Shy, quiet Linda Doering was even more so at Camp Maqua as a first time counselor in 1967. Her friend and fellow Physical Education major from Western Michigan University, Barbara Haggart, recruited her as the Boating Director that summer. “Beanie” also nicknamed her “Yakky” and the name stuck for her next few years on staff.

Linda had been to a “Y” camp in Grand Rapids as a kid, had experienced the fright of leaving home and a tinge of homesickness, but having a friend along helped her adjust. The feelings she had as a camper allowed her to draw on those experiences as she took over her first cabin of fifth graders.

“I always loved swimming and at the time I had my water safety certification, so I was qualified for the waterfront,” said Linda. “ Some of the girls in my cabin were homesick, but I remembered what it was like and I tried to make each girl feel special. When they got involved in the activities and made friends with the girls in their cabin, they adjusted. I reassured them and kept them busy.”

The director at the time was Dorthe Balaskas and notes from her reports indicated that Linda was an excellent staff member and had recommended her return. “This was Linda’s first summer at Maqua and I felt she provided her campers with some worthwhile experiences…she organized her cook-outs and over-nights well and had complete control of her campers. She was one of the few counselors who spent time with her campers after taps and I felt she got to know her campers well. She was rather quiet and I always could count on her to be on the job, and realized that she was very conscientious and one who took her responsibilities seriously.”

In 1967 Lin Harris had just graduated from college and sent out twelve postcards looking for jobs. Eleven of them replied. With credentials in water safety instruction, she was just what Dorthe Balaskas needed for Camp Maqua, plus Dorthe was curious who would apply for a job by postcard!

“I drove up and Beanie came out with Dorthe” said Lin, who ended up living in Dutton and running the waterfront that summer. (She and Beanie remained life long friends.)

She had been a WSI at Camp Tyrone in Flint, but felt like Maqua was different, not only because of the lake, but the people. “When you got in with the counselors and staff and the campers were all together, we were all there for their safety and well-being and became better people because of it.”

Her personality as an Aries was the same as Dorthe, so there was a clash of sorts concerning a drill Lin wanted to instate at Maqua. It was called the Lost Swimmer’s Drill and was a plan for acting for a missing swimmer. She suggested to Dorthe that the camp be involved in the lost swimmer’s drill, but Dorthe nixed it.

“So, I met with the staff myself and they agreed with me, so we practiced it. I sank a parka full of rocks and had the counselors lined up to do the drill and asked Dorthe to sit on the log and watch. It was well-orchestrated and in less than two minutes they brought up the parka filled with rocks and I walked over to her to be congratulated, but it didn’t happen. She turned around and walked back to the lodge.”

“I went over her head. Her personality was “my way is better”, said Lin, who realized after that incident that it was better to not overstep her bounds.

What lessons in authority and leadership did you learn as a staff member under a director?