In 1957 Emmet and Florence Williams made the decision to search for a summer place within a reasonable distance from their Detroit home. They discovered their dream property that year, close to two national forests and an easy three-hour drive for their two daughters Denise and Sharon, who were two and five at the time.
The shell of the summer house was already built, with knotty pine inside, just waiting for installation. Ira Schofield had developed the property, known as Palisades Park, on Hillsdale Avenue, bordering Loon Lake. Emmet, his father and uncle built the first rustic home with a water heater under the sink. Florence remembered boiling water for hot baths.
The last of the knotty pine was taken down in 1986, and the old stove was removed when the family needed extra space. Emmet retired in 1986 and the renovation on the original home was completed in 1987 with heat, insulation, larger closets and an extra bath.
“We loved it,” said Florence. “My husband worked nights and my parents lived in Ohio. We spent three weekends up north and one weekend a month in Ohio. We had no car and no phone.”
Florence recalled the fence between their property and the camp, which stood about 6-7 feet and was of natural wood. The fence stood on the property line and was installed when the camp worried that boys would move in next door to the girls camp. “We could not see over the fence, but from our dock daughters Sharon and Denise learned to swim different strokes, kayak and canoe just from watching the instructors at camp!”
“There were five stations and two L-shaped docks with two rafts. Sharon and I would watch the girls with their instructors in the canoes or playing Marco Polo from our dock,” said Denise.
The Williams’ family could always hear the singing from the campers and counselors as they ate or sat around the campfire, but on rainy days songs could be heard with stomping feet and clapping hands with the children’s voices from the lodge. “We always enjoyed all the activities from our home and it was never too loud or annoying,” said Florence. “It always appeared to be a very well-run camp until the late seventies and it just wasn’t the same with the boys there.”
“The boys would come over from Camp Mahn-go-tah-see on a giant Viking ship, calling to the girls,” she laughed. “The counselors would act nonchalant, but they probably wished for them to leave.”
One day Denise was babysitting at her home and she spotted a huge albino skunk eating baby food out of a jar in the yard that had been left out. There had been reports that the same skunk had been spotted in camp by counselors and campers alike. Denise loved living next to Maqua, but she loved it more when they left and she could ride the horses up to Chapel Hill and walk around the property. “We knew every path like the back of our hands,” she said. “Mr. Watson, who took care of the property used to call us “My girl” and we called him “My man”.
Daughter Sharon always thought it was cool living next to a camp. “We tried to watch everything, including the little kids in the ‘L’. I loved our cottage and I felt like we had the best of both worlds. We could watch the girls swimming, sailing and canoeing and still have our own place. We could look out our window and watch the ceremonies or sit in the boat and see the girls crying on the last day.”
“On rainy days some of the sports would be on the porches at the lodge. I remember the big cabinet held the rifles and sat on the wall of the west side facing the kitchen, (which now has a window into the kitchen). There were also metal cabinets that held the bows and arrows. She recalled the archery field was to the left of the lodge as you stood on the sports porch. “One night the entire camp took their sleeping bags and camped out on that property,” said Sharon.
In 1971 Sharon began college at Eastern Michigan University, where she began her studies in physical education, health and recreation. It was during those years she decided she would apply for the job as counselor at Maqua,” because I had always wanted to be a counselor there”.
“The first year I had junior high kids and I loved those kids. I was student teaching for junior high and in the beginning I wanted to kill them,” she laughed. “The second year the “Y” sent me to riflery instruction and I had never handled a gun before, except with my Dad when we would shoot deer on the farm. The gun knocked me down! I took my riflery instruction in Port Huron with both boys and girls and I have to say I was the best in my class! I was always naturally athletic.”
“I was the sports director for the second year and coordinated the programs for archery, riflery and tennis. The kids were good. There were strict rules on riflery. Ready on the left, ready on the right, fire, lay your guns down and go see the target. One day a bumblebee flew in front of one of the girls and scared her and she ran in front of everyone. She was lucky nothing happened to her.”
“I remember making a few trips to Ray’s Canoe Livery in Grayling, sitting at the table eating with my kids, driving the boat to take the counselors out water skiing at our cottage on our day off, short sheeting and undies up the flagpole pranks and many other fun times,” said Sharon. “I also remember Dutton and that one miserable toilet downstairs with the little squeaky door when I spent the two summers there.” I also remember Anne Pennington and how good she was with those kids. When I walked past her cabin, she would always be reading them a story. I don’t ever remember any cliques. Everyone was treated the same.”
“Sometimes on our day off we would go to Tawas and have steak at “Lixie’s”, but our cook (“Cookie”) made awesome food and we would try everything. We always had real balanced meals. I remember I had my wisdom teeth pulled and I had hyper-extended my jaw, so she made me milkshakes. It was right before camp started.”
Some of Sharon’s memories were not as pleasant and one was wrapped around the Vietnam War. She recalled the flag was not raised on the pole outside the lodge in 1972 or 1973. “How could we raise our flag when we were killing people?” she asked.
One camper, Betsy Falvey, was befriended by Sharon. Sharon did not recall the details, except for the fact that Betsy felt very bad during that time. It involved a drug incident of another camper that Betsy had reported and then the repercussions after her report.
“When I think of camp, I think of home. It was my summer home. We were just a group of people working together having a great time. We were open and accepting of each other. You came into your own at eighteen and nineteen and there were many changes and time to develop. Those times really helped to shape and reaffirm my career choice in physical education. My first job in teaching was junior high level in Plymouth Middle School.”
Sharon remembers Chapel Hill, wearing whites and walking up to the peaceful spot overlooking the lake. At the time she was at camp her family was Methodist and she had never been around nuns or special needs kids. Her life had been the usual college experience until she decided to enter the convent.
