Sixties Staffing and Issues #8

Laurie Cone was a kitchen aide for the first time in 1966. Her room was in the lodge as a kitchen aide and at fourteen, she was the same age as many of the campers. Laurie’s older sister Tally, was in Senior Village the summer she attended Maqua for the first time. It was 1962 and she […]

Sixties Staffing with “Superdoo” #3

Sue Purdue was one of the young girls who transitioned from camper to counselor and learned some life lessons through her experiences under director Dorthe Balaskas. “I think I was thirteen years old in 1964 when I first went to Camp Maqua. My cousin Laurie Cone was from Toledo and she was a year younger, but had been […]

Directors #5

“Dorthe had a gargantuan job with all those girls  ages six to sixteen and those counselors in their twenties, “ said Kim Wynne-Parry, who camped 1963-68. “She did her job with kindness and benevolence. I remember her as a huge presence.” “A reserved and capable woman, friendly without acting silly. You took her seriously,” said […]

Homesickness–#6

“My best friend at the time was going with me to Maqua. It was her first time away from home, a fact I could scarcely believe, since she was already fourteen. Her family was somewhat dysfunctional, as I look back on it. Her parents eventually divorced and her father was an alcoholic, so being the […]

Cabins And Tents–#1

Tents were also standard accommodations for the many girls who camped the previous years from 1916-1924 at Aplin Beach, Killarney Beach and Sand Lake locations. Notes from minutes in 1945 noted that a new hut was to be built with a $500 gift and “will house occupants of the worn out tent”. The Aladdin Company […]

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 […]