Directors, Counselors, Staff

Confusions and Confessions–

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

“I was somewhat aware and in denial at the same time, while I was at camp and in those college years, of my sexuality,” admitted L.D, who was at camp in the late sixties. “I had a boyfriend, but wasn’t really all that interested in him. One of the other counselors eventually made me talk about it, but she did it in a nice way. I think they all knew at camp, but I waited several years before I came out.”

For some, like K.M., who was just a hugger during the same era, and had no confusion, it was the summer of awareness for her. “I loved that I could walk around camp with my arms wrapped around another girl or arms linked, appropriately, and no one cared. I could hold hands swinging and feel comfortable. I don’t remember ever having any girl crushes, but I do remember the summer there was a rumor about another girl liking another girl and I just never knew anything about those things. We just never talked about sexuality.”

One woman in the early sixties had applied for the job as a college student from an ad in the Bay City Times. Having passed her water safety instruction classes through the Red Cross, she felt she could write her own ticket for a summer job, knowing WSI instructors “were hard to come by”. Her degree was in physical education from a college in Illinois and she had been a counselor at a Girl Scout camp and a Pioneer Girls camp in the Poconos.

She felt her summer with her waterfront job was fine until the last day, when she alleged her director made sexual advances toward her. She was to help with the last day’s closing-up of Camp Maqua, but told her she refused to help her and if she said one word about it, she would report the incident to the Bay City “Y”. In a second interview, she felt she did the right thing not reporting, as she had not noticed the director had ever been inappropriate with the young girls.

“I didn’t know about lesbianism at that time. I probably should have reported her to the school system in Detroit, where she worked as a physical education teacher, but I never did. She was a cold, strict woman who you could not talk to. I was OK with my decision not to report her.”

She spent six weeks at Camp Maqua and then walked away, but as a professed introvert, she stated she had never been close to any of the other counselors. “The best part of that summer was working with the kids. I lived above the boathouse and would wander around and talk to different groups of kids. It was okay until the last day.”

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Gays And Girl Crushes—

Published on by Kathy Baker

K.W. knew there were crushes on counselors in the sixties and that many of the girls “would show you theirs if you showed them yours and they would giggle and dance around in their underwear, but it was a time when they didn’t talk about women liking women. My friend was a tomboy and there were many tomboys. We instinctively knew who they were and they were the ones we asked to climb the trees to get us things, just as we knew who the girly girls were. By the time I was in fifth grade, girls were popping boobs and getting their periods and we had our medical forms and our check ups and I’m pretty sure the camp nurse was a pretty important person.”

Alternately, J.B. was aware of the strong female friendships at camp, even during the co-ed years and realized looking back around 25% of the women might have been gay, which did not cause problems unless they broke up with each other. “It wasn’t a big deal and there was no sexual tension, but there were the tightest knit friendships made in the shortest amount of time at camp.”

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Not Out In The Open—

Published on by Kathy Baker

“I know there were girls at camp that had feelings for other girls and counselors, but it was a time that if you had those feeling, you kept them to yourselves. It is not so socially taboo anymore, but back then, you kept your feelings in check,” admitted A.C., from the late sixties and early seventies, who met her good friend at camp. She recalled staying up ridiculous hours talking to her friend in an intense and intimate way, admitting she was attracted to her as a friend.

D.R. had a crush on one of the counselors in the early seventies. “There was not a lot of talk about gay issues and I was a tomboy, but not gay. I wasn’t athletic or into sports, but until my brother came along, my Dad had me cutting the lawn and doing the sfuff with the dogs, etc. But, I can remember all the counselors were at a campfire and my three cabin mates went on a tangent trying to make me mad, saying things about (my crush). I defended her and then I started to cry and the counselors had to yell at them. I still don’t know why I did that.”

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Girls In A Girls Camp–

Published on by Kathy Baker

An all girls camp with female staff and female campers. Some may be inclined to think of it as a breeding ground for the type of stories that make headlines today. I found the opposite to be true, upon interviewing many women over the past few years, although many admitted to their own discovery of their sexuality or to innocent girl crushes.

Although the twenties hearalded a type of sexual revolution, the sixties marked an era that headlined such words as free love, gay rights, feminism, hippies, the pill and women’s movements. A large majority of the women who shared their stories were from the 60’s to 70’s.

M.J. began camping in 1933 and continued for eight years, aware that many of her counselors were indeed gay, “but I never had a problem with that, and just did not get mixed up with it.”

Certainly, girls like M.I., J.L. and G.J. were not the only ones who had girl crushes. It was the late forties and early fifties. Some were tomboys, but others shared sweet stories of having camp crushes on their instructors and counselors.

“There was a counselor I admired and I think that is why I wanted to be a C.I.T., so I could come back and hang out with her on the weekends when the kids were gone between sessions. I hated to leave her and I embarrassed to tell you, because you are the first person I have ever told, that I guess I had a girl crush on her. I was attracted to her. I hated for camp to end. I remember crying before my Mom would ever get to camp every year because I never wanted it to end.”

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Handling Cliques–

Published on by Kathy Baker

“The YWCA had always been about service and sending girls to camp,” said seventies staffer Karen Selby, who admitted her coming of age at Maqua included the fact she was the only African America girl at camp with the name Karen and the only African American staffer the camp had had.

“ I noticed there were two types that went to camp. Those who had rich summer friendships and returned summer after summer and those who were middle to upper class, whose parents could afford to send them. Some of the girls showed up with their stuff in grocery bags and may not have even had their own toothpaste. That is when I saw the other side. I never thought of myself as “having” until I came to Maqua. It was more of an understanding, for me, how there were kids raised in poverty and the service and love of the women who ran the camp. It was the beginning of a real understanding for me.”

Doris Engibous (1967-70) saw a similar side to the camp environment. “The independence and self confidence that came from being in a safe, caring, supportive, loving and challenging atmosphere was wonderful,” she said. “It was an adventuresome and athletic environment with generally good people who were really good to each other, especially the counselors. They were smart role models for the campers, who really admired them and wanted to be like them. I suppose there were some little cliques and some levels of hurtfulness that was natural, but it was “snuffed out”, because everyone was there to learn.”

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Cliques–

Published on by Kathy Baker

“You could tell there were cliques or groups, but it was never in a mean way. It was usually the Saginaw girls, the Bay City Girls, the Detroit girls—and they were usually in the same hut, so they just hung out together,” said Deb Wilkinson (1964-66).” I do remember the girls from the wealthier families were able to stay at camp later and I was always in awe of that. My Mom had worked in the same Italian restaurant and she worked to pay for our fees, and it was a lot of money back then.”

Tally Cone (1960-65) learned during her time that some girls were more malicious with their pranks. She also had a keen awareness of the dynamics of the girls and the cliques that were formed and broken. She recalled coming to camp with girls from her middle school that were popular. “They were not as cliquey at camp as they were at school. They thought they were “hot stuff” in junior high, but when they got to camp and found other girls shined in activities in camp that they did not excel, it was a different dynamic. And I found I liked some of the girls much better than I had liked them!”

Sister Laurie Cone (1962-68) had an outgoing personality, was talkative and made friends easily, but agreed there were a few cliques. “As a counselor you would try to break them up, but for the most part everyone got along well. Sue Kiltie and I were both from Birmingham, but we always told everyone we were from Detroit, because they thought we were rich bitches if we said Birmingham,’ she laughed. “By the end of two weeks all of those alliances would melt away and everyone would be sobbing.”

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