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Camp’s Positive Influence–

Published on by Kathy Baker

There was no one who came away from Camp Maqua without some experience that affected them in a positive or negative way. From the sights and smells, to the activities chosen, or the staff that modeled behaviors, or the friendships made, the girls chose careers, hobbies,  and even decorated their homes in terms of their respective influences.

“When I look back at my camping times, I can still smell that cabin smell at Camp Maqua and I liked the odor,” said fifties camper Barb Hale,  and she was not alone. The smell of the bare wood in the huts and lodge were so fragrant to Bev Lemanski (1945), that she built a cedar screened porch on to her house to bring back the smell, and the white Coral Bell flower continues to grow in her garden as a reminder of camp.

“I always loved the out-of-doors, even before camp,” said Barb Cruey (1956). “When it was raining, I loved it even more. When I walk around our 325 acres up north, I can still smell the ferns that remind me of Maqua. Camp definitely affected me. I have two children and three grandchildren and I taught them all to swim and both my children went to camp, although I don’t think they enjoyed it as much as I, despite having some of the same experiences.”

Forties to fifties girl Marsha Immerman’s love affair with Camp Maqua and her experiences with horseback riding led her on a life-long passion with riding, art that depicted many parts of her camping experience and she often selected her dwellings based on a “lodgey” look.

“I am who I am today because of my love of the outdoors, horses and water. The fact that every one of my homes after I got married had to have a screened in porch, where I could sleep or listen to the rain is an indication of how much Camp Maqua influenced me. Even when my kids were little and we camped, it could be eleven o’clock at night and if our tent wasn’t going to be pitched by a body of water, I would make my husband drive to find some. I had to be camping beside water.”

Marsha also sent her two girls to camp in Colorado, but only one liked the experience.  (They do remember the songs she used to sing to them from camp from her little MG until they would tell her to shut up:)

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The Falvey Sisters/Camp Influence

Published on by Kathy Baker

“My own personal growth was tied to camp”, said Amy (1969-78). “Part of the beauty of an all-girls camp with women as counselors and directors was that girl power feminist thing. Our staff were like goddesses. We had no men telling us what to do. There was a ton of personal growth that was totally invaluable, because we desired to be like the counselors. We watched women who represented success and they were inspirational. They talked about what they were going to do with their lives and they were doing whatever they wanted. Being in that safe environment while still being able to explore out of our comfort zone was wonderful.”

“I think about how much positive energy there was with all the awards, working with our cabins as a unit, taking care of our belongings and working with other girls to win the Honor Cabin banner. I tell you no one could be lazy or the other type A’s would drag you up to take part in the cleanup. It was team building! Even playing capture the flag with the entire camp outside divided up into two groups was team building. Hiding the bandanas and then being told not to run to locate it, as we were busy racing all over camp, was one of my favorite evenings.”

Basically camp was “Nirvana” for Amy because the days were busy. “It was like going home. It was our summer home. When the “Y” had their spring event near St. Patrick’s Day, I started packing. From that day forward, it was all about camp. I packed and that was my whole social structure. I was always extremely independent, but camp was a huge in leadership formation for me. Betsy and I ended up at Alma College with the same homey family atmosphere as we left at Maqua. I studied International Business, but I minored in theatre and dance. We always had to create skits and perform and sing and I still do have a passion for community theatre. I was shy in the beginning but I became more extrovert and by the end of my camping days, I was leading in silly skits and songs.”

“Maybe due to the fact we didn’t have a large extended family, camp was that much more important to me,” said Betsy (1968-75). “It was my first experience with this large family of women. I didn’t care for high school or junior high. I was socially miserable from September to May. I never felt appreciated because I was straight, smart and conservative in most things. I was not wildly popular and I just never felt a part of school. I felt far more accepted at camp. It wasn’t about the makeup or the boys. I was smart and sarcastic, but my friends at school were not wildly popular either. If the popular girls went to camp, it was usually just one summer.”

“ I never got picked to be anything, but when about fourteen or fifteen girls applied for the kitchen aide job and I got picked, it was a big deal to me! It was the first time I had ever “won” anything. I was popular for grades and was the teacher’s pet, but this was ME they picked! I think I figured my pay for the summer worked out to be seven cents an hour, but that was $100 to wash dishes for the summer,” said Betsy.

“But, I do feel like camp influenced my choice of college. I chose a small college and I was active in my sorority and my major was history, but my minor was in music. Everyone was singing and playing guitars at camp, including me, so I was in a band in college. I think I am the only one I know with a liberal arts degree that has made it work in my life.”

 

 

 

 

The Augustyniak Sisters/Camp Influence

Published on by Kathy Baker

Camp had a tremendous influence on sisters Chris and Sue Augustyniak. “There was a regular rhythm to our camp experience”, said Sue (1962-68). “Our parents would drop us off and on the way home we would go out of our way to have fried chicken at Frankenmuth. Our parents wanted us to become independent and they encouraged us. We felt like we could do anything. We mastered skills. We were expected to do well and we did.  Saying goodbye on the last day was always a sad day.”

“I was an extrovert and made friends easily, but I was also a well-behaved kid”, said sister Chris. (1963-66) “We lived in Bloomfield Hills near Pontiac and I remember that I liked being out of doors picking wildflowers, strawberries and asparagus in rural farmland, but I hated those overnight canoe trips. I hated the bugs, sleeping on the ground and not having a shower,” said Chris. “Although one year when our family took a trip out west, Sue and I convinced our family to rent a cabin and we made a campfire, because we had done that at Maqua. I had an appreciation for the outdoors, but I love having my shower and cream in my coffee and a bed. Sue and I enjoyed our Maqua experience, but our much younger sister Stephanie missed out because it was already closed by the time she could have attended.”

Chris, who was at Camp Maqua from aged ten to sixteen, was three years older than her sister Sue. A friend of hers, Patty Dale, wanted to go, but not alone. Chris had never thought about camp, but she decided to give it a try. She was not homesick and despite the fact that her friend Patty did not return the following year, Chris and another friend Mary Dudley did return. Chris continued until aged sixteen when she reached an age that she could work.”

“In 1967 our family returned to the ancestral homeland of both our parents, who were war refugees from Poland and Italy. Since my parents came to the United States as adults, we didn’t learn the Americana and traditions that other girls may have. Toasting marshmallows, singing the folk songs and other activities were learned at camp,” said Chris.

“Our family was very familial (traditional) and wanted my sister and me to have an education. They also waited until we were done with camp to have family vacations, unlike some of the parents who had them when their kids were at camp. By age six I knew I wanted to go to college and our parents wanted us to be independent and self-sufficient. They taught us to drive at thirteen and I think our camp experiences added and reinforced that self-sufficiency.”

“I was introduced to many new things at Camp Maqua, including archery, which I was very good at and rowing, swimming and canoeing. Sue and I persuaded our family to rent canoes one year because we had learned those skills at camp. There were many beautiful rivers in Michigan, but our family was never very athletic.”

“Learning to swim at Maqua was a benefit when I went to Harvard.  One of the requirements to attend happened to be swimming the length of the pool, which you would not think Harvard would be known for. I did make the length, even though I hate getting my ears wet. You could pass if you could get across in any way—floating, swimming or dog paddle. That requirement was due to the memory of Mr. Harry Elkins Widener and son, who lost their lives when they were unable to swim as the Titanic went down. His wife had a library built in their memory with $2 million, which was an incredible amount in that era! Another stipulation— every Harvard student had to pass a swimming test.”

“I know that my parents were delighted when I came home from camp one summer to find that I had lost weight from running up and down the steps to and from the lodge and my cabin. I was kind of a chubby kid., “ laughed Chris.

 

 

Ashes On The Lake

Published on by Kathy Baker

INTERVIEWS WITH GEORGE BROWN AND SHIRLEY WONTORCIK–Husband and best friend of deceased SANDY LANGELL BROWN

Sandy Langell spent three or four summers in the late forties at Camp Maqua and told her husband, daughter Trina and best friends Shirley and John Wontorcik that they were the best years of her life.

“One of the last things she asked me to do,” said her husband,” was to spread her ashes on Loon Lake. She loved the water, lakes and the country. I was able to determine what lake the camp was on from some notes she had made one year.”

“My wife’s personality was that of a bright and shiny person—always smiling. She was part fish and loved the water. She was so torn up to leave Midland when her father was transferred to Boulder, Colorado. Even though she graduated from high school in Boulder, she always came back for the Midland reunions.”

Sandy suffered a stroke and the passed away from cancer in December 2009 at the age of seventy-three. Shirley and John were able to track down who to contact at the camp and despite the fact that my husband and I were not up at the lake in early summer of 2010, residents Thom and Lydia Engel took her husband, daughter and two friends out by boat for the ceremony.

“We had a little service on their pontoon boat and spread her ashes and felt we couldn’t have been luckier,” said George. “The people who took us out were absolutely fantastic and they treated us like they had known us forever and even gave us a tour of the camp.”

Shirley and Sandy were close friends in middle school, but their friendship developed even more in high school. Although Shirley did not attend Camp Maqua, Sandy’s friend Dixie Maxwell went with her and has since died, also. Shirley also described her best friend as a fish but said she was very easy to get along with.

“It was the circle of life,” said George. “Those were the happiest days of her life. It was the biggest thrill for her to swim in Loon Lake and spend time with the other girls in the little cabins.”

Maggie LeDoux had a friend who passed away that had attended camp. She bought a book of camp songs from Restoration Hardware and sang them to her while she was ill, along with photos from camp. Cynthia Gregory was also at a funeral for a fellow camper and discovered at the wake that many of her friends had also camped at Maqua, so they all sang the songs. Kerry Weber had one wish from her camper friend who passed away—for her to share Maqua memories. These stories are reminders of how lasting the Maqua experience was for many young girls.

A few years ago, one of our beautiful Maqua residents, Sandy West, passed away from ALS. Those who loved her boated out on Loon Lake and spread her ashes over the water, as one of her favorite songs was played. I’m quite certain these traditions won’t be the last from our friends.

The Fiftieth Celebration

Published on by Kathy Baker

A document in the archives from 1974, was soliciting for donations for the “camp restoration program” for the fiftieth anniversary for Maqua. It listed “Trail Blazer” as $1,000+, “Maqua Sponsor” as $500-$1,000, “Camp Circle” as $300, “Century Camp” as $100, and “Builder” as $99 and under. Checks were to be addressed to YWCA Camp Maqua Fund and could be paid in installments.

The results of the Camp Maqua Improvement Fund Drive listed the amount pledged as $15, 737.32. There were 153 individual pledges totaling $13,237.32 and the Osthelder Foundation pledged $2,500.00. On January 7, 1975, the amount spent on improvements was $7, 525. 81. There was a list of itemized expenses, which included $3,947.97 paid to Bob Feasal for labor and materials. Paint, hardware items and lumber, as well as campaign expenses were listed. It left $6,392.51 in the checking account on that date.

The second session “Loon” edition was July 20. 1974 and it was Maqua’s fiftieth anniversary. (July 15 was the actual date, but camp celebrated on the 14th.) The day cleared after it rained in the morning. The camp worked on cabin projects such as cleaning the boathouse, washing the boats, cleaning the firebowls, and washing the cars. Two of the cabins made signs that instructed the cars to slow down and a sign to direct people where the camp was located. Some painted the trash cans, some created new song sheets and one cabin made a new cross for Chapel Hill. In the evening there was an old fashioned picnic at the waterfront with hot dogs and “S’Mores”. “It was a beautiful day and after taps, the trees whispered their thanks for all we had done,” the article ended.

There was a full page spread in the Bay City Times on April 4, 1974, titled “Celebrates Fifty Years” under a photo of the entrance sign of “Camp Maqua YWCA”. Times staff writer Gay McGee wrote the article detailing the history of the camp after a rally had been held at the YWCA to mark the date with old photos, stories and a few original campers there to celebrate. Photos from every era graced the pages

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sale Of Camp Maqua

Published on by Kathy Baker

Bob Sukenik saw an ad in the Detroit News advertising the lodge for sale in 1979 by the Bay City YWCA. He submitted a sealed bid, forgot about it and after a business trip, arrived home to a congratulatory message from the YWCA. The following weekend he and his family drove north to see what they had bought.

“What we got was an abandoned camp that had been closed for quite a few years.—maybe five. Everything was quite dilapidated and nothing worked”, said Bob. “The toilets were called “Biffys” and I think the only one that worked was the one adjacent to the lodge. You could not see the lake from the lodge because of the dense forest of trees 8”-12” in diameter. There was some rudimentary wiring on half fallen poles. The lodge itself was a huge open room filled with tables and benches. It had no bathroom, running water or heat.”

“It had not been vandalized, but small animals had chewed through the back screen doors. On that weekend, we were sitting inside and a chipmunk ran across the floor, stopped and looked at us with a face of no fear and proceeded to run into the kitchen, eat some of our dog food in the bowl on the floor, then scampered back out. Groundhogs were also a problem, eating all the tomatoes that had been planted by the west side outdoor wall.”

“Now that we had it, we had to figure out what to do with it. It was a gorgeous piece of property on a beautiful lake”, said Bob. “Our first thought was that we might be able to fix it up and lease it to someone who might want to operate it as a camp again. That didn’t work. We fixed it up so that it was relatively safe, but never even found the slightest bit of interest. We had an opening party for our friends that out to be a work weekend just to survive. It is a miracle they took to it so happily and that they remained friends.”

“Lacking any better ideas, we decided to convert the lodge into a duplex and subdivide the rest of the property for sale. This required surveying, making decisions on subdivision, writing restrictions and setting up the Maqua Association,” continued Bob.

“We continued to work many a weekend doing one thing or another to upgrade the property. One spring weekend, with no heat and freezing temperatures at night, my son Jim and I plus a few of his friends, slept in front of a roaring fire on the west side in front of the fireplace. (This was where you broiled on one side while freezing on another!) The heat also woke up a few mosquitoes, so it was not too comfortable. The boys had built a huge fire. Suddenly, there was a roaring sound, and I discovered what it meant by a chimney fire. We went outside and watched flames shooting out of the chimney for about one minute.”

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