All of Helen McLogan’s sisters attended Camp Maqua, but she doesn’t remember if they camped at the same time. “I think of all of the four sisters,” said Helen (1954), “Jennifer had to be the one with the fondest and most memories of Maqua. I always felt like I was in her shadow. She was bigger than life and was one of the famous counselors with her name on the canoe paddles that hung on the mantle of the fireplace. She was charismatic and hilarious.”
Jeanne Kiltie’s parents sent her off to Camp Maqua and she was never homesick a day, maybe due to the fact her sister Susan was also there. One of the years, she stayed for seven weeks!
“I was shy and sensitive until people got to know me, unlike my sister who would be a AA+ compared to my B- in personality, in my opinion,” said Jeanne (1966-71). “One of the best things for me at camp was to get to know new people. I was always a team person, not a one on one type, so there were many team activities at camp and I enjoyed that. I loved that we were always busy and I was also the type that always had to have something to do. When I was a junior counselor, if there were homesick girls, I would take them for a walk and talk to them.”
Jennifer Fenton (1971-78) was not close to her sister Gigi, who was three years older and was at camp at the same time, and felt like she had been sent off and did not enjoy camp like Jennifer. Her sister was the type that liked to be in her room and Jennifer loved being outside. “I was a tomboy and my Mom always butchered my hair. In sixth grade, I looked like a boy. I was not one of the cute girls, but I got along with everyone.”
“I had one sister, Nancy, who had gone before me, but she was mean to me and my friends. My Mom was a lovely person, and I was an obedient daughter,” said Karen Kaunitz (1945), “but my sister was a different story. I remember the older campers, Nancy included, decided to give themselves a Mohawk haircut and shaved their heads right down the middle. There were a handful of them and they all were in the boathouse cabin.”
“I was the type that was sweet and nice and kind,” laughed Sally Harris, who camped in the late forties and early fifties. “I always felt sorry for the underdog. I was at camp with my sister Susan maybe one time, but I remember my Mom made my sister go with a cousin. I always looked forward to going, since there were five kids in the family, but I was never in with my sister, who was two years older.”
The first summer Barb Cruey attended in 1956, she was only eight years old, but since her big sister Connie was there, she was allowed to go early. Her sister had many friends at camp and although Barb knew no one, she knew she was on her own, but made friends easily.
“I liked having my sister there. We shared a bedroom at home and fought like cats and dogs there, but she was three years older and it felt safe having her there. My Mom had popped out four kids in six and a half years and we were all close in age, but Cilla was very much a leader at camp, “ said Amy Johns (1967-68).
Randi Topping was nine when she went with her sister Tracy in 1962, and she also fought as young girls at home, but never at camp. They were the best of friends. Shy Randi made new friends, and her cousin Connie joined her the following year.
From 1975-1976, Lori Fobear camped as a twelve and thirteen- year old girl. Her sister Sherry had gone with her the first year, but not the second. The first year, as her Mom and stepbrother dropped her off, her sister walked away and would have nothing to do with her. She suddenly became fearful. “But, I loved the cabin and we had a great group of girls in there. One from Saginaw and one from Birmingham. I didn’t know a soul,” she said. “I was shy, but once I got to know the girls, everything was fine.”
Some girls like Sue Michelson (1963-73) and Deb Wilkinson (1964) would only see their sisters at mealtimes and others hated it when their sisters arrived. Nancy Neumyer (1975-78) did not like sharing her clothes with her sister at camp, but loved going to the laundromat to clean them.
Kellie Moore’s sister Kim was five years older and in 1970 when her parents drove her sister up to camp, she said, “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 that I was intruding upon her space. Our parents both worked, so it was great that they sent us.”
The canoe trips were always fun, but one year Kellie admitted to being a “weird person” as she hyperventilated on the canoe trip and two counselors had to take her to the hospital. “I think I was at my attention-seeking stage,” she laughed. “I can remember even going to the infirmary for some special attention there! I did go back to the canoe trip, but I guess my sister Kim, who I always looked up to, was just so outgoing and everybody loved her. There was only the two of us in the family and she was the C.I.T. and the K.A. who fit in with everyone.”
What kind of shadows did your sisters make?