Born in Flint, Sheryl Biesman was eight years old when she camped for the first time in 1973 and it closed before she could ever have a leadership position in 1978. Karen Selby was one counselor she could remember from that “wholesome camp” that closed with little fanfare to the campers who were there the last year, including Sheryl.
As part of the transformation from a girls’ camp to co-ed, Sheryl was thirteen and just becoming interested in boys. “My initial feeling was, they are invading my space,” said Sheryl, who recalled one drama girl moment when one of the boys liked someone else. “But, I don’t have strong memories of interacting with the boys at camp.”
“It was a very sad time for me. After the camp closed, I tried to go to another camp with my friend Diane. I remember I hated it. I only went one summer and it wasn’t Camp Maqua. We had to wear white. I was so distraught. I kept searching for something I had lost and was so disappointed. I am sad it didn’t work out. The experience taught me leadership. Many of my Jewish friends went to Jewish camps in Maine and elsewhere and had good experiences and ended up staying friends with people they met there. I guess I was just so emotionally attached at age thirteen to Maqua—“
“My Mom thinks I started going when I was eight, so that would be 1972, through the end, although she doesn’t remember me going that many years. I remember the last couple years were co-ed, “said Beth Phillips, who was disappointed that the boys were now a part of the camp, but admitted there were some cute counselors, and one in particular that took them on a nature hike in the woods. “We took a trek through the backwoods that led to a secret area, which was off to the side of Chapel Hill. The counselors always tried to keep the boys and girls apart, and the boys had the cabins down the hill, while we were all up top. There were different activities when the boys came, but before that, we just used to sit at the campfire and holler at the boys across the lake.”
During the last few years business manager Rhonda Thayer noticed camp numbers seemed to diminish. What was once over a hundred campers per session dwindled to sixty. The rates increased and the “Y” accepted football teams at camp for training. She recalled a man named Ken Dike who was the director in 1977 and then a new hire for that last year when she was not hired.
“Only those who had college degrees were to be hired that last year and I had that in a letter,” said Rhonda. “I did not understand why I didn’t get hired back because I had my college degree. Prior to this time, they had never had to hire the camp out to football teams and I think it was all about money.”
“The last director who ran the camp had hired staff from all over the world. One was from Hawaii and he knew how to surf. If there were waves on the lake, he would toss his board down and try to surf. Finally, he made some skim boards from plywood for the girls. I think the director (Ken) was in his late twenties or early thirties and he had a thing for one of the counselors The camp dynamics changed in 1977 and 1978 with the boys there. Mixing adolescents who were exploring were hard to control. Kids would come up missing during swim drills and two would be hiding themselves together. It was hard to keep everyone separate with eight to sixteen-year-olds. The boys were in the farthest cabins and the girls were close to the lodge.”
There were others, like Helen McLogan, who was unfazed by the transition. She began camp in the fourth grade in 1972 and continued until it turned co-ed. “I liked it. I had just started noticing boys and even though many of the activities were separated, I thought it was fun having the boys there. We had our own bathrooms and ate at separate tables. The only thing I thought was weird was the fact there were two directors, one male and one female.”
Dawn Kober, who was easygoing, outgoing and athletic, only attended the summer of 1977 at the age of ten and liked the idea of the boys being there. “They were separated from us, and I know their cabins were not close, but they were always down at the beach with us.”
“I didn’t like it at first, but there were some nice guys,” admitted Missy Plambeck, who was there for the transition. “When Camp Iroquois was still open, we were able to go over there and learn to waterski at Sand Lake and I think they came to learn horseback riding at our camp. The dynamics were different with them at camp. We could “hang loose Mother Goose” with no bras when it was just girls, but not with the boys around.”
Kim Hartwig (1976) remembered a foreign sailboat instructor, but cannot remember ever seeing the boys! Were you oblivious, interested or upset to have the males on your campgrounds?