Taking The Plunge–YWCA

For Harriet Crumb, who camped in the early twenties, it was tough to face crawling into a cold, wet swimsuit in the morning. “Of course, we swam three times daily, if that first dip can be called a swim. It was a matter of in fast and out fast and how quickly we could dry, […]

My____Went There! #1

One of the first questions asked of each camper interviewed was-“Did you go with a friend or relative, and did your mother, aunts, or cousins attend?” Barely a girl asked answered no, because generally girls were influenced by relatives and friends, and it was almost impossible not to know someone. But, if by chance you […]

Reverse Homesickness–#3

Margot Homburger (1946-50) signed up for two weeks and asked for more. “At that time, I ended up moving into a different cabin with different girls and then I was just a little homesick, so maybe I was there just a little too long. But, every year I waited for that flyer to come and […]

Honor Banner or Shame Flag?

Harriet Crumb’s friend Margaret Dahlem,who had also been an inaugural camper on the Loon Lake site, stopped by in 1987 to see if the camp still existed. I took notes on her memories, which included cabin inspections. “There were no counselors in the cabins, but there was always an inspection in the morning and beds […]

Rest Time=Quiet Time

“Things ended up as any Sunday would, and I am thoroughly exhausted,” wrote an anonymous girl in an article in the “Loon” in 1947. “As I lay on my bunk, it is quiet except for the kids bellowing; it’s dark except for the flashing flashlights; and it’s peaceful, except for the individual under me, who […]

Arrival!

An early copy of “The Loon” was found in the Girl Reserves scrapbook dating back to 1937 with an article entitled “Arrival Day”, which gave a great vignette of what it must have been like for the new girls to land at camp. “About eleven o’clock Wednesday morning a few girls began to arrive one […]