Off to Camp Maqua

Why Should I Go?

Published on by Kathy Baker

2014-09-15 10.32.20Who could have guessed a movie would have such impact on the camping industry, but “The Parent Trap” (released in 1961) starring Hayley Mills as a set of twins, was a preview of a sleep away camp for sixties campers Mary Grego, and sisters Cathy and Debbie Hawkins, who felt the movie prepared them for Camp Maqua in a happy, positive way.

For many of the girls, this camp was THE camp everyone had heard of and “the expected thing to do”, according to twenties camper Mary Jo Stegall. Even Anne Obey, camper and later a counselor in the sixties, felt like it was a tradition, especially for families who had relatives who had previously attended. “While some were being sent of to those rich uppity camps, we middle class folk went to Maqua.”

Carol Requadt (1945) did not have a best friend and although she was on the shy side, making new friends at camp never seemed to be an issue. “I felt like school was boring, the summers were boring and camp was an exciting place to be!”

Parents who wanted their girls to escape the city and broaden their horizons looked at camp as an ideal solution. Ilene Roger’s family wanted her out in the country for fresh air. Sisters Marge and Helen Hasty, whose father was the camp doctor in the forties, were from the small town of Whittemore, only miles up the road. They found the experience a way to “meet peers at a different level”.

Jan Mosier’s father was also a physician (Dr. Dwight Mosier-General Practitioner), who enlisted as a doctor during World War II, and was gone a good deal of the time. Her mother didn’t drive, but she wanted Jan to have the camp experiences, so she wisely signed her up for a stay at home camp in 1946, which led to her full camping days.

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I Was Talked Into Camp—

Published on by Kathy Baker

The list of mothers who sent their daughters to camp would be endless and incomplete, but for most of the daughters who believed the magic of their mother’s stories of their Maqua camp experiences, they were not disappointed by their summers. Well, let’s just add, most of them were not disappointed. There were a few who had stories of their dreaded days away from home.

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Sisters, friends and cousins were very influential in convincing and influencing, as seen by the rosters of relatives who attended year after year. Sisters from the Cone, Sherman Augustyniak, Carney, Kessler, and Wilkinson families were prime examples.

“I was twelve and my sister was a year younger than me, but everyone thought we were twins. It was fine that she went at the same time as I did, because we were in different cabins. We enjoyed going even though we had just been on vacation, mainly because it was the first time, aside from overnights at girlfriend’s houses, where we were away from our Mom. She was divorced and worked nights, and I knew camp fees had to be a lot for her, but honestly I think she was glad to get rid of us for a few weeks so she could get her work done,” admitted Deb Wilkinson with a laugh.

Sue and Chris Augustyniak camped in the sixties and were enticed to attend by separate girlfriends, who did not want to go alone, but ended up hanging out in each other’s cabins.

Judy (1946) was the middle child of the three Kessler girls, who included Mickie and Bonnie, and although their camping years overlapped and clothes were passed down, they were never at camp at the same time. Judy Sherman (1946) was a young six or seven, and was allowed to go because her sister was there.

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I Can’t Wait To Go!

Published on by Kathy Baker

10580522_10204600154392458_1994451140_nNot every young camper who packed off to camp loved the idea of time away from their parents, sharing a room with sometimes seven strangers and spiders, or eating food that was not cooked by Mom, but for the majority of girls those summers were the days that memories were made of.

Cara Prieskorn’s accounts of her years at Camp Maqua from 1966-71 (as a ten year old and oldest of five) included the fact she was so happy to get away from home. “I was around city kids for the first time”, said Cara, who was from the small town of Cass City. “I went the first time I could go and I had no idea what I was getting into. I used to go to the Maqua Jamborees at the “Y” and hated it, since I didn’t know anyone. They would sing, introduce the counselors who showed up and sometimes divide the girls up by age. Later when I knew more girls, it wasn’t so bad.”

Marsha Immerman was one of the little Bay City girls that attended “Stay-At-Home” camp and also hated it. “It was inside, it was boring and I had to go home at the end of each day”, she said. She had heard about Maqua and was excited by the idea of going away from home, but did not realize until much later in life how different home and camp life were until she experienced her years there from 1947-53.

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Here Comes The Happy Mail!

Published on by Kathy Baker

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What young girl does not like “happy mail” arriving in their mailbox? As a child, receiving anything in the mail was pure excitement, whether it was a letter from your grandparents, a postcard from a friend’s vacation, or a piece of mail announcing the next sessions for camp!

Two avenues of publicity were the main reason for excitement about a summer experience at Camp Maqua—the day camps or camp rallies and the brochures that arrived in the mailboxes each winter.

“I lived for camp”, said Jan Schreiber, who began in 1962 and camped until 1970. “In January when the Camp Maqua brochure would arrive, I would get so excited. December was always depressing, just waiting for it and then it would be so amazing because more mail would come in February. It organized my year, just receiving the camp mail.”

In the fifties a promotional schedule included a post card in October, news solicitation for the “Loon” camp newspaper, a booklet and summer registration form in December,( as well as a Christmas card), a copy of the “Loon” in January, reunion notice in March, reminder, medical cards, housing questionnaires and insurance forms in May and individual birthday cards during the year.

The publicity committee of the YWCA camp committee spent hours over photography, body copy and channels for dissemination of their folders, postcards or brochures. They contained happy photos of girls engaged in the activities, general information, separate lists of items to bring to camp and items available at the camp store, fees and rates and a form to send to apply for the four different sessions.

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Calling All Campers!

Published on by Kathy Baker

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Calling all eligible campers! Before the age of television, computers and cellphones, publicizing a camp was never a simple task. It was up to word of mouth of contented campers and the printed word.

The musty ledgers and minutes left behind in the Bay City YWCA accumulation of” all things Maqua” contained beautifully hand scripted paragraphs of the meetings held by the camp committees. Buried deep in the vaults of the building for years in boxes, were photos, and articles, untouched and unsorted, waiting to be unearthed and compiled from their loose and glued state in crumbling scrapbooks.

As early as 1932, these penned and typed details were the only remains of how often the committee met and who was present to plan the upcoming season for the girls of Camp Maqua.

Publicity was vitally important to the success of each summer, not only to fill the sessions, but also to hire new staff and publicize the events and happenings at camp. Pages in the scrapbooks were filled with many undated articles from several Bay City newspapers, left for guessing as to the year of publication.

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