Marge Falvey, camp committee director during the early seventies, had been instrumental in hiring  Carol Nieman for the position of camp director in 1975, and had known her family. Carol had been a substitute teacher in the Essexville school system and had done well as a teacher, but somehow her abilities did not seem to transfer as well with her capacities as a camp director, according to some of the interviews of the staff during that period.

““One night there was a food fight in the lodge,” recalled Betsy.Falvey. “ The next thing we knew this food fight had gone from funny to dangerous in about ten minutes. There were about one hundred girls and they were all sliding around on the floor. Carol almost had a nervous breakdown. I remember calling my Mom on the phone in the lodge to tell her Carol was having a breakdown. We were just hoping the health inspector didn’t show up, and we took Carol into a room to calm her down.”

“Compared to Sue and Beanie, she never engendered the same feelings about staff,” said Betsy.. “The Carney sisters, Yakky, Superdoo, and Sue Michelson were all counselors when I was twelve. They were all so close. The last year I was there, Maqua was scrambling for campers. My Mom felt horrible and I know they had girls from Finland, England and Norway. She thought well of Carol’s family and she had worked hard to keep the camp going.”

Amy Falvey noted her mother felt fairly responsible when she saw her directorship was a “trainwreck” in 1973, while her sister Betsy felt her immaturity and behavior led to the demise of the camp. Whether this was accurate or not, it appeared that there were some out of control moments at camp under her leadership, which left an impression on many.

The camp statistical report from the Dept. of Social Services listed Delphine Evans as the camp director on July 17, 1976.She was the first director to lead the camp under the merger of the YWCA Camp Iroquois from Sand Lake and Camp Maqua renamed “Camp Maquois”.

Delphine could not recall how she had discovered the position, but she and her husband had directed a local church camp for two years and also had directed a YMCA camp in the Detroit area before moving to Lansing. She had just completed a Masters degree from Wayne State University in recreation.

“At the time I took the job, I was living in East Lansing with my husband Bill and our two kids,” said Delphine, whose husband worked as a lawyer for the state, while she was at home with her children. His office was “wherever he was” and he was able to get work done at camp.

“I do remember having an interview with the head of the “Y” and with the camp committee. After accepting the position, we agreed that my children could go to camp with me and instead of hiring three kitchen aides, I would hire four and they would rotate between working in the kitchen and watching the children.”(They reimbursed the “Y” for the salary of one kitchen aide.)

“The kids and I lived in the lodge and that seemed to work quite well. I could be part of the evening activities and the afterhours staff gatherings without worrying about the kids. I remember the staff as being a hard working cohesive group with no major conflicts or issues. (Rare among camp staff),” she added.

Her husband came up on weekends and helped around the camp, keeping busy with a pile of wood at the entrance of the lodge. “He spent most of his time chopping the wood and moving the pile away from the entrance, as it was a popular place for bees to nest. Only reason I remember this is because of the number of times we treated his bee stings, “ she wrote.

Delphine hired her staff from the Bay City area and East Lansing, and many were MSU students. “Of the staff, only one, Pam Moore, remained close and worked with me for the next four more years at other camps,” she said.

“While my specific memories of that summer are sparse, I do remember the overall feeling of a happy, relaxed summer. Being a camp director can be a very stressful job, but I do not remember that summer as a stressful one. The only stress I remember was when the “committee” came to visit. We all felt as if we were under constant scrutiny while they were there!”

The camaraderie of camp, sitting at the lodge tables, taking turns setting them, and singing during dinner were other vivid memories, but “when I left, I never looked back, even though it was an all around pleasant experience.”

What are your memories of Carol Nieman or Delphine Evans?