The older girls were always more difficult to please and no one knew that more than Sue Wiegand, (bottom row on right) who was in charge of cabin C that summer of 1967. Sue was a sophomore at Western Michigan University studying Physical Education, Speech and Drama in 1966, “stewing about a summer job”. Her friend in the same curriculum, Barbara Haggart, asked her to come to Maqua as a counselor. Despite the fact that Sue had never been a camper there, she decided to try it.

“I had the older girls for my first summer and always enjoyed them. I loved to tell them stories. I was known as the “Winnie the Pooh’ counselor since I would stay up reading Pooh stories to the thirteen to fifteen year olds. What impressed me with the older girls was how much they responded to people who enjoyed them. Even reading those stories, they were not worrying about hair, boys or make-up, they were responding like young people who were interested,” said Sue. The second year, she had many of the same girls who had returned, either in her classes or her cabin. (The girls in her cabin were: Cheryl Best, Cathy Cosmenco, Sarah Dennett, Candace Hill, Jeanne Kiltie, Susan Michelson, Ann Pennington, and Sue Thompson.)

In the Director’s report from 1967,  Dorthe Balaskas wrote these notes about Sue; “Flash had the most difficult cabin in camp, Cabin C, and I must say was more than willing to accept them as they were and did indeed go to bat for them. The girls at this age are so hard to please but Flash sure kept trying. I’m sure they respected and liked Flash and were confident that she was friend and not foe. It was not the first time that Senior Village girls felt that the staff and myself were against them and I must say there were times when Flash had to convince me that they were not so bad. In spite of not being in agreement with her, I had a great deal of respect for her, realized how fortunate we were to have her in Senior Village.”

“I felt that she tried to provide them with some good camp experiences and although they were not overly elated, managed to get them on overnights. She was most likeable, cooperative, dependable and one I could count on to be on the job, but silent about what she had done. I thoroughly enjoyed knowing her and am pleased that she was part of our staff, “ she continued.

The Activity Director, who was (Toni Young?) also reported—“Sue did a fine job in her teaching. She is conscientious and ambitious. Archery was her area and she taught the campers well—not just how to shoot, but the extra things that make the sport interesting.”

Sue earned her nickname “Flash” from “Beanie”. “I think it had something to do with the fact that I was not particularly quick in the morning. But, as I’ve gotten older, I have actually become a morning person,” said Sue.

If you were one of the campers that aged out, how was it being the senior camper? Was it more difficult?