1950’s

Stay-overs

Published on by Kathy Baker

There were always a few days between sessions where the girls who attended more than one session “stayed over” and staff had time off. It was a good time to catch up on laundry, drive into Tawas, walk into town, or visit a friend’s nearby cabin.

Only twelve campers stayed over between the sessions and Alice Bishop noted that checkout was very orderly in 1961. Some stayed for the afternoon program, others went to the movies with counselors and a few went out with their parents for the evening.

There was a program set according to Dorthe Balaskas’ 1966 director’s report, which indicated eight or nine staff stayed to help, while others took twenty-four hours off. If they slept at camp, the usual rules applied for time in, boats and waterfront. The staff would have to be back by Sunday at noon for a staff meeting.

Barb Krohn (1970-72) stayed a whole month in her fourth year and slept in the lodge between sessions. “There were not too many of us who stayed, but we would go into town. One of the best parts about going every summer was seeing the same girls.”’

Meg Dahlem, who talked to me about her stay in 1925, thought it was a great treat to be able to walk into Hale for an ice cream during her free time. It was a tradition that continued as long as the camp operated. Penny Mitchell loved the same walks into Hale in the fifties, as did Jennifer Fenton for her favorite bubblegum flavor in the seventies!

Read More

Staffing During the Fifties

Published on by Kathy Baker

10984225_10204855728291497_6453262187238039826_nThe directors during the fifties included Dorothy Jane Dickey (1950-52), Kathleen Geerlings (1953), Janet Adams (1954), Kathleen Dillinger (1955-58), and Shirley Rausch (1959). Unfortunately, no directors’ reports were found in the YWCA pertaining to their years on staff.

Often it was difficult to find staff that could leave their families behind if they were married. Betty McMonagle was the camp nurse from Bay City in 1953 and she brought her eight-year old daughter for the first session of camp.

In 1956, the camp cook and the nurse were told by the committee that they were able to bring their young daughters to camp with them. Mrs. Watson, who cooked for all the sessions except the last, had her nine-year old daughter signed up for camp. The nurse’s daughter was only five, which was far too young to camp, but was at Mrs. Loessel’s side for the duties.

As the season neared, applications were still being considered for the staff and Mr. and Mrs. William Watson, who were the caretakers, were the topic of conversation for the October 1958 meeting. Still undecided as to whether to keep them on as full time or part time, a careful job description was outlined for each member of the staff. By October’s meeting, the committee had decided to replace the caretakers, but later changed their mind and hired Mr. Watson part-time.

The ACA (American Camping Association) noted points in relationship to food, building needs, transportation woes (to and from church) and more adequate housing. The camp morale was believed to be affected by some of the points, so job descriptions were being requisitioned from Flint, Akron and Grand Rapid YWCA chapters.

In September of 1958, there was an oral report given on the present problems around camp, which included men working around camp and the language used at the waterfront. There also appeared to be personnel problems in the kitchen and director “Woody’s” (Kathleen Dillinger) problems with the kitchen staff and her own personal fatigue.

In February of 1959, no cook had been hired and no applicants for waterfront director had been submitted. The committee had decided trained and practical nurses would be considered, if no registered nurses applied for the job. Finding qualified personnel for each season was never easy!

Read More

Directors #2

Published on by Kathy Baker

Woody's ReignCamp committee minutes in 1959 indicated suggestions to not only employ a camp director that could be a year round employee for better integration between the camp and the association, but preferably a YWCA staff member.

The job descriptions from the sixties were available for the position of director. The interview process was through the YWCA and colleges and universities were the favored hunting grounds for applicants.

A bachelor’s degree and five years of camping experience was preferred, but I am certain there were less qualified applicants who were hired. It was an intense job in the summer, working full-time from June pre-camp until the close of camp, which was usually mid-August. The job was part-time from January until pre-camp.

Read More

Directors #1

Published on by Kathy Baker

EPSON MFP image

In the beginning years of the camp, scant references were made in the archives to hostesses and directors. Virginia Leitch was mentioned as a possible first in 1916, with Vera Merriman in 1918, but in the book “Camp Maqua” the gap years not listed were due to un-certainty and verification of the positions. Committee director Adelaide MacCauley, who left notes in the YWCA archives, referenced other women in her historical notes, but when not able to be verified historically, the list remained incomplete.

In 1934 Mrs. Beckwith was nominated by Mrs. Luppert for the position of hostess, according to minutes and ledgers from that era. It appeared she retained her position in 1935 and 1936 and noted she had eleven years experience.

Edna Young, who camped in 1932 and possibly before, was ninety years old when I interviewed her. “I spent a lot of time in the lodge and remember a widowed or divorced hostess named Mrs. Beckwith, who oversaw the dining room. She was an older woman with a daughter my age named Jean, who was able to camp all summer with the girls. Her Mom’s room was in the lodge. I think our camp directors were Miss Lineberger and Wilma Lewis.”

In 1937 Mrs. N.R. Wentworth was mentioned as hostess. No one else was mentioned until 1943, when Margaret Fletcher’s name was brought up by the camp committee and she served until 1945.

Read More

Counselors Share Their Stories #1

Published on by Kathy Baker

IMG_5703“I was at Western Michigan University, packing to go home after my sophomore year, with no plan for a job for that summer,” said Ann Carney (1968-72).” Brooke, (a fellow classmate that I did not know), said she was going to camp as a horseback riding instructor. I had just finished my certification as a water safety instructor. She told me the camp was looking for a W.S.I.,   and handed me a crumpled a piece of paper with a number of the director, Dorthe Balaskas, and threw it at me. I had no money, but knew I was going to be a resident advisor for the dorm the following year. I taught at the “Y” in Kalamazoo for extra money and knew what it was like to swim competitively. “

“I called Dorthe, who told me to come to her class in East Dearborn, which was close to my home. She was very direct. I met with her at the end of the school day and I think now it was a small test. She was teaching special education to some of the most severely handicapped and disabled children I had ever seen and I think she wanted to see how I would respond. I engaged with her and the children. She basically told me camp starts on June first and you should be there. It was total happenstance! We lived in Dearborn and my father worked for Ford. She was a very real person and understood who each one was as a person. She saw the person, not just the helmets, braces and prostheses.”

Meg Dahlem (1924) loved the ballroom dancing with campers and counselors in the evening, recalling that most of them were college girls or teachers. Martha Carpenter, who taught in the arts and crafts cabin and was a resident of Bay City, and was a student at Skidmore of New York. “Counselors stayed in “Dutton” and when they got tired of cooking, they would hike to Long Lake for pancakes,” she said.

Read More

Foreign Counselors

Published on by Kathy Baker

IMG_0056A young Japanese girl was to be considered as a camp counselor in 1933, according to the minutes and ledgers of the camp committee. There were no notes as to whether this was the first foreign girl, but it was not the last.

March 16, 1934, the minutes stated “After a discussion as to whether to ask a foreign counselor to camp this year or not, it was decided to write to the National Committee to see if one could be procured. The report will come in the next meeting. A person from Norway or Sweden was the preference this year.”

Again in notes from the 1935 meeting, Miss Lorna Fang was not only to serve as the camp doctor, but the foreign counselor—“as her life experience in China will help promote a better understanding of the girls in other lands.”

Thirties camper Edna Young was eleven years old and in hut four at the bottom of the hill on the main path when she had her first experience with a foreign counselor by the name of Setsu Matsunubo, who was from Japan and a student at U of M.

“She wore a housedress all the time. I don’t think she owned anything else! She stood in the middle of the hut when the girls would not settle down, telling us to be quiet, and she spoke very good English.”

Read More