Camp committee notes from December 1960 announced the delivery of Alice Bishop’s contract. Her experience listed a year at Camp Yakowi, three at Camp Cavell, one at Camp Takona, and four at UAW-CIO.
She began working right away on the hiring of staff and the drafting of a staff manual for the 1961 season. It was interesting to see both sides presented by the camp committee and Alice of her position and duties that summer.
“Miss Bishop stated that the time designated in the contract (June 28-August 23) is a misnomer; that in reality the director puts in a full years work. Most of the work is securing and personally interviewing and selecting counselors, thereby insuring a pliable, cohesive group which contributes greatly to the success of the camp,” stated minutes from August 23, 1961.
Alice’s camp director report for 1961 was a log of each day from October until May detailing her daily contributions to her position. “All this and a full-time job,” she wrote. “It will save many headaches this summer, I am sure—a camp director does not just work the week before camp start and the week after it ends!”
She detailed trips to meetings, leadership training, staff interviews, letters of information, brochures and job descriptions, as well as phone calls, references, contracts sent and time spent at the Michigan Camping office.
One interesting line on June 9 read, “Arrived in Bay City at 5 p.m. Talked with Miss Mummery for two hours concerning orders that I left with her two weeks ago and she had not done. Told her I thought someone at the “Y’ should be interested in camp and that my contract did not say anything about ordering equipment or supplies.” (In the margin, in pencil, someone wrote “nor mine”.)
Her report thanked Miss Mummery for her efforts in camp upon the resignations of two members, but felt the lack of presence from the committee was a problem during the actual camp sessions. There was a difference in opinion and expectations, as seen by the notations in pencil (again) in the margins. (“Impossible. Undesirable. Un-necessary.”)
She described herself as “business manager, nurse, program director, paterfamilias, adjudicator, plumber, cook, counselor, and a dozen other things” in the course of her day, adding—“thus it seems that I was the leader of a military expedition”.
“Every situation is another story and the details were multitudinous, involving problems of personnel, facilities, equipment, supplies, program, organization of campers, daily routine camp matters, maintenance and repairs, and sundry other matters—camp director’s day is never the same and never ends until the last camper and staff has left the premises.”
She was grateful for the improvements that summer, logged her mileage, reports, lists and requisitions, along with activity reports, staff manual and evaluations. Her recommendations read like a wish list. The interesting ones were totem poles for campers to whittle, reptile and insect cages and snake boxes.
Cindy Morrison camped during Alice’s reign and recalled a song where everyone clapped their hands and stomped their feet. “She sang the loudest out of everyone. She was a very big presence, didn’t smile and was rather gruff. I remember she was short with dark hair, a little on the heavy side and dressed in white a lot. She never stood up straight, but leaned forward as she marched through. BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, she walked. She was always down to business and was cold and harsh.”
Alice was described by (camp nurse) Janet Gehres (1961) as “a good administrator and a normal person who knew what she was doing”, but noted she did not hang out much with the staff at camp. On her time off, she would head back to MSU to visit with friends, even though she did not have much time off. She also was known to head off to the golf course for a round.
Karen Kaiser (1959-62) said Alice hung out with her assistant Sue Hier during her time there, and felt she was on the bossy side and not very much fun. Diane Dudley (1957-63) agreed that she was not much fun and said, “Even though there was a lot of room for eccentricity at camp, she was hard to get along with.”
Diane and her friends had their own way of dealing with a director they were not fond of—they made leather bookmarks with an unflattering descriptive adjective on it. “I tooled in the words______, ______, ______ with the soldering iron. The tool kept blowing out the power all the way up to the lodge, but the girls all covered for me because they wanted one just like it,” she laughed. “So, when Alice yelled at them, they would just look at their bookmark. It kind of took the edge off. We used to make fun of her.”
What do your remember about Alice Bishop and her style of management?
I do have memories of being a young camper during Alice’s tenure. In hindsight with the lens now of comparing her with our beloved Dorthe, Alice did not really embody the spirit of Maqua. I recall she was someone to avoid rather than seek; someone to fear, rather than respect; someone to mock rather than emulate. I know I had exceptional, caring, and appropriate counselors who must have provided balance and perspective for campers because so many of us returned year after year.
Oddly enough I don’t remember Alice. My last year was 1961, so she was the director that summer. It wasn’t my happiest year, which is probably why it was my last. I wonder now if the leadership that year wasn’t what I needed.
It was interesting to me, when interviewing campers and staff, that many of the young girls were unaware of their directors and could not even remember their names. It appeared the counselors who were in the cabins and activity heads held a more consistent and impressive role. Some were obviously more in the background than others, but when a director emerged as a true leader, the campers remembered her much more readily! Thanks Minette and Anne for your thoughts!