“You could tell there were cliques or groups, but it was never in a mean way. It was usually the Saginaw girls, the Bay City Girls, the Detroit girls—and they were usually in the same hut, so they just hung out together,” said Deb Wilkinson (1964-66).” I do remember the girls from the wealthier families were able to stay at camp later and I was always in awe of that. My Mom had worked in the same Italian restaurant and she worked to pay for our fees, and it was a lot of money back then.”
Tally Cone (1960-65) learned during her time that some girls were more malicious with their pranks. She also had a keen awareness of the dynamics of the girls and the cliques that were formed and broken. She recalled coming to camp with girls from her middle school that were popular. “They were not as cliquey at camp as they were at school. They thought they were “hot stuff” in junior high, but when they got to camp and found other girls shined in activities in camp that they did not excel, it was a different dynamic. And I found I liked some of the girls much better than I had liked them!”
Sister Laurie Cone (1962-68) had an outgoing personality, was talkative and made friends easily, but agreed there were a few cliques. “As a counselor you would try to break them up, but for the most part everyone got along well. Sue Kiltie and I were both from Birmingham, but we always told everyone we were from Detroit, because they thought we were rich bitches if we said Birmingham,’ she laughed. “By the end of two weeks all of those alliances would melt away and everyone would be sobbing.”
It was interesting to hear camper Cara Prieskorn’s (1966-71) side of the issue from her time. “By the time I got to Cabin 5, I was finally a leader and a little bit cooler. My birthday was at the end of the summer and whoever made out the cabin lists always put me in with younger girls. Finally, I wrote to them a letter and asked to be in with girls my own age, but you know there were always different girls I knew who came up. I would be there all summer long, but friends would come for a week or two at camp with me. The girls from Birmingham all knew each other and sometimes there would be little cliques, but if it got bad, the counselors would try to break them up a little.”
“I think it is interesting to look at the campers as representatives of their economic levels, and I think this varied depending on where the girls were from. In the years I attended, I think that the Detroit area girls at Maqua were often more well-to-do than the Bay City girls who went there, “said a camper from 1959-63. “Many of the richer Bay City girls I knew went to other camps. Maqua was cheaper for Bay City girls because it was owned by the Bay City Y. Maybe that had something to do with it. Or maybe a clique from Birmingham/Grosse Point started attending and grew from there.”
As for counselors, she observed there were separate groups from MSU, WMU, CMU and a smaller U of M group. “I think that sociologically and economically these groups were different. Remember, they were growing up too, and camp was a part of it, even for those who never were campers,”
Molly Olson insisted there were no cliques when she camped 1949-52, but her friend Marsha Immerman disagreed. “We were the clique and my Mom even got a letter from camp telling her that I should mix more with the other girls.”
Randi Wynne-Parry (1969-73) thought there were cliques when she was a little older, as did Kathy Butsch, but nothing huge. Randi said, “I would have been the more sympathetic one and hung out with the one that was being picked on.”
“I was the babysitter in the neighborhood and I was the one at camp that took to the outcasts or if they were crying,” said Kimela Peck (1966-74). “I tried to help and had the kid of personality that was always chipper. There were cliques, but I think those girls just did not know how to intermingle, so they stayed in their own little groups they knew.”
“It was always a happy camp, but I recall as a young girl that the girls from Bay City always hung out together, and I thought they were a clique, but when I moved to Bay City, I ended up meeting all those girls as women and they were not that way at all,” said Marge Hasty (1946).
Susan Prieskorn (1966-72) said all the horseback riding set spent a great deal of time together, but perhaps it was the fact they all had horseback riding in common. Kellie Moore (1970-77) decided that it was usually three or four girls who knew each other in a cabin that seemed like a clique.
“One year, I think we were too much of a group and there were girls who didn’t know anyone and here we were from the same school, “said Margot Homburger (1946-52). “We came to the realization on our own that we were not being warm to them.”
As one of the Linwood girls, Brooke Sauve (1949-51) had another memory. “What I didn’t like was when the Bay City Times came to take pictures. Those of us from Linwood were not included, only the girls from Bay City. Linwood people took the Times and we were part of Bay County, so you can see why we felt left out. We weren’t farm girls. Our parents owned businesses and valued education,” she said. “Although, we were our own Linwood clique and I don’t think anyone wanted to be with us.”
“There was one of my counselors in the fifties who we thought had favorites the first year I was there. She was always leaving us and going to another cabin and we all felt like she liked those girls better,” said Pat Purcell . (We agreed, in hindsight, she was most likely visiting the counselor there and ignoring her duties.)
“I do remember there were some cliques that changed from year to year. My last year was at fifteen. Pam Hartz went back the next year, but I did not. I can remember I chose not to be a junior counselor and when Pam’s Mom went up to visit, I went with her. I was heartbroken after that visit,” said Karen Magidsohn (1965+). “I wished I had gone. Somehow I think the cliques influenced my decision.”
How did you handle behavior if it appeared girls were excluded?