1960’s

Leeches and What Lurked Under Water

Published on by Kathy Baker

fullsizerender-7Those dreaded “blood suckers”. Out of all the scary experiences relayed to me by the campers, it was the number one fear. It is as if the little girl nightmare of the monster in the deep could still reach up and grab a leg and attach themselves to poor innocent camping swimmers in Loon Lake. Grab the salt or scream or do both! (By the way they are still there, and the salt is still in the boathouse.)

When asked what she remembered most vividly about camp, Barb Krohn (1970-72) yelled, “Those damn leeches!” Although she was a good swimmer, she was like all the other little campers—not very tall.

“I would try to tread water in one foot of water, “ she laughed as she remembered not wanting to touch the bottom of the lake. “People would carry me out, so I wouldn’t have to put my feet down. I was a strong swimmer, but I hated the leeches. I never got one on me.”

Her sister Kathy Krohn (1965-68) was also the youngest in her third grade and the shortest, but was a great little swimmer. She also hated to put her feet down in the mucky lake, and worried about the leeches, so the older girls would carry her and she would swim back in. To avoid the leeches, she would dive off the raft or dock.

“I learned to swim at camp, but the seaweed freaked me out,” said Cindy Morrison (1960). “I wouldn’t do the lifesaving because you had to dive down and pull up seaweed as part of the test and there was no way! The leeches. I didn’t like them either.”

Read More

Taking The Plunge in Cold Water!

Published on by Kathy Baker

fullsizerender-13“I learned to swim at camp,” said Carol Requadt (1945), “and although I would hover in the background at the lake, there was a day I will never forget. I wasn’t getting what I needed as far as swimming instruction because I was shy. It was a cold day and the waterfront instructor was in the cold lake shivering, but she taught me everything. I earned my blue cap and could swim to the blue raft. I think I was the smallest one out there and I had a fear of the “blood suckers”, so that was my incentive to swim and not put my feet on the bottom of the lake. Swimming was everthing to me and that was the most wonderful day to me—the day I learned to swim in that cold water. I will never forget it. In fact, I swim to this day and it has been a life long passion.”

The leeches were a fear for a huge majority of the campers, but we will get to that at a later time. Swimming was traumatic for many of the girls for other reasons. Anne Duffield had a much gentler swimming experience in 1947 at camp, after a woman had tied a rope around her waist at the age of six and threw her into deep water.

Layla Rose Hennes was always an apprehensive swimmer. As a camper in 1939, she finally learned at camp, but never learned to love the water. Marge Niedzelski (1946-47) felt as though, (compared to her sister), she was not a good swimmer, but advanced far enough to use the canoes. Audrey Graff (1948) was excited at how long she could tread water and progressed to lifesaving.

Girls who hated to put their faces in the water or get their hair wet, like Kerry Weber, finally learned to swim in 1952 at camp. Janice Moore (1953) was just thrilled to place third in a sidestroke race.

Read More

Taking The Plunge–Lake or Pool

Published on by Kathy Baker

img_6912Swimming for some came naturally  because they grew up with a pool at their house or belonged to private swim clubs. It did not ease the shock of the cold lake water, and for some a pool felt more secure with walls and known depths in clean, clear water. . Phoebe Atha (1947-48) was never much of a swimmer and admitted she was deathly afraid of the water and was the type to hang on to the side, even in the pool.

Coleen Gasta, sixties camper, said, “I was a chicken shit. I was not shy or out going. I just didn’t like to swim, especially if I couldn’t find the bottom. When I went to camp, I couldn’t swim. I thought I could fake them out by pushing off the bottom, but I couldn’t. I never did learn to swim.”

“I loved bobbing on those canoes, but I hated swimming. I used to make excuses not to swim. I hated putting my head under water. Well, one of the waterfront girls told me, you know if you get your advanced swimming certification, you can actually go canoeing instead of bobbing up and down! I remember gritting my teeth and asking her why didn’t she tell me that three years ago,” laughed Diane Dudley (1957-63) affectionately nicknamed “Dodo”, who did get her certification!

Read More

Taking The Plunge–YWCA

Published on by Kathy Baker

EPSON MFP image

For Harriet Crumb, who camped in the early twenties, it was tough to face crawling into a cold, wet swimsuit in the morning. “Of course, we swam three times daily, if that first dip can be called a swim. It was a matter of in fast and out fast and how quickly we could dry, dress and be up to the lodge for breakfast—maybe a minute or two in front of the fireplace first. There were no sleepy heads or danger of not being alert and ready to go, once we had the plunge!”

Whether they learned at a pool or in a lake, many of the girls arrived at camp as fairly experienced swimmers. Since the majority of campers came from the Bay City area, it stands to reason that the Bay City YWCA taught many of the girls how to swim.

Wilma “Billie” Smith belonged to the “Y” as a young girl, where she learned to swim before camping at Maqua in the early thirties, as did Muriel Richert, fifties camper. Muriel, who had a fear of the water, loved the lake much better than a pool and enjoyed just hanging in the shallow water with the inner tubes as much as anything else.

“I was thrown off my Grandpa’s boat when I was little and took swimming lessons and was always a fish. I didn’t even mind the cold water at camp,” said Cindy Naylor (1967).

Read More

On The Waterfront

Published on by Kathy Baker

img_6934What is camp without a lake, swimming, and boating instruction and fun? Wet towels, sand in bathing suits, leeches on limbs and tests to determine swimming and boating abilities were part of the waterfront rites of passage. But, prior to any waterfront activites, there was work to be done at pre-camp to set up the area for all the water action.

Nancy Sautter was the waterfront director in 1969 and left wonderful notes in her report that illustrated perfectly what she and her staff had to do to prepare for camp, which began with the previous year’s inventory, which helped to locate the equipment.

“Our family had a cottage on a lake near Horton when we were growing up and that is how I learned to swim. I also took swim lessons at camp and lifesaving at a YMCA in Jackson, where I earned my water safety instructors certification. I was strictly on the waterfront at Maqua,” said Nancy. “Once I was down there I couldn’t leave while I had kids there. The cabin counselors would bring them to us and you did not leave until lunch and then everything had to be locked up.”

“On the first nice day, the buoy lines should be run,” she wrote, along with instructions for stringing the red and white “lemons”. She would re-whip the unraveled ends of nylon rope by melting the ends over a candle, while spacing them and anchoring them.

Read More

Let’s Do Laundry!

Published on by Kathy Baker

529939_2138063989388_1399350471_nA lined page from a notebook in the archives dated 8/6/43 was titled “Sent to Greenwalds Laundry”. It included items used in the lodge, such as curtains, dresser scarves, bedspreads, blankets and rugs. A second page itemizing the linens in the hostess room closet listed bath towels, sheets, pillowcases, washcloths, kitchen towels and pads. Someone had to wash and dry these necessary linens, in light of the fact that early on a wringer washer may have been on hand, but nothing large enough to handle the larger items. Linda Greenwald, (1946-52) recalled a brand new wringer washer that was located near the camp store when she attended her sessions.

Molly Olson, who camped in the late forties, was the first one to mention laundry boxes. When her clothes got dirty, there were laundry boxes to send home your soiled clothes through the mail! Heavy, with lengthwise straps across the 20×20 rectangular box, the straps would hook around the box securely and the girls would address the box.

In the sixties, camp committee minutes stated each member took home a camp blanket to wash and dry to save on laundry costs, but notes also indicated that 20th Century Cleaners would launder the blankets for a small fee. In 1963, a woman was hired for .10 a sheet, .05 a pillowcase and .10 a towel set!

Read More