Camping Life

Funny Stories–

Published on by Kathy Baker

What is it about peeing and stories about peeing that can bring girls to hysterics? One of the funniest things Sandy Indianer (1967) learned at camp that stayed with her forever was to learn to pee outside in the woods. She was not alone, as many campers felt like that was an important fear to surmount—peeing outside.

“My cousine Ann reminded me the other day that we would stick our butts out the cabin window and “wee-wee”,” said Helen Johnson (1968-64). “Now, let me explain. I did and still do today wet my pants when I laugh. So, I am SURE it was out of necessity—maybe. My Mom used to gauge how good of a time I had at camp by the amount of times I wet my pants. My good friends knew about my tiny bladder, but others could sometimes be mean.”

Pat O’Tool (1944-52) could still recall the canoe trip with Pat Parsons from Grayling. “We took a photo of her peeing, and from then on we called her P.P. Parsons,” said Pat, who still has the photo.

“My biggest memory is of three red-headed sisters with the last name of Cherry. They were all a few years apart, maybe eleven to fourteen, and they were always running back and forth from their cabins to the bathroom naked,” laughed Liz Anderson (1973-74).

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Journey Of A Camper On Drugs

Published on by Kathy Baker

D had fond memories of her seven summers as a camper at Maqua in the mid-60’s. After the first few years, she would stay for all four sessions. Her last summer at camp was spent as a kitchen aid in the early 70’s. She described herself as mischievous back then, but she got along with everyone. She still had friends who were campers and could not wait to return the following year.

“For some reason, the new director took an instant dislike to me. I do not know if it was my personality or something else she had heard. During a break between sessions, ten of us went back to M’s cabin where we all smoked marijuana, some for the first time. I’d tried marijuana previously and even had some at camp with me, but never smoked it in camp.”

“When I applied to be a junior counselor for the following season, the director denied me. I was devastated. I adored going there. I had the best childhood and Maqua was a big part of it. The relationships were so great and even the staff didn’t snub us as kids. I loved that we were doing stuff all the time. I had wonderful relationships with Dorthe and Beanie and others, and stayed in touch with many of them. Those relationships were a uniting force.”

“Maqua was life transforming for me. It was like a little dream come true. Going to the reunion in 2012 was very healing for me. I realized then what a loss I’d been carrying around all these years. I had assumed I would be coming back as a junior counselor after the summer as a kitchen aid. When I was denied, I felt like my arm had been chopped off. We all had so much in common and it wasn’t anything to do with our parents being friends or our friendships back home. It was about the special camp relationships.”

“The denial of the junior counselor position coincided with the beginning of twenty-five years of active addiction. By the age of fifteen, besides marijuana, I had already experimented with many different types of drugs. When I told some of the staff at the reunion, they told me they wished they’d known, so they could have helped. But, no one could have helped at that time.”

“Despite my addiction, I was always a good student. After receiving my Bachelor’s degree, I moved to California and tutored math at a community college for a while. Ultimately, I went to law school in California, still heavily into drugs, but I took the bar exam and passed it. I got high right after my swearing in.”

“Staying in school seemed like the easiest course since my parents were willing to continue paying for everything. I did use my law degree and ran a clinic for substance-abusing women, and also worked for the local Family Court restraining order clinic. I won awards for my pro bono work. I was telling myself I was a functioning addict until one day I realized I’d made an oversight in a situation that could have affected someone else’s life. So, I stopped practicing. My fallback was to return to school again for my Masters in Public Interest Law.”

“In the early 90’s, my father passed away. Because my Mom and I were so close, I moved back to Michigan. I was struggling, so I entered into grief therapy, which ultimately turned into substance abuse therapy. Eventually, I went to inpatient treatment at Hazelden and got clean. Now I am doing what I always wanted to do.”

“I have my masters in social work, work as a substance abuse therapist and most importantly, I’m in recovery. I just celebrated twenty years clean. Looking back over those twenty-five years of active addiction, there were many difficult times. I spent time in jail and came close to death several times. Basically, my life at that time was about using.”

“The trajectory of my life has been unusual, but I feel that I somehow landed on my feet. I believe I am more whole as a person and I understand that life is about relationships. It came full circle at the reunion and I realized the friendships I developed while at Maqua truly helped to shape my life.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camp Clothes–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Like many of the Moms who sent their daughters off to camp, the little labels were sewn into Jeri Smith’s camp wardrobe in the sixties. The list for camp would arrive in the mail to check off the activites and articles of clothing plus items needed for the two-week sessions. Of course, there was always the excitement of checking the boxes next to the ones she loved. In addition, there was the yearly physical, so that she was up to date on her shots.

“I remember my Mother marking every piece of clothing by sewing in little labels,” said Karen Short (1945-48) who added there were now marking pens for the same thing.

Randi Wynne-Parry”s Mom would shop with her for special camp clothes (1969-73)– then the labels went inside. Rosemary Orgren (1956-58) only recalled labels inside her “undies”.

“My Mom would always get me some clothes for camp, so I could last two weeks without washing them. I recall sitting in my bedroom writing my names on all the tags on my shirts, shorts, swimsuits,” said Lindy White (1970-73). “I used a light blue trunk to pack all my clothes and set it at the end of my bed in my cabin. There was a tray in my trunk that I would keep all the miscellaneous stuff, including stationary to write home.”

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Smoking–

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

Helen Hasty recalled the clouds of smoke that billowed around the big tent behind the lodge in the early forties.

(“Smoke virtually rolled out of the couselors’ smoking tent!”) Some years smoking was no big deal and other years, the directors warned the counselors about smoking on the premises.

Lucille Greenwald (1947-50) had the same memory of the counselors sleeping in the tent behind the lodge and the girls were never allowed to go back there. “We would see some of them with bandaid boxes in their pockets, which had cigarettes in them and we thought it was terribly risqué.”

“I do remember the counselors had a tent behind the screened porch at the back of the lodge, where they would smoke their cigarettes and talk about the “ugly” (uncooperative) campers,” said Geraldine Folkert (1942-47), who learned to smoke at camp at the age of sixteen and became a social smoker.

Carla Schweinsberg (1945-52) was relieved not to be part of the round-up of naughty girls who got caught smoking in the bushes. Anne Obey believed the walks she took to smoke cigarettes was the most scandalous thing she did in the sixties, but admitted she never wanted to disappoint her director and they never smoked on canoe trips.

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Bra Or No Bra?

Published on by Kathy Baker

Every girl probably remembers the first time they had to change in front of someone other than a sister, step into a communal shower after a gym class, shop for their first bra, or the shock that someone could be the same age as flat-chested you and have the hugest breasts you had ever seen!

“I had never spent the night at anyone’s house. I knew no one,” said Geraldine Padgett (1954-56). “I had no friends at camp and the other girls were not from my area. One of the biggest things for me was changing clothes in front of girls! In those times, you didn’t even lounge in your pajamas and we showered alone. I had never dressed in front of people and I was very modest.”

“I do remember, just as my friends did, that we all wanted to be around when one girl was putting on her bra. Her boobs would fall into the cups and then she would just snap it on and pull up the straps. We had never been around girls who were not modest. I think we bothered her “laughed Dorothy Niedzielski (1946-47).

Pat Kula said the memory of her early forties bra story at camp still brings howls of laughter to her bunkmates that witnessed the same act of the girl with the biggest boobs stepping into her bra from the floor. There was not much room for privacy for the girl who was cups ahead of her flat-chested roommates!

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More Firsts—

Published on by Kathy Baker

“I can still see that L-shaped dock,” said Karen Magidsohn (1965+).” We would take baths down at the lake, but we would also sit on the dock and shave our legs. I can remember the older girls were shaving their legs and it was a peer thing, so I thought I should. On the way home from camp that summer, my aunt who was only ten years older than me, was sitting next to me in the car and asked if I had shaved my legs. So, I had to tell my Mom.”

More than one girl shaved her legs in the “water fountain/Bradley Basin”. According to Missy Plambeck (68-78), it was the perfect place to do it, although other girls like Pat Rehmus (1962-65) thought it was odd.

Judy Engibous (1973-75) shaved hers for the first time at camp. “My Mom was a control freak and insisted I bring Nair to camp, but the sheer practicality of shaving far out-weighed waiting for some cream to work, so I shaved!”

And then there was hair and makeup. Kerry Weber (1968-70) recalled a little girl named Jane, who came to camp with makeup and was probably only in the fifth or sixth grade. “I can still see her with this bright purple lipstick. I know she figured her parents weren’t around to see her experimenting with it.”

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