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.

KOTH, Helen

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Weeks before the book on “Camp Maqua” was to be published, the son of Helen Koth (Burton Wheelhouse), who was married to Dr. Horace Burton, contacted me. He had been checking the internet about camps that made an impression on his growing up years. Camps Mahn-go-tah-see, Iroquois and Maqua were on his list.

His mother had grown up in Bay City and had attended Camp Maqua in her twenties, teaching riflery in 1938, and was featured in a postcard on page 89 of the book “Camp Maqua”. She married Horace in 1936 and had settled in East Tawas, where he practiced as the only family doctor in the county. He rode the circuit in the Depression, delivering babies and tending the sick in Hale.

Dr. Burton became an Army physician and travelled many places in Europe and the Philippines when he was drafted. It was during this time that Helen and Tim (born in 1943) came to Camp Maqua and she was the camp director in 1944 and 1945.

Dorothy Jane Dickey or “Dickey” was the director during the early fifties. Marsha Immerman had memories of hikes to Hale Park with her and an overnight campout halfway between the camp and the park. “There were no homes at the time. We woke up surrounded by cows! They were peaceful and calm,so we ignored them”, said Marsha.

Missing from the list in the book “Camp Maqua” were two names later found in research. Dorothy Barrington was mentioned in a copy of the 1949 “Loon” as the woman who interviewed Louise Felknor or Folkner. She was described as a five foot four and three-quarter inch teacher from Indiana University, born in 1925 in Louisville, Kentucky, who was an experienced swimmer that could be seen practicing every night at five. (But, admitted she could not float.)

“She says she wears a size four shoe, but then said that a size four made her toes curl, but a size seven made her feel right at home,” the article joked. Her interests were sleeping and swimming and “she saws on the average of two cords of wood a day. When the period is over you usually have to go to her room and drag her out.”

What do you recall of the directors during this time at Camp Maqua, if you were attending?