Lois Levine recalled her gorgeous wardrobe as one of the highlights of going off to camp as a ten-year old Jewish girl in 1948, because her clothes allowed her to fit in. Bunking in with eleven-year old Gentiles, on the other hand, made for a “dreadful, miserable unhappy experience”. Mean girls, perceived prejudice, and homesickness were still clear sixty years later. She decided on the first day she would be back on the bus to Bay City when it arrived on that Wednesday.

“Somewhere along the way I realized the bus wasn’t coming and stuck it out,” said Lois, who was placed in a hut with girls closer to her age for the rest of the sessions. She was no longer the youngest. “I had no concept at age ten of what the consequences of a stubborn child’s return home would be, but I was glad I stayed. I was stubborn, but obedient, but I could visualize myself on that bus!”

Lois’ cousin Sue Levine was also ten when they headed off to camp together and experienced similar unhappy memories of camp. “My Mother made me go and I did not want to leave home. I had never been away and I was a Mommy’s girl and I was so homesick,” remembered Sue Levine (1948). “She said you are going and that is that. At that time I was a chubby girl and I was teased and it did not feel like a friendly place in my child’s mind. I felt the prejudice of being Jewish. I was so happy that Lois was there with me and in the same hut because she was funny and fun.”

“You know there were some parents who were upset because they could not talk to their kids while they were at camp and kids who were upset because they could not call home. Many times when the parents did show up at camp for a visit, it was just a disruption. I think it was a good idea to just go away and not have any contact,” said Linda Greenwald (1948-59).

“One day, that first year, my sister and her hubby decided to drive my aunt and uncle up to see the Mackinac Bridge and stopped in to see me at camp on the way. Ordinarily, no visits were allowed because they were afraid the girls that were homesick would want to leave. Well, when I saw them, I clung like glue,” said Geraldine McDonald (1954-56). “When they left, I cried running down the dirt road and they stopped and said no, they would not take me with them.” (The counselor and girls in her cabin cheered her up by singing songs to her.)

Girls called. Parents refused. Marge Hasty was happy they did not bend to her wishes. Her experience with the activities and friendships created years of great times for her in the late forties.

Laya Hennes, who started at eight in 1939 and continued for eight more years, wrote every day to her parents from camp the first year. When they showed up on visiting day, she didn’t want them to leave without her, but they made her stay, despite her tears.

Did your parents visit on Visitor’s Day? Did you want to go home with them?