Some of the girls were dropped off at camp and loved “being free and away from home”, said Carolyn Stanton, who spent glorious years during the late forties and fifties when her parents took their vacation in July. Debi Gottlieb’s parents had a cottage in Tawas, so they would drop her off and go to their cottage in the sixties.

Beverley Schlatter’s parents vacationed at a Sand Lake rental, but would stay on after camp sessions so Bev could bring a friend. Kathy Krohn’s family had a cabin on Point Lookout near Au Gres, where she spent time with other Bay City families who told her family about Maqua.

But for the hundreds of girls heading off to Camp Maqua, it was a genuine tradition in their family. Their grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and siblings had gone and the younger ones counted the years until they could also carry on the rituals, driving north with their families as their siblings were dropped off and picked up. They knew the songs from the car rides, they had seen the photos, heard the stories and now it was their turn!

For Sue Michelson’s family it was just that. Her mother and sisters had all camped there and she bunked alongside girls whose mothers had camped with her Mom! “Do you know what it was like to go there and see my mother’s name written in toothpaste on the ceiling of one of the huts?”

Carla Wilhelm began in 1945 at the age of ten– it was a given. Her brother had gone to Camp Iroquois and her mother, Virginia Ward, was one of the 1924 campers. Jane Linder’s brother had gone to Camp Mahn-go-tah-see, right across Loon Lake and her sister Laurie was a counselor/sailing instructor at Maqua, which influenced Jane to follow suit.

“That was probably some of the happiest times for my parents when they dropped us off”, laughed Anne Duffield, (1947-50) whose brother was also camping at Mahn-go-tah-see when she was just across the lake.

Sixties camper Tami Nagel looked forward to camping, since she was the oldest of three sisters who attended, and could not wait to get away from home. The sisters continued the tradition started by their mother Yolanda Erickson, who had also camped in 1945.

The Prieskorn family started with Geraldine Folkert (1942-47) and continued with the long line of daughters —Cara, Susan and Rebecca, ending with Matthew in 1976,the year Maqua turned to co-ed Camp Maquois. Matthew did not treasure the memories like his sisters and Mom. It was his first time away from home– he hated it and left after a week.

Although Jenifer Benke’s parents were living in Ohio at the time, the memories of her mother’s camping days at Maqua in the late forties and early fifties prompted the wish for her daughter to spend three summers there from 1969-71. Her grandmother lived in Bay City, so with family still left in the state, there was a family safety net of proximity.

How many campers had family members that established the tradition of camping at Maqua? Who were they and how did they influence you?