Judy Rawlings kept to herself and never opened her mouth in the fifties. A self-professed tomboy, her way of fitting in was to befriend another little tomboy called “Billie”. (Karen Kaiser) “I was so excited to go back to camp and told myself to be brave and strong, but that didn’t last long,” said her timid sister Mary Jo Rawlings.. “I remember trying to find where I fit in and looked for others who were as reticent as I.”
“I was an only child and very bright,” said Janet Dixon (1951-52). “Although I got along well with other children I often felt like I didn’t really belong. I was actually more comfortable with adults.”
“The second year was a bad year for me,” said Debbie Robson (1971-72). “It was the year I camped in Primitive and I just didn’t make friends. I wasn’t very popular, but more of the quiet and shy girl who wasn’t really sociable. I wanted to be, but I just wasn’t. The girls in my group were all very popular, so I was pretty much a loner that year, since I didn’t hang out with them. There were two groups who hung together and I didn’t feel like I fit in. I can remember coming up to camp and overhearing someone say, “That Debbie always tries to help, but she always makes it worse.” So, they left me alone.”
Debbie ended up redeeming herself in the eyes of her camp mates on the day one of the campers became ill. “One of the girls, Martha, was so sick in the outhouse. The counselor asked me to run as fast as I could back to camp to get a nurse. I ran and ran and ran and got back to camp quick. I finally felt good about myself because they were all proud of how fast I ran.”
“It was not a high point in my life like my sister,” Mary Grego (1960) admitted. “I didn’t hate it and I wasn’t homesick, but it was more like I just didn’t fit in with the girls I was in the cabin with. They short-sheeted my bed and put a spider under my sheets. I’m sure they were all friends before they got there and I was a quiet little girl.”
One of the highlights of her time at camp came when she was accepted by the girls in her cabin. “There was a hunt for something and we had clues. We had to hike from place to place to find (rocks, peanuts, eggs? I can’t remember what. Whoever had the most won something and I was the one who found the most, so our cabin won and from then on, the girls treated me better,” said Mary. “I guess I was just good with the clues.”
Maureen Moore (1968-70), despite her outgoing personality, had a noticeable birthmark on her face. (A dark brown beauty mark.) “I ended up having it removed in junior high. I don’t remember any unkindness, but I always felt like I was in a bubble when I was there.”
The Burkhart sisters, Pat and Veronica (1952), had opposite personalities. Ronnie was the tomboy loner who felt like she did not fit in and Pat was the homey type. Jean Evans (1933-38) was shy and lonely for a few days, but decided it was fun after a few days. Dawn Kober (1977) believed camp allowed her to be less shy and it was the first time she had been anywhere she did not know all the people.
Shy Girl Scout Gail Schultheiss (1966 ) came from a family with a fun sense of humor, and although she knew no-one the first year, she felt like it was a good lesson in life. Unadventurous and shy, Anne Marxhausen (1961-62) felt like her place as the eldest in her family kept her from venturing out too much. They, like Bobby Hale (1950), were shy, but managed to make friends while at camp.
Chris Lambert (1958) thought Maqua was a tight knit group and a magical time for her. ”It was a huge family and there was so much inclusiveness. I was a shy kid then, but the thing that struck me then was how much we were all included. Our cabin became our family and we all became close. Later, as a staffer, we wanted to do that for our campers—provide that feeling of being included.”
Did you feel like you fit in? If not, why?