Cabin Life

Weathering The Weather–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Camping in sunny weather was ideal. It meant no freezing or shivering when you went into the lake for waterfront activiites; sunny skies for boating; great days for overnight camping and canoeing, beautiful sunsets and starry skies for campfires and good sleeping weather inside the cabins whose only air conditioning was the breeze that blew through the screened windows. But, mix in cold air or rain and many activities were canceled, or worse than that—ruined!

“I also went on several of the overnight canoe trips and was even in charge of one of them. We never had tents, and just enjoyed the sun. If it rained, too bad, so sad,” said Susan Kiltie (1960-68) . “We probably had bad weather fifty percent of the time and if the weather was not conducive to sleeping outside, we would sleep under the canoes in our sleeping bags. We were young enough to think it was all one big adventure.”

As early as 1956, there were mentions of inclement weather in the minutes and ledgers from the camp committee. There was a note that parents were not happy that some of their daughters lived in the tents and not the cabins, especially during the wet and cold summer. The tents were also used for camp craft and other programs. There had been a tornado warning on July 1st and with no real plan in place for safety. It was suggested that they “get to the east side of the knoll by the rifle range”, but a Mrs. Brown underscored the amount of panic that involved and that that plan should only be a last resort.

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Snakes, Raids and Miseries—

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

“Cabin B was my favorite as a camper. “Dizzy” was my counselor. I have to say I was a practical joker and could be sarcastic at times, but she loved my personality. There was one who did not like me, but “Dizzy’ laughed at everything I did,” said Susan Kiltie. (1967+)

“Dorthe was not very happy with one of my pranks when I was a counselor,” said “Kiltie”. “I figured out how to get the paddles and a canoe out of the boathouse and my goal, with one of my friends, was to paddle over to the boys’ camp and undo their sailboats or rafts. I was dating a boy named Scott, who was camping over there at the time. When we got back to the waterfront, Dorthe was waiting for us. Here we were, with no life jackets, and we thought we had been quiet, but I’m sure the girls in the cabin above the boathouse probably heard us. Of course, I took full responsibility. I do remember they did fill out reports on us.”

Barb Rehmus (1965-76) was at camp during the infamous Mahn-go-tah-see raid, which was at the time Carol Nieman was camp director. “I had grown up with Dorthe and Beanie as professional directors and Carol was so different. I remember thinking this prank was outlandish and over the top. They took the boat from the boys’ camp and I thought they had just taken things too far.  Honestly, I was aghast and thought she was a wild card. We thought she acted like a camper, not a counselor. Sue Patenge followed Beanie, and she was okay, but it was not easy to come behind Beanie.”

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Heartless Practical Jokers–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Dorthe Balaskas, despite her director status, was the target of many pranks, but was on the giving end of many reprimands. In 1965, the “Loon” chronicled the prank that was played on her on July 5th around the flagpole.“Bathing Suits Billows In The Balmy Breeze” was the title of the article that described the swimsuit that proudly flew over Camp Maqua.

“It was reverently lowered and duly returned to its owner, but do you know the tale of passion and cruelty behind it? This job was pulled off by those two long known criminals at camp, Mary Gay Obey and Melba Slaba Slaght. As they idly sat in the retreat after dinner Wednesday, they spied Dorthe’s  swimsuit fluttering from the clothesline. They stared at it, and stared, then suddenly their crafty little heads filled with maliciously mischievous thoughts. Equipped with needle and thread, Obey and Mel stole the suit and sewed the legs together in the comfort of their hideout. Later, under cover of darkness, they sneaked out and impudently raised the swimsuit on the flagpole. But, what of the victim of the miserable joke, of poor Dorthe and her sewn-up swimsuit? As yet, she is still too stunned to avenge herself on those heartless practical jokers. But our advice to her to make the counselors take some of their own medicine. 1. Make them undo what they’ve done. 2. Take away their store and town privileges and 3. Make them do calisthenics all through the night, before our camp criminals really start acting up.”

Poor Dorthe happened to be headlines again on July 19th—“What Happened To Reveille?” Dorthe found her records gone, her rope tied up to the bell she usually rang and the ladder missing to take the flag down. Betsy (Elizabeth Pollard) used a broom to untie the robe and bells were used in place for taps and reveille.

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Squeezing In A Few More Tricks—

Published on by Kathy Baker

The “Loon” during the summer of 1965 listed the favorite pranks of the girls. “Short sheeting Reb’s bed, croquet balls in Archie’s mattress, cold cream in someone’s sheets, purse hidden near the fire bowl, bristles were taken off a toothbrush with a jackknife, the honor banner was hidden, a fluffy slipper was hidden in a bed and mistaken for a mouse, sand in a counselor’s bed, false mice in bed, hid Mel’s alarm clock in the back of a crate and set it to go off at 3 a.m., plastic frog in a bed and campers croaked and pajamas tied in knots.”

Jodi Tripp (1957+) said one of the sillier things she recalled from camp included a counselor who constantly used a rolling pin on her hips and thighs to get the fat off, but the most fun was hearing the girls scream when they discovered frogs in their bed.

Shaving cream was a favorite in the early sixties for Elaine Engibous and Cheryl Short. Both had vivid memories of squirting shaving cream in the hands of sleeping girls, then tickling their noses with a feather, hoping to witness a face full of the white foam. Jenifer McLogan (1965-71) was also part of the short-sheeting and pillow cases filled with shaving cream crew during her time at camp.

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Cabin Pranks–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Timeless camp traditions included pranks, which inevitably involved the bed. Pranksters followed their mothers, aunts, cousins and sisters into the antics that were handed down for years to make their cabin mates and counselors lives more interesting. The short-sheeting of beds was the most popular prank over every summer session, which was either taken well or not, depending on how tired the person was on the receiving end of the prank.

“We did get into a lot of mischief,” laughed Pat O’Tool. “We, or maybe it was I, collected twelve frogs and put them in one of the counselors’ beds. We also decided that the counselor with the name Muriel Funk was a name that we could adjust, so to speak. We called the camp “Muriel Funk’s Home For The Mentally Impaired”.

“We used to stay awake at night thinking of pranks to pull on our counselors when they had the night off, “laughed Liz Anderson (1973-74). “We were so mean. We greased the doorknob, we put balloons between the boxspring and mattress and they would pop when she got into bed.”

Audrey Delcourt (1968-69) said the girls were always trying pranks out on her and she recalled the spider web made with string, lathered in toothpaste, which she spotted before heading into the mess.

“I saw it, stood back and waited for the campers to get into it,” she laughed. “On the last night they put my mattress on the ceiling and croquet balls in my inner spring. The lights were out and the bed was made, and I climbed in and had these wooden balls in my back and they all had the best time laughing. I got them all settled and we sang a sweet song.”

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Stories In The Night–

Published on by Kathy Baker

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As and extrovert, Kathy Krohn (1965-68) always made friends easily and despite knowing some of the girls from school, she loved meeting new ones. The assistant director at the time, “Beanie”, used to call her “Itty Bitty Wee One” after the story about Montague the Rabbit she always told the campers and because Kathy was such a tiny girl.

Upon returning from camp one summer, Kathy told that story to her father. It was a story that Beanie would tell all the campers, but Kathy was too young to understand the moral of the story—“Hare today, gone tomorrow”. Her father would laugh and laugh and it would become their private little bonding connection.

“He would say to me, here comes itty bitty baby rabbit,” said Kathy, “and it was not until I was about fifty years old that I finally understood what the moral of the story was. He passed away, but until the end he always brough up Montague the Rabbit.”

Valerie Monto had an experience in 1968 that remains clear in her camping memory– the magic of one special night. “One evening, after lights out, our counselor had us get up and get dressed. We walked quietly to the lodge where the other older campers and counselors were gathered. We were divided into small groups and were given a nursery book rhyme or storybook assignment.”

“Two other campers and myself were given “Three Blind Mice”. We put together costumes from what was available and rehearsed. Our groups were then placed around the camp along the trails. The younger campers were awakened and led through the camp. As they would come to one our groups, the counselor would shine flashlights at us and we would perform our act. Once they had been taken through the camp, the younger campers were sent back to bed and we returned to the lodge to clean up before returning to our cabins.”

“The next morning at breakfast the younger campers were very excited and would approach us older girls saying, “I saw you last night. You were one of the Three Blind Mice, or you were Little Bo Peep,” or whatever . We older girls acted like we didn’t know what they were talking about and told them they had been dreaming. To this day, I wonder if those little girls are still unsure about their own experience.”

Do you remember any of the night-time performances?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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