Directors, Counselors, Staff

Waterfront Scares

Published on by Kathy Baker

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There are no statistics or mentions anywhere in the archives of any deaths or drownings associated with the camp. The director selected her water safety instructors, boating instructors and directors for the waterfront with a careful eye on experience and maturity. But, incidents happen and that was where drills and safety procedures came into play at camp. Weather was one factor that could change procedures in an instant.

One night Margot Homburger (1946-48) took the canoe out with a friend and the water got choppy, (Although she was never a great swimmer, she had achieved the level needed to canoe.) “I think we were thirteen or fourteen. We could not paddle back, so we left the canoes, took the paddles with us and hiked back. Believe me, there was a welcoming committee for us when we got back,” she laughed. “The next day we went back without the counselor and paddles to get the canoes and ended up paddling all the way back with our hands!”

Janet Gehres, the camp nurse in 1961, had a similar experience. “One of the gals who worked in the camp took me out on a sailboat and we had a nice time until the wind died down. Then we had to paddle back.”

“I think I had to have a blue cap to canoe, so I decided to take a rowboat out. Everyone on the shore was in sheer panic when they realized I could not get back. I kept rowing in circles and someone finally had to come get me,” said fifties camper Jan Bateson.

Ann Carney (1968-72) had an unsettling incident on the lake one summer. “The winds came up on a perfectly beautiful day. It was scary, since all the canoes were on the lake and the girls were scattered all over. I can’t remember how we got them all back, but I think the girls all went to different shores and different families took them in and called from the homes around the lake. I think Dorthe and Mert went to pick them up. Linda Doering was supposed to be on the waterfront and I think she was sailing and it was one of those dicey situations that was very serious and a huge lesson. It made such an impact on me. I got it.”

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Sail, Sail Away–

Published on by Kathy Baker

IMG_0014The camp was desperate to find someone to take over the canoeing and sailing in the mid-fifties, so sisters Nancy, Judy and Pat O’Tool took over the job. “The three of us took the sailboat called “Snipe” out on the lake and instead of laying on its side, it would totally capsize. Over and over and over it rolled,” said Pat. “It pitched Judy into the water. We had a heck of a time righting it and getting back to shore!”

“I always thought sailing was so cool,”said Holly Foss (1966-72), “ but not many people advanced to that level. It was such a joy to be on that sailboat. It had two sails and it was very challenging, but we had to tip it over and right it for our Red Cross certification.”

Mary Lou Goggin (1950-61) was not old enough to sail when she arrived, but learned some skills as a C.I.T. There were no instructors for sailing, so during her free time at lunch, she had her friends help her assemble the smaller sailboat, so she could take it out on Loon Lake. Camp and sailing influenced her and to this day she sails on San Francisco Bay and has boated to Mexico on a trip of a lifetime.

Dorthe Balaskas, director, gave permission in 1964 for her sailboat to be used at camp, but according to Cara Prieskorn (1966-71), “–the coolest thing was the Kiltie sisters, who brought up their own sailboat to camp”. Despite the fact there never seemed to be enough wind and the rigging was difficult to hoist, Cara was both envious and looked up to the girls who were a few years older.

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Row, Row, Row Your Boat–

Published on by Kathy Baker

fullsizerender-14Going to camp gave many young girls the chance to attempt boating activities they would have not given a thought to at home. Boating was one of those exciting choices that gave the girls new skills and confidence in themselves, and it also gave way to adventures on the lake and rivers surrounding the area.

There was a level of swimming proficiency that had to be met before the young girls could climb into the rowboats and tests to pass before they could sail or canoe.

A caption under a photo of canoes on Loon Lake, featuring Ann Gunn as the instructor, appeared on August 11, 1957 in the Bay City Times and read: “ Canoeing is a popular sport engaged in by many women, both for short periods on inland lakes, as well as for overnight tirps down the AuSable River.”

Pat Rehmus (1962-65) had been swimming since she was four at the Bay City Country Club with her family. The first summer at camp, she and a friend had to take a swim test in order to get into the canoes. “We were keen to get those canoes out. For some reason, we were not good enough,” said Pat.

But, the girls improved and they knew they had one last opportunity to run and launch that canoe, so they ran to shore and took off in the canoe, amidst yelling from the counselors to get back to shore.

“We were paddling away with that taste of freedom after working so hard to pass the test. The next year we took lessons to paddle properly, but you know at eight, we just ignored authority,” she laughed.

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Just Add Water!

Published on by Kathy Baker

Maqua scnas_Aug73_35-2 Docks, floats, rafts and boathouse took on many shapes and forms to create swimming and boating areas on Loon Lake over the course of fifty-four years at Camp Maqua. Floats were made with drums fitted to them (donated by Imperial Oil) in 1933, according to notes in a ledger book

“Removed front half of the platform (ruined by lake ice) and moved it up to shore”, read committee notes in 1951 from the YWCA. A new raft was also built, 100 ft. of permanent dock was installed and six new rowboats, several paddles, a new job for the Snipe and new buoys completed the list of boathouse needs.

In other years, supports were added to the boathouse and pavilion that once graced the formidable structure. A wall of piles at the end of the pavilion served as a protection against the ice moving the supports during the cold winters.

In the early years there were boat competitions, according to Meg Dahlem (1925), where the winner received the Bracken Fern Award. Rowboats, sailboats, and canoes turned into parade floats. In the later years, kayaks were added to the boating fleet, and water skiing was taught.

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Taking The Plunge in Cold Water!

Published on by Kathy Baker

fullsizerender-13“I learned to swim at camp,” said Carol Requadt (1945), “and although I would hover in the background at the lake, there was a day I will never forget. I wasn’t getting what I needed as far as swimming instruction because I was shy. It was a cold day and the waterfront instructor was in the cold lake shivering, but she taught me everything. I earned my blue cap and could swim to the blue raft. I think I was the smallest one out there and I had a fear of the “blood suckers”, so that was my incentive to swim and not put my feet on the bottom of the lake. Swimming was everthing to me and that was the most wonderful day to me—the day I learned to swim in that cold water. I will never forget it. In fact, I swim to this day and it has been a life long passion.”

The leeches were a fear for a huge majority of the campers, but we will get to that at a later time. Swimming was traumatic for many of the girls for other reasons. Anne Duffield had a much gentler swimming experience in 1947 at camp, after a woman had tied a rope around her waist at the age of six and threw her into deep water.

Layla Rose Hennes was always an apprehensive swimmer. As a camper in 1939, she finally learned at camp, but never learned to love the water. Marge Niedzelski (1946-47) felt as though, (compared to her sister), she was not a good swimmer, but advanced far enough to use the canoes. Audrey Graff (1948) was excited at how long she could tread water and progressed to lifesaving.

Girls who hated to put their faces in the water or get their hair wet, like Kerry Weber, finally learned to swim in 1952 at camp. Janice Moore (1953) was just thrilled to place third in a sidestroke race.

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On The Waterfront

Published on by Kathy Baker

img_6934What is camp without a lake, swimming, and boating instruction and fun? Wet towels, sand in bathing suits, leeches on limbs and tests to determine swimming and boating abilities were part of the waterfront rites of passage. But, prior to any waterfront activites, there was work to be done at pre-camp to set up the area for all the water action.

Nancy Sautter was the waterfront director in 1969 and left wonderful notes in her report that illustrated perfectly what she and her staff had to do to prepare for camp, which began with the previous year’s inventory, which helped to locate the equipment.

“Our family had a cottage on a lake near Horton when we were growing up and that is how I learned to swim. I also took swim lessons at camp and lifesaving at a YMCA in Jackson, where I earned my water safety instructors certification. I was strictly on the waterfront at Maqua,” said Nancy. “Once I was down there I couldn’t leave while I had kids there. The cabin counselors would bring them to us and you did not leave until lunch and then everything had to be locked up.”

“On the first nice day, the buoy lines should be run,” she wrote, along with instructions for stringing the red and white “lemons”. She would re-whip the unraveled ends of nylon rope by melting the ends over a candle, while spacing them and anchoring them.

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