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Camp Honed Responsibility–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Confidence, self-esteem, fearlessness, self-sufficient, and nurtured were other common words that campers and staff used to describe their experiences found at Maqua.

Karen Selby, seventies camper and staffer said,” As a camper, I tried everything I could not do in Bay City. I rode a horse. I learned how to shoot a bow and arrow. I learned how to orient out of a city and learned things I could not have learned in a city, which allowed me to travel later. I was so thankful for those experiences.”

“One of the best things about camp was it gave me self-respect. I was so timid”, admitted Bonnie Kessler (1947). “ People at camp accepted me and liked me and it was a boost to my ego. It changed me from being so introverted to a confident girl.”

World events did not register with this ten to twelve-year-old in the seventies and if something happened, she was unaware, but felt she only had positive memories of Camp Maqua and especially with that many women in one place! “If there is a story to contribute from my first summer there, it would be that I found my own friends, even with older sister Doris there,” mused Judy Engibous,” and I made my own way and became comfortable with my nerd role.”

The waterfront activities, the exposure to new people and interests, coupled with the mentoring of the older counselors helped Marge Hasty (1946) to develop new confidence. When she graduated from college, she and her sister took off in a convertible and became counselors at a camp in Minnesota for the summer.

“I first realized when I chose education and counseling as a career that Maqua had shaped my life. I actually really could teach, because as a junior counselor I had taught arts and crafts. I taught art in Missouri and loved it. My pathway was figured out at a pretty young age,” admitted Kathy Carney, who camped in the early seventies..

“This was the first place I connected with other women who were strong role models. It was the first place I experienced my power with other confident, intelligent, self-sufficient women who were great mentors and nurtured us as young girls in the sixties”, said Anne Moore, whose career took her down a holistic nutrition path. She is shown in the upper photo on the right with campers Marsha Immerman on left and Pat Purcell in the middle at the lodge on a meet-up.

“I don’t like to say I’m a feminist, but the typical housewife role was out the window during those days. My experiences gave me an understanding of women born around the time fifteen years before when you were the Mom, had babies and didn’t work. Camp helped me to realize women could exist independent of men and did a good job! We had good mentors. It was the first time I ever tied a bowline,” laughed Sally Allen (1968-73).

“I have a strong personality”, admitted Anne Obey, who felt like the atmosphere at camp allowed her to become competent and confident, “but I made great friendships there. I slept and lived camp. Not one day was I ever homesick and it was 100% easier to go to college because of the independence I learned at camp. I grew up socially and emotionally at Camp Maqua(1960-70). It was a camp that honed responsibility, leadership skills, and family values. The commitment I had as a camper and a staffer was a perfect lead into my education career.”

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Camp As An Opportunity To Grow–

Published on by Kathy Baker

There were many life-shaping stories from the girls of Camp Maqua, from learning manners, to working as a team, to earning their first paycheck or developing confidence. Others were influenced to go to single-sex colleges based on the close friendships made while at camp.

Amy Johns’ (shown above at a Maqua reunion), (1967-78) constant family moves left her with very little camp memorabilia, but she has a few photos, award ribbons, and memories. “I was the baby of the family and definitely a crybaby and a drama queen. I could turn on the tears and get what I want. But, Camp Maqua made me resilient and independent. It was a safe place to grow up and make friends and get away from the chaos at home. To this day my favorite bird is the Loon.”

As a self-professed people person, Tracy Topping (1962-63) babysat to make money when she was younger and taught special education as a profession. “The kids loved me and I loved them because I was the fun teacher who taught them how to make those lanyards and sing the camp songs.”

“They were the best years of my life. I grew as a person. I took risks in a supportive atmosphere and I developed as a young girl. The counselors were supportive and it came from the top down. It was the first time in my life I worked as a team, cleaning up, trying to pass inspections and even doing dishes together. I felt a part of a valued experience. I learned things I used for the rest of my life and no one was too good to be left out. It was a smorgasbord of opportunities, surrounded by friends, love, and laughter. I will remember Maqua for the rest of my life.”

“I loved having the experience of making my own decisions and learning responsibilities,” said forties camper Mary Jane Keschman. “I learned how to four- corner my bed, and many table manners. To this day, when I have a piece of bread, I remember to break it into four pieces, instead of eating the whole piece as I did at home. It helped my independence to be away and learn to do laundry. When I went away to college, I was all set”, said Mary Jane.“I think about camp a lot. I will meditate to relax and I envision camp memories and create a movie in my head to relax. Camp is still with me.”

“For me, the summers formed friendships which grew and developed, “ said Barb Rehmus, shown on the right of the photo,(1965-76). “I also learned to let go, because it was such a short summer that the girls would gather together and them you knew some would not come back. I also learned a sense of fun. We learned a sense of responsibility having to clean our cabins as campers and later knowing I had to be responsible for kids and classes and to take care of them. It helped develop me as a person, give me new skill sets I would have never learned at home. It also developed my confidence. It helped me enjoy the outdoors, which we still do with our RV.”

“Maqua was a huge part of my life”, said Laurie Cullen who felt like it was the “hey-day” of camping in the sixties and seventies. “My friendships were fabulous, we had so much fun and the mentoring experiences there formulated my decisions for college. It was just a wholesome, happy, fun camp!”

Susan Purdue, known, as “Super-Do”, was her influence to attend college in Colorado, which was a single-sex college. While there, she convinced friends to come back to Michigan to camp at Maqua.“These girls were from Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri and all over”, said Sue. “ The balance of women from out of state was disproportionate one of the years I was there. And there was a gay dynamic, a Jewish dynamic—it wasn’t just girls from Bay City. It was the sixties and it was interesting.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camp Formed Character–

Published on by Kathy Baker

The word independence was mentioned more than any other word when talking to the women who camped and counseled at Maqua. (Besides the word happy.)  Forties camper Kay Alcorn, along with many other women, was saddened by the closure of the camp, hoping that their children and grandchildren could have camped at a place that promoted their independence.

“I learned independence and it was the first time I cared for myself and the first time I made my own way,” said Susie Utter, who camped in the fifties. “Even the songs were special. My cousin Polly Vliet died of pancreatic cancer and I helped nurse her during her last days. The first thing she wanted me to do when I came to her was to sing those Maqua songs—-“High On Chapel Hill” and “Sail, Sail Wishing Boat”.

“I loved the people and very few went away at that age, but it was an exciting part of my growing up. It made me more independent.,” said Barb Krohn (1970-72). “My sisters and I all went to prep school before college, and it was a natural transition. It was a privilege to go, but when you were young, you took it for granted. It was a natural part of my summers, and my parents must have known since both went. Even my husband went to camp, so we sent our daughter off at eight she loved it, too.”

“ I think going to camp is an untapped asset for children who do not go, “ said Doris Engibous (9167-70). ”It is a gift to be able to go away. It is another level of independence. My parents expected us to go to college, and I got my degree in Chemical Engineering, which was pretty unusual for girls back then, but my parents had already established that independence by sending us to camp.”

Michele Butsch went to Stevens College, which was all women, Her parents had also gone to camp, as did her children. “When I was in high school, I was not a leader, but I formed strong relationships at camp and college and became a leader in college. I was President of my sorority,” said Michele, who is married with three children and a director of PDP. (Prescription Drug Plan.)

Fifties camper Katie Harris said,” The leadership and character building were lasting. You did it all by yourself. You survived and became independent. I told my kids and grandchildren it was the greatest experience of my growing up years. It was great being on my own, and I’m sure I missed my parents a little, but I loved being with other girls, becoming responsible and the whole gamut. I am a nature person. It is the crux of me. I loved it.”(She told her grandchildren to go to real camp camps, ones with rafts to dive off and not the camps for single interests.)

“I loved being outdoors. Even when I came home from camp, I would build my fort in the woods out of sticks and branches. It would be a place I could go where no one bothered me. Years later, my son, who became an Eagle Scout, told me he had built a fort in the woods. It was my fort he had fixed! “said sixties camper Cindy Rose.“I think camp made me very independent. I can travel and associate with anyone and anybody. It gave me freedom. I don’t have to be part of a group, even though I like to. I taught young children arts and crafts, gymnastics and baton as a community education teacher when I was fifteen. Camp was one of my influences.”

“The lodge was always the spiritual heart of the camp and the experience of having a sense of family and being close and all inclusive was wonderful,” said Maureen Moore (1968-70), who is a nurse at McLaren.” I have the personality of loving everybody and my Mom wasn’t like that. Camp heightened my compassion, made me try new things and believe that anything was possible. I was never a joiner, but I became very independent and the experience appealed to my sensibilities. I always wanted a big family and one that was non-judgemental.”

Three girls from different times, Cathy Hawkins (1962), Kathleen Dworman (1966) and Carol Requadt (1945), all expressed their influence of independence, self-reliance and the ability to make choices. Cathy still dreams of driving up the road to camp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camp As A Role Model–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Melissa Plambeck’s camp experiences in the seventies influenced her entire life. Her husband attended camp, so when they met they knew the same songs. When her children came along, she wanted them to enjoy the same experiences she loved at camp, so she and her husband worked for a camp and their kids went to Camp Daggett. All three ended up as counselors and one worked as an assistant director for another camp. The family sometimes rented cottages on lakes and one child even requested “Hobo Dinners” for her birthday one year! The family still canoes to this day.

“It was a good thing—camp. I was never afraid to go places by myself, to travel alone and meet new people. Living with eight to ten girls I didn’t know, well—I made it work and I learned to appreciate different people and different personalities. It broadened my perspective, even for people I did not like.”

“I think Maqua contributed to my character,” said sixties camper Laurie Cone, pictured with her husband.  “It demonstrated friendships, loyalty, and camaraderie. You can view the results just from the Camp Maqua Alumni site. They were treasured times. I cannot tell you how many times I have had moments where I remembered my camping experiences. It was rustic, not fancy. We took baths and shaved our legs at the lake. We skinny-dipped. It was a simple place but had a whole range of activities from crafts to nature classes. Why we learned to dissect a frog there long before I ever did in Biology class!”

“My husband and son both hated camp and I wanted them to have the same kinds of experiences I had, but they did not,” said Laurie sadly.  Laurie just retired from her career as co-owner and former President of the Board of Directors of Mapleview Consultation Center in Michigan.

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Camp As A Courage Builder–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Meeting new friends from diverse states and countries, other religions, different ethnicities plus the great canoe trips and hanging with staff members helped Sarah Smith’s (1968-70) independent formation. Sarah is the development director for the Center for Women and Families in  Connecticut and works with domestic assault and crisis cases.

“For me camp gave me a wonderful sense of independence, just being part of a group and being able to express myself as a person,” said forties camper Suzanne Ruterbusch. “Many kids never got that chance and working there was just an extension of that independence. I have always been a huge lover of being in the woods. My first husband and I built a cabin in the woods in Grayling on the AuSable and before that, we took the kids camping in a trailer. I always felt closest to God when I was in the woods and it started at Maqua.”

The independence she gained at camp was the direct result of her days at Maqua (and other camps later), which gave Andrea Gale, pictured left, (1970+) the confidence to travel by herself. “My stepfather ended up working in Saudi Arabia and I went to a boarding school in northern California. I flew there by myself for three weeks, traveling for two days to get there with no fear. Later I went on trips by myself just to explore. Camp gave me the courage to do things in life.”

Kerry Weber also traveled post camping years in the fifties. “I think it was easy for me to go off to college. Attending camp at an early age allowed me to become very independent. I traveled to Europe at aged sixteen and six of us from Bay City also went to Finland and met up in Amsterdam. I summered one year with a family in Virginia, and I attended Sweetbriar Women’s College there.  I truly loved going to Camp Maqua.”

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Camp Developed Independence–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Independence—we all long for that feeling that we can do it on our own. Camp was the perfect place to try out new activities, learn new skills, and to leave home and enter a safe, nurturing environment.

“I wasn’t a girlie girl,” said seventies camper Helen McLogan,” and I was a rule-follower. I think going to camp made me much more independent. I was afraid to go at first and was unwilling to branch out of my comfortable world, but I have a strong memory of loving to master the skills and levels at camp. And when I worked in the kitchen, it was good for me. I think I was hysterical at the closing ceremony that first summer, even though I had not wanted to go to camp. Two weeks up there was just perfect for me.”

“I think Camp Maqua was a classic camp and the responsibilities helped build my character. When I send my kids to camp, I want them to go to the kind without air conditioning, with mosquitoes, and I want them to enjoy rustic camping. There was a very different tone to the camp when the boys were there. I was a little sentimental about just having all girls.”

 Mary Beth Morton (1974-75) was off to General Motors Institute when she graduated. “I paid my own way and I was very independent. That experience at camp, I would have to say, helped me to become myself. At home, I just did not make waves, but I was biding my time. Somehow I had the insight to know I did not have to live like that. I became an engineer in the auto industry, which gave me a lot of security. Camp taught me that I was accepted and well regarded. It was an eye-opening time and it allowed me to become more confident.”

For fifties girl Jan Bateson (pictured above at the 2016 reunion with Marsha Immerman), camp gave her a sense of leaving home, but able to return with virtually nothing changed. “I found independence, bravery, and courage. It definitely influenced me. It reinforced my love of being outside with space to roam. To not know anybody at camp and to be okay, to be connected to other girls from other groups and different places after coming from the mostly Polish-German town of Salzburg was wonderful. I had never had a conversation with so many girls!”

Her love of camp also influenced her family and life. Jan’s family camped and canoed in Canada, she ran a Girl Scout troop, sent her daughters to Girl Scout camp, as well as becoming involved with kids in crisis in another camp.

“The whole experience solidified my values, “ said Nancy Neumyer (1975-78)- “I was a person of great faith and I place great value on family and children. It helped me to become a better Mom. I loved being surrounded by like-minded girls, which reinforced my values. It gave me a sense of independence. I enjoyed that time and was not easily homesick. I did have a summer with my sister there, but she was in a neighboring cabin, and there were always returnees. It was such a welcoming and nurturing place. It was a way for me to have something of my own since I was one of nine kids. I didn’t have to compete and the experience allowed me to be me. I was never jealous or competitive. There is a joke in my family that I raised myself.”

“I think camp helped me become more independent, “ said Debbie Hawkins, who camped in the sixties. “It was the first time away without my parents, except for nights at friend’s homes. I realized I could live by myself without my parents, and at that time it was a long time for a young person to be away. I just remember the deepness of the friendships I made at camp. I also remember my counselors Beanie and Frenchie. Beanie was funny as all get out.”

Sue West, back row in the middle, is seen below with her siblings at a family reunion in Maqua last summer and was a  counselor in Primitive camping. Her brother Bill West (second from left) owns the home directly to the right of the campfire pit. She was the second youngest of eight kids and started at Camp Maqua in 1975. Her Mom had died two years earlier and she had gone to live with some of her siblings at aged seventeen. “Camp impacted my character. It made me stronger, more independent. I was always amazed that I got the job. I always knew I wanted to be a Home Ec. teacher because I loved working with kids. I knew it from this experience. I grew up camping and would summer in Canada with cousins and with five kids between my husband and me–we have camped, backpacked and hiked because we love the outdoors.”