Elaine is the oldest of the three Engibous sisters and was friends with Beth Swift during her growing up years. Doris, fourteen months younger, and Judy, ten years younger, were all Maqua campers. (Ironically, Elaine ended up marrying Beth’s older brother and they must have always felt like family, since Beth had been in nursery school with Elaine and the families grew up with each other.)

Around eight years old and possibly somewhere between 1961-1963, Elaine and Beth headed to camp together. She thinks she was at Maqua with her sister one year, but only the first year that Doris attended.

“I was reserved as a child, but not moody and was not afraid of anyone, but everyone was bigger than me. Beth and I were both little goody-two-shoes. I always made sure I did the right thing and was not a troublemaker.  I liked taking care of the campers. My kids told me I put the smother in mother, “ laughed Elaine.

“My first summer at Maqua was classic,” said Judy Engibous. “It was colored by the fact that my big sister Doris, who was eight years older, was there as a counselor. There she was the big athletic sister and I was the wimpy little sister, who not only flunked her swim test in the shallow part of the lake, but I wore glasses and in some ways I disappointed people that I wasn’t as cool as my athletic sister. I finally did pass my swim test!”

Judy was ten years old when she attended for the first time in 1973, and continued for the next two summers. The Engibous family was living in Zurich, Switzerland from 1971-1978, as their father had been transferred with his job at Dow Chemical. The Engibous family home leave, which was paid for by the company after two years overseas, coincided with her first summer at camp.

Doris was twelve years old when she went to Camp Maqua for the first time in 1967, and despite the fact her older sister Elaine and younger sister Judy had gone to Maqua, “Neither of them became as obsessed as I did,” Doris said. Her friend Beth from Midland went for one year with her, but never returned.  Doris went for a week the first year and then two weeks and then for four or more every other summer, citing “I could never get enough of it and went through 1970.”

The Jacques sisters, Gretchen, Minette and Kady, also shared camping years together. Gretchen (1955-57) described herself as “pretty out-doorsey and quiet”, but felt better when she was in the background. “I was the type that liked to have one good friend at a time. I used to hang out with my sister Kady a lot because we were both artsy-fartsy crafty types and Mimi liked the cheerleading type. I would usually end up bonding with one girl at a time.”

Mimi felt like camp affected her, but she never needed the other girls and the relationships like her sisters. “I had two sisters and Kady and I shared a room at home and we idolized our sister Gretchen.”

What was it like to have your sister at camp with you?