Recently I received a wonderful e-mail from Robert Sukenik, aged 91, who developed the Camp Maqua property into the development it is today. His wife Luanne is also still alive and they are in a facility in Texas.
Robert and Luanne Sukenik bought the property, once known as Camp Maqua and then Camp Maquois, from the Bay City YWCA in 1979. The camp was advertised in the Detroit and Bay City papers and the Wall Street Journal for bids and the Sukenik family won the bid without ever stepping foot onto the property. We bought the lodge in the winter of 1987 and summered for the first time in 1988.
His email was prompted by the desire to buy 30 tee shirts with the camp logo to send to those who had helped him in those early days. He mentioned a scrapbook that one of his friends had assembled and promised to photocopy the pages with notes and send it on to me. My husband said, “There is another book here, with his history and the history of the residents who own the property.
So, my question to my alumni —who else knew the Sukenik family? Did you ever have some adventures on the property before, during, or after what is now our Camp Maqua Association? If I can gather enough stories, I will begin this winter and continue to keep those memories alive of this great piece of property!