1960’s

Squeezing In A Few More Tricks—

Published on by Kathy Baker

The “Loon” during the summer of 1965 listed the favorite pranks of the girls. “Short sheeting Reb’s bed, croquet balls in Archie’s mattress, cold cream in someone’s sheets, purse hidden near the fire bowl, bristles were taken off a toothbrush with a jackknife, the honor banner was hidden, a fluffy slipper was hidden in a bed and mistaken for a mouse, sand in a counselor’s bed, false mice in bed, hid Mel’s alarm clock in the back of a crate and set it to go off at 3 a.m., plastic frog in a bed and campers croaked and pajamas tied in knots.”

Jodi Tripp (1957+) said one of the sillier things she recalled from camp included a counselor who constantly used a rolling pin on her hips and thighs to get the fat off, but the most fun was hearing the girls scream when they discovered frogs in their bed.

Shaving cream was a favorite in the early sixties for Elaine Engibous and Cheryl Short. Both had vivid memories of squirting shaving cream in the hands of sleeping girls, then tickling their noses with a feather, hoping to witness a face full of the white foam. Jenifer McLogan (1965-71) was also part of the short-sheeting and pillow cases filled with shaving cream crew during her time at camp.

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Cabin Pranks–

Published on by Kathy Baker

Timeless camp traditions included pranks, which inevitably involved the bed. Pranksters followed their mothers, aunts, cousins and sisters into the antics that were handed down for years to make their cabin mates and counselors lives more interesting. The short-sheeting of beds was the most popular prank over every summer session, which was either taken well or not, depending on how tired the person was on the receiving end of the prank.

“We did get into a lot of mischief,” laughed Pat O’Tool. “We, or maybe it was I, collected twelve frogs and put them in one of the counselors’ beds. We also decided that the counselor with the name Muriel Funk was a name that we could adjust, so to speak. We called the camp “Muriel Funk’s Home For The Mentally Impaired”.

“We used to stay awake at night thinking of pranks to pull on our counselors when they had the night off, “laughed Liz Anderson (1973-74). “We were so mean. We greased the doorknob, we put balloons between the boxspring and mattress and they would pop when she got into bed.”

Audrey Delcourt (1968-69) said the girls were always trying pranks out on her and she recalled the spider web made with string, lathered in toothpaste, which she spotted before heading into the mess.

“I saw it, stood back and waited for the campers to get into it,” she laughed. “On the last night they put my mattress on the ceiling and croquet balls in my inner spring. The lights were out and the bed was made, and I climbed in and had these wooden balls in my back and they all had the best time laughing. I got them all settled and we sang a sweet song.”

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Stories In The Night–

Published on by Kathy Baker

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As and extrovert, Kathy Krohn (1965-68) always made friends easily and despite knowing some of the girls from school, she loved meeting new ones. The assistant director at the time, “Beanie”, used to call her “Itty Bitty Wee One” after the story about Montague the Rabbit she always told the campers and because Kathy was such a tiny girl.

Upon returning from camp one summer, Kathy told that story to her father. It was a story that Beanie would tell all the campers, but Kathy was too young to understand the moral of the story—“Hare today, gone tomorrow”. Her father would laugh and laugh and it would become their private little bonding connection.

“He would say to me, here comes itty bitty baby rabbit,” said Kathy, “and it was not until I was about fifty years old that I finally understood what the moral of the story was. He passed away, but until the end he always brough up Montague the Rabbit.”

Valerie Monto had an experience in 1968 that remains clear in her camping memory– the magic of one special night. “One evening, after lights out, our counselor had us get up and get dressed. We walked quietly to the lodge where the other older campers and counselors were gathered. We were divided into small groups and were given a nursery book rhyme or storybook assignment.”

“Two other campers and myself were given “Three Blind Mice”. We put together costumes from what was available and rehearsed. Our groups were then placed around the camp along the trails. The younger campers were awakened and led through the camp. As they would come to one our groups, the counselor would shine flashlights at us and we would perform our act. Once they had been taken through the camp, the younger campers were sent back to bed and we returned to the lodge to clean up before returning to our cabins.”

“The next morning at breakfast the younger campers were very excited and would approach us older girls saying, “I saw you last night. You were one of the Three Blind Mice, or you were Little Bo Peep,” or whatever . We older girls acted like we didn’t know what they were talking about and told them they had been dreaming. To this day, I wonder if those little girls are still unsure about their own experience.”

Do you remember any of the night-time performances?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Laughter And Amusement–

Published on by Kathy Baker

There were girls who were afraid to do cabin checks because they were afraid of the dark, and campers who tippy-toed out of their cabins and over Chapel Hill to the horses and got caught (Jan Bateson in the fifties), and there were personalities that made everyone laugh, like Jennifer McLogan, as remembered by her friend Kathy Carney (1970-71).

“Jennifer was so funny. She would pretend she was French and give everyone made up French names in this crazy accent. They would say, “Jennifer, Jennifer, what’s my name?” and she would say this silly name. She made us all laugh. Sue Purdue’s college roommate was a girl we called “BIAFRA” because she was so thin,” said Kathy. “She was from the south and she had no idea that camp meant roughing it. Everyone was hysterical when this little southern debutante pulled out, not one, but two ball gowns she had brought! I wonder what she thought she was coming to?”

As an adult with a perspective on behaviors, Sarah Smith (1968-70) can look back and understand why little campers would have said the things they said. Case in point was the little red-headed girl who lifted her shirt and said “You want some milk?”

Sarah laughed as she said, “It was my first gig as a counselor. I was walking up the hill to the lodge to eat and where was this little girl with red hair blowing across her eyes, all dirty from her day. At the time I thought it was the strangest thing because I was far from thinking about having babies, but I just bet her Mom was breastfeeding a new sibling at home! As a kid, you live in your own world and don’t think of what was really going on.”

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Funny Stories–

Published on by Kathy Baker

What is it about peeing and stories about peeing that can bring girls to hysterics? One of the funniest things Sandy Indianer (1967) learned at camp that stayed with her forever was to learn to pee outside in the woods. She was not alone, as many campers felt like that was an important fear to surmount—peeing outside.

“My cousine Ann reminded me the other day that we would stick our butts out the cabin window and “wee-wee”,” said Helen Johnson (1968-64). “Now, let me explain. I did and still do today wet my pants when I laugh. So, I am SURE it was out of necessity—maybe. My Mom used to gauge how good of a time I had at camp by the amount of times I wet my pants. My good friends knew about my tiny bladder, but others could sometimes be mean.”

Pat O’Tool (1944-52) could still recall the canoe trip with Pat Parsons from Grayling. “We took a photo of her peeing, and from then on we called her P.P. Parsons,” said Pat, who still has the photo.

“My biggest memory is of three red-headed sisters with the last name of Cherry. They were all a few years apart, maybe eleven to fourteen, and they were always running back and forth from their cabins to the bathroom naked,” laughed Liz Anderson (1973-74).

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Journey Of A Camper On Drugs

Published on by Kathy Baker

D had fond memories of her seven summers as a camper at Maqua in the mid-60’s. After the first few years, she would stay for all four sessions. Her last summer at camp was spent as a kitchen aid in the early 70’s. She described herself as mischievous back then, but she got along with everyone. She still had friends who were campers and could not wait to return the following year.

“For some reason, the new director took an instant dislike to me. I do not know if it was my personality or something else she had heard. During a break between sessions, ten of us went back to M’s cabin where we all smoked marijuana, some for the first time. I’d tried marijuana previously and even had some at camp with me, but never smoked it in camp.”

“When I applied to be a junior counselor for the following season, the director denied me. I was devastated. I adored going there. I had the best childhood and Maqua was a big part of it. The relationships were so great and even the staff didn’t snub us as kids. I loved that we were doing stuff all the time. I had wonderful relationships with Dorthe and Beanie and others, and stayed in touch with many of them. Those relationships were a uniting force.”

“Maqua was life transforming for me. It was like a little dream come true. Going to the reunion in 2012 was very healing for me. I realized then what a loss I’d been carrying around all these years. I had assumed I would be coming back as a junior counselor after the summer as a kitchen aid. When I was denied, I felt like my arm had been chopped off. We all had so much in common and it wasn’t anything to do with our parents being friends or our friendships back home. It was about the special camp relationships.”

“The denial of the junior counselor position coincided with the beginning of twenty-five years of active addiction. By the age of fifteen, besides marijuana, I had already experimented with many different types of drugs. When I told some of the staff at the reunion, they told me they wished they’d known, so they could have helped. But, no one could have helped at that time.”

“Despite my addiction, I was always a good student. After receiving my Bachelor’s degree, I moved to California and tutored math at a community college for a while. Ultimately, I went to law school in California, still heavily into drugs, but I took the bar exam and passed it. I got high right after my swearing in.”

“Staying in school seemed like the easiest course since my parents were willing to continue paying for everything. I did use my law degree and ran a clinic for substance-abusing women, and also worked for the local Family Court restraining order clinic. I won awards for my pro bono work. I was telling myself I was a functioning addict until one day I realized I’d made an oversight in a situation that could have affected someone else’s life. So, I stopped practicing. My fallback was to return to school again for my Masters in Public Interest Law.”

“In the early 90’s, my father passed away. Because my Mom and I were so close, I moved back to Michigan. I was struggling, so I entered into grief therapy, which ultimately turned into substance abuse therapy. Eventually, I went to inpatient treatment at Hazelden and got clean. Now I am doing what I always wanted to do.”

“I have my masters in social work, work as a substance abuse therapist and most importantly, I’m in recovery. I just celebrated twenty years clean. Looking back over those twenty-five years of active addiction, there were many difficult times. I spent time in jail and came close to death several times. Basically, my life at that time was about using.”

“The trajectory of my life has been unusual, but I feel that I somehow landed on my feet. I believe I am more whole as a person and I understand that life is about relationships. It came full circle at the reunion and I realized the friendships I developed while at Maqua truly helped to shape my life.”