“I loved camp from the first day. I never remember being the least bit homesick, nor did I ever see my sister, except in passing,” said Kay Alcorn, who was bunked in Cabin Two (in the forties) closest to the lodge, with a counselor and seven others in bunk beds. “I got a prized top bunk that summer and every summer thereafter until I was thirteen. The other young girls did get homesick and one or the other of them was always in tears– being comforted by a counselor. I couldn’t understand their feelings.”

“The first year I eventually figured out the other girls with their homesick routines were getting more attention than I was. So, I decided to fake it during siesta one day. I put on a far bigger act than anyone before. I lay in my bunk and wailed. My counselor was rubbing my back and offering treats. Nothing worked, so she sent for other counselors and eventually my sister. Still I howled, mostly with a pillow over my head. Finally, I had to give up. I threw the pillow off and started laughing. I don’t remember their reaction, but I think I felt a little embarrassed by all the concern I’d caused, as well I should have.”

“My Maqua adventure began in 1968 when I was twelve. I went with two girls I knew, Evelyn Biggs and Doris Engibous,” said Priscilla Johns, who was never homesick and eager to leave the tension at home after a family transfer from New York to Michigan. “I had never been to camp, but I loved it from the beginning. I remember the second year after the second session, I called home to beg for the third. I couldn’t bear to leave.”

Kellie Moore’s sister Kim was five years older when her parents drove her to camp. “I created a fuss. I wanted to stay. Sue Patenge was the director at the time, and she told my parents there was room in the young cabin, so my parents drove home and packed my bags, leaving me there. My sister had already gone for a few years and I don’t think she was happy I was intruding upon her space. Our parents both worked, so it was great that they sent us.”
Kim Moore was ten in 1967 when she went for the first time and camp was her summer home until she ended her “career’ as a kitchen aid at fifteen. “It was a huge part of my life—one of the best parts of my life. I would cry at the end of the session because I didn’t want to go home. I felt so grown up, so safe and independent.”

“We lived in Bloomfield Hills. Our parents wanted us to become independent and they encouraged us. We felt like we could do anything. We mastered skills. We were expected to do well and we did. Saying goodbye on the last day was always a sad day,” said Sue Augustyniak, who camped through the sixties.

“She had gone a few years before me,” said Amy Falvey about her sister Betsy’s years at camp– beginning in 1968. “She would come home gushing about it. Ironically, my parents thought I would be the crybaby who would want to come home, but I fell in love with it. I went the first time with my friend Carol Meisel and although we were in different cabins, it didn’t matter to either of us. My sister was definitely the cheerleader who was instrumental in me becoming a lifer.”

Did you enjoy having a good friend or sister at camp with you? If not, why not?