marybeth Morton could not recall if it was finances or if she began babysitting, but she camped the summers of 1974-75, with all great memories.

Jeananne Jakobi came from a family that was not always financially able to afford Maqua, so she and her sister went to a Girl Scout camp. Sally Allen dreamt about becoming a counselor, but her mother was remarried to a man with children and it was cost prohibitive to send them all, although she did attend from 1968-73.

One camper attended Interlochen during her “piano phase” for one summer, but the distance and the cost for her parents prevented her from returning. She went back to Maqua for two weeks during the summer of 1961, a month in 1962 and finally as a kitchen aide in 1963.

When Sarah Smith was sixteen and seventeen, she had a hiatus from Maqua and attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, but came back to work as a waterfront counselor after high school graduation in 1974 and 1975. She was tired of being a camper and her swimming background and experience teaching swimming at the “Y” opened the door to her new role. Her family had beachfront property in Harbor Springs and she had grown up on the water.

Sue Schiller started at Maqua as an eight-year-old in 1946 and attended for two or three years, then attended another camp until she was twelve or thirteen, but her heart came back to Maqua. She ended up staying until she graduated from Michigan State in 1960.

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Why I Did Not Return To Camp #1

Published on by Kathy Baker

Many girls made a summer tradition of returning to Maqua, beginning at an early age, and aging out when they could no longer qualify. For others, it was not enough to be a camper, they aspired to be counselors, which extended their camp careers until college and beyond. Many just quit going and the reasons were as varied as their personalities!

“My Mom grew up in Bay City and she was a camper and a junior counselor. There is a photo somewhere of her with my Dad (when they were dating) on the lake. I went for two weeks the first time and after that, it was all summer,” said Cara Prieskorn (1966-71). “Susan, my Mom and I could never figure out why Matt and Becca didn’t like it as we did. My theory is that after they moved into the big house, the two of them didn’t want to leave their big house with their own rooms and bathrooms to go to an old camp.”

“I finally figured out my parents were taking really nice vacations while we were all at camp, so while my sisters were at Maqua and my brother was at Mahn-go-tah-see, they were off somewhere having fun without us,” said Julie Hutchins (1960). “I only went to Maqua one week that one summer and the rest of the time I was on vacation with my parents while my sisters were at camp! Years later when we all looked at the photo albums, my siblings wondered where I was in some of the photos, and I would say which state it was, and then remind them they were at camp.”

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What I Missed At Home #2

Published on by Kathy Baker

They missed family members, pets, and summers that continued on without them,  but those feelings were not so overwhelming that the girls wanted to return home. Some, like JoAnn Kern (1953,) said she was ready to go home after her two weeks at camp.  She always felt like she was missing out on her summer at Houghton Lake, where the rest of the family spent their time.

For Cara Prieskorn (1966-71), two weeks was an eternity. “I never felt like I missed anything while I was at camp, except maybe leaving a few boyfriends behind. Girlfriends moved in on them while I was gone. But, there was also a serial killer in Ann Arbor one summer and one of the girls had a sister at U of M. Supposedly she was asked if she wanted a ride by him and she turned him down.”

Funerals were missed. Nancy Keeler’s (1973-74) friend’s father died while she was at camp. Ann Meisel (1962-66) recalled a fellow camper whose brother died while she was at camp and she grieved with empathy, realizing he was the same age as her own brother.

Mary Jane Keschman (1944-55) and Linda Greenwald (1948-59) both lost their grandmothers while at camp. Linda hopped in her car around the 4th of July and drove home and back. Mary Jane’s family drove up in her last year and brought her home and back, so they were able to have closure with their funerals.

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Camp Transportation–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Campers had several ways of getting to Camp Maqua, which included the bus that left from the Bay City YWCA or their parent’s vehicles. Once the girls arrived at camp, there was always a necessity to have a camp vehicle to provide transportation to and from overnight outings, emergency trips to the doctor or hospital, trips to church and shopping for supplies for camp.

The notes and minutes from ledgers at the YWCA discussed trucks as early as April 1, 1932. The camp committe had the decision whether to pay a flat rate to the YMCA or hire a truck and that summer they hired a truck on a mileage basis.

May 10, 1935, there was a mention in the minutes that read; “Balcer Brothers Bus Company has agreed to furnish busses for our campers at twenty-seven dollars a trip from Bay City to Camp Maqua.” Members of the camp committee, Mrs. Ramsey and Mrs. Hewitt were given the job of interviewing automobile dealers to secure a loan of a car for the camp season. The result was Mrs. Stegall of Packard Cars made sure Mrs. Ramsey’s car was in good condition and she loaned it to camp, even after two members investigated the loan of a car from a local dealer.

In 1936, the camp committee again discussed a camp car and Mrs. Hewitt suggested a station wagon, which was needed and could be purchased cheaper in the spring. “It is especially needed for transporting the girls to and from church on Sundays,” she said. Minutes in March stated there was still no decision, so the old car was sent to the factory “to be put in first class condition”.

By 1937, a station wagon was to be purchased for $500 in Detroit, “if a satisfactory finance can be worked out”, stated a committee member in the minutes, who also suggested the old camp car be sold for whatever money it could bring, and the March minutes verified the financing was agreed upon and the car was sold.

No mentions of vehicles were made until May 21, 1943, when the first item of business was to repair the station wagon, presumably the one purchased in 1937. “Work on the motor of the wagon has been done by the Travelers Garage at a cost of $68.05. After trying several places to get the woodwork put in good condition, Mrs. Macaulay finally took it to Saginaw to the Wienecke Company. Mr. Wienecke has promised to do a good job on it, the cost around $22. This will consist of almost an entirely new top and woodwork,” the report stated.

In 1945, ideas were discussed by the committee on how best to come up with money for a new station wagon. (Borrow from the finance committee, raise money through teas, bridge parties or food sales, some other money making project or something with the Community Chest, of which the YWCA was a member.)

On October 13, 1953, the minutes stated a station wagon had been offered to camp by Mr. Harry Richard.

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Others Who Rented Camp

Published on by Kathy Baker

A group of men and women were to go to camp June 11, 1934, to clean and open Maqua, according to minutes and ledgers of the camp committee. Following the opening, “The Cigar Factory Girls” were to spend a weekend vacation at camp with a lifeguard on June 18. Camp was to open on June 27, but the counselors and other staff were up there ahead of opening day on June 23 of that summer.

“The committee agreed to allow fifteen business girls to attend Camp Maqua as a weekend trip with a charge of twenty-five cents per girl”, noted the minutes from May 22, 1936. By February 1937, the camp committee discussed keeping the camp open for families after season.

Minutes stated the camp was used for a conference from Michigan Sate University in 1941. By 1957, the camp committee was pondering how to rent the camp to school groups off-season when the lodge and cabins were not winterized.

By 1958 the Bay City Council of Churches and the Sterling High School Band utilized the camp. The band was charged $225 and they had to provide their own Red Cross certified lifeguard and prepare their own meals. It was mentioned in 1959 that the profits were increased by renting to these extra groups, and the structures did not “lie dormant” with no-one using them, so it was in the best interest financially to figure out the best plan.

The camp committee agreed on June 20, 1962 to run a blind ad in the Bay City Times stating that the camp could be rented by responsible parties for groups during the month of August. Various churches used the camp for their retreats in the early sixties, as well as the Oscoda High School band, and the Young Adult Group (the Y-Teens) with payment around $380. There were also mentions of exchange students participating in camp activities though the Council of Churches in the later sixties.

The Camp Maqua committee met on January 15, 1964 and one of the main topics concerned “Family Camp”, which started August 15-24 and was limited to ten families. The fee structure was $50 for adults 17 and older; $30 for children 5-16 inclusive; and $10 for children 4 and under. The camp investigated the type of insurance required for this type of camping and medicals were required. At the end of this camp experience, a letter arrived to the camp committee from Wayne State University in August regarding the creation of a family camp at Maqua.

Other mentions of rental were in 1971, when the Live-Y’ers used the camp and Peace River Lutheran Chruch from Rhodes, Michigan used the property and facilities for $400 and $10 per cabin. The committee restricted the use of boats and campers were restricted to the field, most likely in part to liability with water safety.

The entries found in some of the archival scrapbooks at the Great Lakes Bay Region YWCA in Bay City held pages of articles referring to the Girl Reserves and Business and Emplyoyed girls who would rent Camp Maqua off-season, as well as many other organizations.

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