“Cabin B was my favorite as a camper. “Dizzy” was my counselor. I have to say I was a practical joker and could be sarcastic at times, but she loved my personality. There was one who did not like me, but “Dizzy’ laughed at everything I did,” said Susan Kiltie. (1967+)
“Dorthe was not very happy with one of my pranks when I was a counselor,” said “Kiltie”. “I figured out how to get the paddles and a canoe out of the boathouse and my goal, with one of my friends, was to paddle over to the boys’ camp and undo their sailboats or rafts. I was dating a boy named Scott, who was camping over there at the time. When we got back to the waterfront, Dorthe was waiting for us. Here we were, with no life jackets, and we thought we had been quiet, but I’m sure the girls in the cabin above the boathouse probably heard us. Of course, I took full responsibility. I do remember they did fill out reports on us.”
Barb Rehmus (1965-76) was at camp during the infamous Mahn-go-tah-see raid, which was at the time Carol Nieman was camp director. “I had grown up with Dorthe and Beanie as professional directors and Carol was so different. I remember thinking this prank was outlandish and over the top. They took the boat from the boys’ camp and I thought they had just taken things too far. Honestly, I was aghast and thought she was a wild card. We thought she acted like a camper, not a counselor. Sue Patenge followed Beanie, and she was okay, but it was not easy to come behind Beanie.”
Of course, the boys were not immune from raids of their own. Mardi Jo Link worked as a counselor in training and slept on a porch in Dutton. There were always pranks, but this particular year there were boys in the camp. It had to be 1977 or 1978, when Maqua and Iroquois merged. She had underpants for camp that had the days of the week stitched on them. “The boys snuck into my room and when I came back from doing the dishes, there were my panties all pinned up with safety pins on the screens! That had to take a lot of time,” she laughed.
Judy Engibous wrote of “The Jerry Jug Affair in the “Loon” August 1975 that occurred on one rainy Thursday morning. “Miseries seem to pile up on rainy days like this, and when the kitchen aids announced that they had not sampled the Jerry Jug before serving it, Beth Hickner started pouring herself a glass of maple syrup”, she wrote. “Wendy Shepard, always daring, tested the Jerry Jug and ran into the bushes. As the odor floated back into the room, Medicine Man wondered how many people would be wanting Pepto Bismol after breakfast. She hoped nobody would have to stay in the Infirmary. All those “Knock-Knock” jokes were really getting on her nerves. Suddenly Medicine Man threw up. In her absent- mindedness, she had sampled the Jerry Jug. “Looks like she’s going to have to cure herself”, someone whispered. “Are you kidding? Medicine Man wouldn’t give herself any of those awful things. She’s got more sense!” retorted someone. “Wanna make a bet?” said someone else. Mary Toburen tasted the Jerry Jug and got up, furious. Her Secret Santa, whom she suspected, was among the KA’s that had given her a bar of dieter’s chocolate that morning. Striding towards the kitchen door she demanded “All right, who’s the comedian who put salt instead of sugar in the Jerry Jug?”
There was some pranking in cabin nine the summer of 1974, and Jane Morrissey was the instigator, although the whole cabin was in on the joke, according to notes from the “Loon”. Somehow the counselor got wind of the joke, which was about a snake, so the girls inquired whether she wanted it dead or alive and teased that they would hang it from the rafters. “That night after taps “Chuck” left to go to Dutton. Ann Balow was convinced the prank would no longer work, but the snake was left on her pillow (Charla Batsell??) and just before everyone fell asleep, or halfway asleep, someone walked into the cabin and screamed. “It worked!” (Poor unsuspecting girl.)
Another article on “raiding” was titled “Shhhhh!”. “Raiding isn’t all it’s cracked up to be as cabin C found out the other night. At approximately 11:00, cabin C set out to raid cabins 7 and 8. Fortunately, #7 had the door locked and refused to open it. Cabin 7 tried to warn cabin D, but the warning didn’t get through the line. Unfortunately cabin D got raided. When cabin C returned home, cabin 9 was ready and waiting with their pillows. When cabin C walked in, 9 bombed them. So, raiding has its drawbacks, too.”
“When I was at the waterfront, I always stored my contact lenses in a case during the day,” said Nancy Sautter (1968-70). “The older girls played a prank on me and my contacts disappeared. I only had my sunglasses, which were prescription, with me. I had to wire to get new ones and wear sunglasses until they arrived. Here I was in sunglasses all day long, not trying to look cool, but I couldn’t see!”
Were you a part of any of these pranks?
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