Camping Life

Families Who Felt Like Camp Was Theirs–The Batschke Family

Published on by Kathy Baker

Just as the Williams’ sisters felt like camp was their private playground during pre-camp and pos-campt season, so did Kaye Batschke and her sister Patricia. Their grandparent’s cottage was on Loon Lake, just a few doors down from the Williams’ cottage that stood beside the fence line of Camp Maqua. Her aunt and uncle, grandparents and her own family took turns using the cottage and every third week they would be up on Loon Lake with their families.

*It was the mid fifties, and although I was never a camper there, I was able to watch the fun at camp and when the camp was closed, our parents would let us roam and get out of their hair. We had a little more freedom as kids back then,” said Kaye. “We would run around, take the trails, explore, and even check into the cabins. Sometimes we would use the raft and the dock. Every once in a while the caretaker would chase us off.”

Around this time, the movie “The Parent Trap” was playing in the theatres. “The bunk beds and the cabins always reminded me of that movie. We would pretend we were in that movie. I can remember going into an old house with twig furniture and it had stairs and we played in there one time. (Dutton?) My sister was two years younger than me and Sharon and Denise Williams were around the same age, so we would all play together,” she said.

“I was only in the lodge one time, I think. I was ten or eleven and we were running around playing and I stepped in a ground nest or hive and was stung, so my Mom took me up to the nurse at the camp. She looked at it and rubbed some Calamine lotion on the stings, but told my Mom to watch for a reaction. There were no hospitals close by during that time.”

Born in 1952, she played on the property from the age of five until she turned thirteen, when her parents bought acreage and a hunting cabin. It disappointed her greatly not to have the lake and camp to enjoy, where she had learned to water ski and had been such a great part of her growing up years. “Had I stayed on Loon Lake, I think I would have stayed in a cabin for a sleepover,” she said.

Kaye’s parents, Frank and Ruth Batschke were from Bay City and her mother-in-law, June Harris had worked at the “Y” in the early forties. Her Mom also donated money for a camp scholarship, repaying what someone had done for her years ago.

 

Families Who Felt Camp Was Theirs–The Emmett Williams Family

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

In 1957 Emmet and Florence Williams made the decision to search for a summer place within a reasonable distance from their Detroit home. They discovered their dream property that year, close to two national forests and an easy three-hour drive for their two daughters Denise and Sharon, who were two and five at the time.

The shell of the summer house was already built, with knotty pine inside, just waiting for installation. Ira Schofield had developed the property, known as Palisades Park, on Hillsdale Avenue, bordering Loon Lake. Emmet, his father and uncle built the first rustic home with a water heater under the sink. Florence remembered boiling water for hot baths.

The last of the knotty pine was taken down in 1986, and the old stove was removed when the family needed extra space. Emmet retired in 1986 and the renovation on the original home was completed in 1987 with heat, insulation, larger closets and an extra bath.

“We loved it,” said Florence. “My husband worked nights and my parents lived in Ohio. We spent three weekends up north and one weekend a month in Ohio. We had no car and no phone.”

Florence recalled the fence between their property and the camp, which stood about 6-7 feet and was of natural wood. The fence stood on the property line and was installed when the camp worried that boys would move in next door to the girls camp. “We could not see over the fence, but from our dock daughters Sharon and Denise learned to swim different strokes, kayak and canoe just from watching the instructors at camp!”

“There were five stations and two L-shaped docks with two rafts. Sharon and I would watch the girls with their instructors in the canoes or playing Marco Polo from our dock,” said Denise.

The Williams’ family could always hear the singing from the campers and counselors as they ate or sat around the campfire, but on rainy days songs could be heard with stomping feet and clapping hands with the children’s voices from the lodge. “We always enjoyed all the activities from our home and it was never too loud or annoying,” said Florence. “It always appeared to be a very well-run camp until the late seventies and it just wasn’t the same with the boys there.”

“The boys would come over from Camp Mahn-go-tah-see on a giant Viking ship, calling to the girls,” she laughed. “The counselors would act nonchalant, but they probably wished for them to leave.”

One day Denise was babysitting at her home and she spotted a huge albino skunk eating baby food out of a jar in the yard that had been left out. There had been reports that the same skunk had been spotted in camp by counselors and campers alike. Denise loved living next to Maqua, but she loved it more when they left and she could ride the horses up to Chapel Hill and walk around the property. “We knew every path like the back of our hands,” she said. “Mr. Watson, who took care of the property used to call us “My girl” and we called him “My man”.

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Families Who Felt Like Camp Was Theirs–Marilyn Watson

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

Marilyn, (daughter of Marney, granddaughter of William and Alma Watson) was eight or nine years old when her grandparents took over the care and maintenance of Maqua. “It was a super playground that we enjoyed at the end of summer in late August,” she said. “We used the canoes, rowboats, and swam out off the docks to the raft. We stayed in the lodge and the kids used the bunk beds in the bedrooms that faced the lake. Grandpa taught us to fish. He would throw down the anchor and we would fish Loon Lake. I have such fond childhood memories of all that.”

“We would ride in the old truck down the rutted roads with our grandfather and talk. He taught me to take the steep hills walking by taking three steps and inhaling and three steps and exhaling, so I wouldn’t run out of breath. While he was taking care of the buildings, we would help him move the mattresses and store them in two metal buildings, and take the garbage to Durham farm to feed to the pigs. The truck was a big old truck that was dark with old wood panels. He was really excited when he got a new truck. I think the sides rolled up on that old truck,” said Marilyn.

“We would do our own thing. If I was visiting, I would just tag along. I remember the homes all along the lakefront and when we got a motorboat, we would visit friends on the north end of the lake. There were loons on the lake and we were always aware of them.”

“My folks came down to stay with me in the winter, if they weren’t house sitting for people in Hale,” she said.

 

Families That Felt Camp Was Theirs–The Watson Family

Published on by Kathy Baker

INTERVIEW WITH STEWART WATSON

Stewart, Marney and Eleanor Watson felt like Camp Maqua was “Camp Watson” when the campers all went home for the summer.  “We stayed away in the summer, but when camp was closed, we could use all the buildings and property. Our main focus was the land between the lodge and Dutton,” said Stewart. “We had access to the rowboats for fishing and knew where to catch the pike. Many of the other buildings were in need of repair. We would roam the property, fish—even in winter with a shanty up, and one day I even shot a partridge from the porch on the west side, which wasn’t screened at that time. I had five kids within eleven years and my sister Eleanor had five and Marney had one, so we considered it our own camp.”

William and Alma, or “Ma and Pa Watson” moved to Hale from Bay City in the spring of 1952. William had saved all his dimes for a trip to California in 1951, and upon their return spotted the ad in the Bay City Times for caretakers for the camp. He had worked building P.T. boats in the shipyards as a finished carpenter for contractors and a “jack of all trades”—a perfect fit for whatever needed to be done at camp.

In the winter the Watsons lived mainly in the kitchen with a wood stove to keep them warm. During the camping season they lived in a twelve by twelve cabin past the infirmary. Stewart said you could see daylight through the slats of the cabin. The kids used to use the back two bedrooms on the east side, facing the lake, as their hunting cabin in the winter. “We were so cold! We would pile so many blankets on top of us that you could hardly see us,” he laughed. (The caretaker’s cabin or cook’s cabin is now located on the Gorman property.)

When the Watsons came to Maqua, the lodge was not level. It sagged so much that Mr. Watson jacked the entire building and strengthened the foundation. He was also responsible for the new road that came into the camp. The old road was on Putnam Road, but around the curve, and entrance was in the thickly wooded area on the right as you head to Long Lake. The original road followed the old railway tracks at the back of the property. Pa Watson planted White Pine trees along the new road coming into camp, and one of the same trees from those planting years still stands in the yard on Hillsdale Rd. where the Watson’s eventually built when the camp closed. Stewart and his wife Charlotte lived there for many years.

Stewart helped his father with the general maintenance at camp and around the summer of 1954 or 1955, Stewart built the Michigan fieldstone drinking fountain that still stands. He embedded three copper pennies in the top of the four-sided fountain, which stood for “Three Coins In The Fountain” after the movie of the same name, which was playing at the time of the construction.

Stewart graduated from Central High School in 1943, in the 12B session, which meant he had a January graduation. He recalled going back to school to get his report card and there was a session going on in the study room. “I followed the line that went in that door,” he said,” and they were taking a test. So, I sat down and took it, not knowing what it was for. I forgot about the test, and on August 8, 1943 I received a letter congratulating me for my 98/100 score. I had just been accepted into the USAF and it told me to report to Camp Custer. I had enlisted and did not even know it! Well, it was fine, since I had always wanted to fly. When I got out I went back to school on the G.I. Bill and had five years of college.”

“That last year I was in college there were four girls sitting at a table and we joined them. While I was sitting there, one of the girls introduced me to her friend that had just walked in the door. Charlotte and I have been married sixty two years.” (She has since passed away since this interview.)

Stewart had always gone to camps as a child. He and his two sisters attended Rainbow Lake Bible Camp near Stanton, Mich. Eventually, he would help start the Spring Hill Youth and Family Camp in Evart, which grew from 600-1,000 acres. He worked as President of the Board for five years and for eight years he was in charge of all the upkeep on the grounds. Having been involved in camps his whole life and as his father’s right hand man in his twenties, Stewart walked in the footsteps of his father until the camp closed.

His main career was with Dow Corning and Dow Chemical as an illustrator, creating all the audio visual aids, medical and patent drawings, including silicone breast implants, etc. Five years before he retired, he was “farmed out” to local artists, which was the beginning of the computer years. He retired in 1951.

What do you recall of the Watson family?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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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Mixing With Mahn-go-tah-see

Published on by Kathy Baker

Some years there was fraternization with the boys’ camp and other years there was no social activities between the two camps. Marge Hasty (1946) had memories of meeting the boys by sailboat in the middle of the lake to pass “sneaky mail”, and said many of the counselors had boyfriends across the lake and this is how they passed the mail to them.

Susan Ruterbusch (1947-52) had camped in Huts 3 and 10 and later in Dutton above the Infirmary, which had wonderful windows that overlooked the lake. “The girls would dance around by the lake outside that building and say–I wish the boys from the camp across the lake could see us, but it was all wishful thinking.”

Michele Butsch “Missy” (1969-76) said she and all her friends always wanted a social or a dance with the boys from camp, but it never happened while she was there, even though she had heard other years had done just that.  Karen Magidsohn recalled the older boys had mixers with the Maqua girls, but never any dances while she was there in the sixties.

Vague memories of a mixer at some point during Ruth Wiesen’s years (1957-59) triggered the joke that the girls always bet if the boys would even show up! When the boys were asked over, it was not always an ideal situation. Sue West (1975+) recalled director Carol Neiman getting into trouble for allowing the male staff to come to Maqua for an evening of fun with the counselors. Other years there were mixers for the counselors, which was considered a big deal, according to Susan Prieskorn (1966-72), and there were no consequences.

Cindy Knapp’s two brothers camped across the lake, so she had been there on Parents’ Day, but she laughed over a mixer with the boys one summer. “We tried to get all fancied up for the dance and they seemed pretty intimidated by us.”

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