1950’s

Taking The Path To The Brownie–

Published on by Kathy Baker

There was no such thing as an indoor toilet in the huts, but the little girls wished there had been, since that dark path to the Brownie was a scary trek. Phoebe Atha (1947-48) thought it was a frightening walk to get there, as did Karen Short (1945-48) .Even the buildings themselves housed creatures that scared the little girls. (The only time it felt safe was in the middle of tornado warnings, when it doubled as a shelter.)

“The cabins were dark at night. There were metal bunk beds and it was so disorienting when you tried to go to the bathroom if you did not have a flashlight,” said Susie Utter (1954-56). “It was pretty traumatic the first time I went and it was quite a hike at night as a little girl. As we got older, I remember we had to do Brownie duty, which no one liked.”

“I can still remember getting up in the middle of the night to walk down to the bathroom from my cabin and seeing all those Daddy Long Leg spiders,” said Sally Hurand, who camped in the mid-sixties’. “I had a conversation with myself to make friends with those things.”

Kellie Moore and Sue Robson camped in the seventies’ and there was a protocol for visiting the Brownie. They would stand by the front door of the hut and yell, “Cabin 5! Brownie!” and someone would answer by yelling out that they could go. “I think they were at the lodge partying,” laughed Sue. (Poor little Kellie encountered a skunk as she was taking the pathway up the hill with her flashlight to go to the Brownie and decided she didn’t have to go that badly.)

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Brownies and Bradley Basins

Published on by Kathy Baker

Campers Margot Homburger and Judy Sherman remembered a time at camp when there was no hot water and no indoor plumbing. They had both camped in the late forties’ and early fifties’.“I hated using the available toilets, which were smelly holes in the ground,” said Judy, who was happy when the large centrally located bathroom with real toilets and a circular sink were built.

“There were no flushing toilets when I was there. It was just a hole in the ground in the outhouse,” laughed Molly Olson (1946), as she told her funny story about apricots. “I ate the whole box. I loved apricots! But, I spent a lot of time in that outhouse. There were also our baths on Saturday night, where we had skinny dips near the boathouse because there were no showers.”

Notes found from the camp committee in 1951 stated the sanitary system was always unsatisfactory and always and expense. A new septic system had been installed in 1950, which had been approved by the Health Dept., “but which were almost useless.”

In 1951 the “Brownies”, which were essentially holes in the ground surrounded by a wooden outhouse, were converted to “privies”. Funds, which were contributed for camp improvements, were earmarked for a new “Brownie”.

An editorial in the July 10-24, 1952 issue of the “Loon” read: “Camp Maqua has a new building, nicer than ever before. This building is the Brownie. It has a fountain where many girls can wash their hands at the same time and it has two showers. Some of the campers did ont take good care of the toilets or hand washer, so the staff of counselors had a campaign to make the campers realize the privilege they were abusing. We hope the campers in the years to come will take care of this building and its equipment, so they will be as good as they were when they were new.”

Girls that had done without these fine facilities were excited with this new concept. “It had a foot bar all around the circle that you depressed to activate the water out of the faucets. It was extremely impressive to a seven or eight year old,” said Judy Sherman.

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Water Exhibitions and Carnivals

Published on by Kathy Baker

The Niedzielski sisters wrote about the  1947 “Water Carnival”, which took place on VisItor’s Sunday in front of campers and their friends and relatives by the boathouse. The carnival was directed by Ann Theilan and judged by Beth, Peg, Ann Thomas, Dona Johnson, K.J. Carroll and Mrs. Stuart.  Each of the nine huts made a float representing a different holiday. The winner was Hut 1, with their Fourth of July representation and the girls held big firecrackers.

There was an exhibition entitled “Susie Learns to Swim” demonstrated by the red caps to show their swimming ability. The green caps had balloon races with two teams, “The object was to blow up the balloon, swim from the green to the red raft and give the balloon to the next girl. She, in turn, had to blow up the balloon and swim back to the green raft with it,” it stated.

They also had pajama races, with the girls again divided into two teams, and the girls (dressed in pajamas) had to swim to the opposite raft, take them off and give them to the next girl, which left them “torn to shreds”, but was entertaining.

The blue caps had a canoe race, where they paddled their canoes out and around the third raft and back to shore with their paddles followed by the canoes being paddled out to the third raft and brooms were used instead of paddles to race back to shore. There were also rowboat races, examples of life saving and a beautiful water ballet, led by Gerry Folkert and Julie Ford, which included different strokes and surface diving.

“O’Tools Activities” by Nan O’Tool in 1950 included a summary of a Water Pagaent, which included boating events such as paddle boats with metal platters and brooms, canoe bobbing and water fights with canoes that were swamped. There were also swimming events with a beginner’s running race, newspaper race on backs and a greased watermelon race.

A boat decorating contest with the theme “The Sound Of Music” won Debbie Pennington’s cabin the top prize in the early sixties’. Her memory included using megaphones with something white on them as mountains.

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What Is “IT”?

Published on by Kathy Baker

“After a lot of patient waiting and guessing we found out what “IT” was”, wrote the author of the “What Is It?” column in a copy of the “Loon” from 1952. “A real western day. We were all called down to the waterfront by a fire drill. Nan came riding down on her horse to tell us about it. It started off with a chuck wagon dinner. It ended with a wonderful counselors’ show and a hoedown for all. We all agreed that “IT” turned out swell.”

Tales of spaghetti in bags that felt like worms from blindfolded campers and popping balloons tied around ankles of fellow cabin mates brought laughter. Square dancing with a director as the caller, or talent shows entertained happy faces in the evenings.”Roasting” counselors, learning Morse Code, tossing the frisbee, or washing the camp truck also entertained the girls.

“The counselors and the kids always got along fantastic together”,  said Rhonda Thayer, business manager from 1974-77. “During meals there was always some entertainment. Mine was using that paddle with the ball on the string and I could do that blindfolded. The girls would count to 1,000 and I would still be bouncing that ball without missing. One counselor could tell stories and she would mime opening a jar of peanut butter and pretend like she was eating it and eventually it appeared she could not talk with all the peanut butter in her mouth. One girl sang “Camelot” really well, and there was one black counselor who would faint and we couldn’t wake her, so we would leave her. We would tease her about being so dark that we couldn’t see her bruises. What talent we all had!”

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Cabin Days and Themed Events

Published on by Kathy Baker

The daily activity schedules were usually confined to Mondays through Fridays, allowing the weekends for schedules planned by campers and counselors. It is unclear when this format began, but it was a great way to expose campers to as many activities as possible. The first week was all the different activities (in the sixties’), and the second week campers chose which activity they wanted and would sign up in advance.

On Saturdays, campers had “Cabin Day” where staff and campers carried out  the plans that their cabins had pre-planned on Wednesay. Some cabins took alpine hikes, had cookouts in Primitive, picked strawberries or made dinner in Hale Park. Some elected to sleep in, skip breakfast, go to Lumberman’s Monument or take an overnight canoe trip.

The evening programs were always popular and a paragraph from the “Loon” in 1966 read: “The 4th dawned dark and dreary this year. Classes went on as usual. For the evening meal, we dressed up in patriotic costumes and had a picnic on the volleyball court. We ate tasty hot dogs, smothered with mustard, ketchup and dill pickles. Costumes were judged in categories of the prettiest, funniest and most original.”

There was Gypsy Night, Christmas in July, Western Day, camp fairs, and Circus Nights with counselors as ringmasters for the circus acts. “I remember someone making a wanted poster during the western event, and she was wanted for taking a bath,” laughed fifties’ camper Janet Dixon, who felt like those events encouraged the girls to be very creative.

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Skits!

Published on by Kathy Baker

KayMary Young (1951) recalled a round of singing where everyone got in on the act by adding “One dark and stormy night” to the song. She giggled remembering someone playing a villan and another playing the widow who couldn’t pay the mortgage, ending with a kiss and much clapping.The skits in the lodge at night were enjoyed by the staff and campers alike.

The “Wild Bill Hiccup” skit was remembered by many campers, especially Pat O’Tool and her sister Nan, (who camped in mid-forties’ and well into the fities’) and practiced their skit feverishly before the big production. (Pat and Nan can be seen on page 101 in the book “Camp Maqua’, dressed in their outfits in front of the “Dirty Dan Saloon”.)

The skits were always fun for Marcia Michelson (1963+) and one special memory was of one of the counselors tying herself to another to form one heavy woman, with hands reaching from behind to apply make-up.

(There was only one girl–Kim Wynne-Parry (1963-68) who admitted she did not like participating in the skits. “I know others liked them, but I would rather write them or decorate around them, but I am pretty sure I ended up being in at least one.”)

Judy Engibous (1973-75) loved the puppet shows and skits in the lodge. One night as the counselors prepared to get their skits ready, Judy took a seat in the front row. One of her new friends at camp had saved her a seat, but because of her insecurities, she had a Nicholas Alexander book in her hand, (probably to heighten her look of intelligence she admitted. ) The skit began with a bag filled with objects. The counselor had to reach her hand into the paper bag, and create a skit out of whatever was in her hand.  It happened to be a stick.

“It’s a stick. It’s great stick. It’s a wonderful stick. You can do all sorts of things with this stick,” fumbled the counselor, attempting to come up with something clever. Suddenly, she reached down and pulled Judy out of the front row.

“I was a sticky mess, covered in some tangy taffy all over one of my hands,” laughed Judy. “I’m in my impressionable years and I am supposed to bail out this counselor? She was expecting ME to get her out of this mess? I grabbed the stick with my hand that was not covered in taffy and threw the stick across the room and yelled “FETCH” Well, I brought the house down!”

“No-one was expecting this from me. I had just spent two weeks as a wimp and now I was getting compliments for being cool.  It even rated a mention in the camp newsletter. I finally felt like I was recognized for being me”, said Judy. “I also remember about ten years later I was still a nerd, but someone noticed I had waited a period of time after one of their remarks before I said something funny and they told me I was funny. I told them I already knew I was! So, I guess camp helped me become comfortable with myself. It was an empowering place.”

Her sister Doris (1966+) loved Laurie Cullen and Jennifer McLogan doing “Daddy Cool”, which she agreed held the same fascination as ‘Beanie” playing “Montague”. Page 103 of the book “Camp Maqua” featured this pair, who later passed on their roles to Doris Engibous and Priscilla Johns.

Did you enjoy being a part of the skits or would you rather watch?

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