Swimming for some came naturally because they grew up with a pool at their house or belonged to private swim clubs. It did not ease the shock of the cold lake water, and for some a pool felt more secure with walls and known depths in clean, clear water. . Phoebe Atha (1947-48) was never much of a swimmer and admitted she was deathly afraid of the water and was the type to hang on to the side, even in the pool.
Coleen Gasta, sixties camper, said, “I was a chicken shit. I was not shy or out going. I just didn’t like to swim, especially if I couldn’t find the bottom. When I went to camp, I couldn’t swim. I thought I could fake them out by pushing off the bottom, but I couldn’t. I never did learn to swim.”
“I loved bobbing on those canoes, but I hated swimming. I used to make excuses not to swim. I hated putting my head under water. Well, one of the waterfront girls told me, you know if you get your advanced swimming certification, you can actually go canoeing instead of bobbing up and down! I remember gritting my teeth and asking her why didn’t she tell me that three years ago,” laughed Diane Dudley (1957-63) affectionately nicknamed “Dodo”, who did get her certification!
Sisters Maureen and Anne Moore belonged to a swim club in the sixties in Bloomfield Hills and both advanced in their skills. Anne was a waterfront director one year at camp.
Campers like Val Van Laan (1965-70) did not know how to swim very well the first summer they arrived, but as the sessions and years progressed, she was able to advance enough to do the boating. Eventually, she took the lifesaving classes and her swimming improved with the help of camp and her parent’s membership at the Bay City Country Club’s pool.
“I learned in a pool, not a lake, and I knew the sidestroke and breaststroke, but I had to do the crawl. I didn’t like it because I didn’t like putting my face in the water,” said Pat Kula (1946), “so when the counselor turned her head, I switched to the sidestroke. Still, to this day, I don’t like my head in the water.”
Swimming was a huge part of Molly Olson’s growing up years at camp in 1946. She had learned to swim at her grandmother’s club pool, and ended up with a high school swim career, which also included synchronized swimming and eventually a lifesaving certificate.
Competitive swimming for Michele Patterson (1971-76) must have been in her blood—she swam competitively from age 4-20. Her fantasy in life was to become the waterfront director, believing it to be the coolest job at camp as she watched what went on at camp every summer. She missed her chance, leaving when Camp Maqua became co-ed.
“My Mom recognized that I had a lot more energy, so I was encouraged toward swimming. This was before ADD and ADHD diagnoses. My Dad put a buoy on my back and said swim, swim, swim! He wanted me to be worn out,” she laughed, but agreed the discipline served her well in her life.
“One summer my Dad took me to the Mill End store in Bay City and bought me a set of flippers,” said Gretchen Jacques (1955-57). “I have large feet, size 12, but I was so excited to go off to camp and swim like a fish. There was a girl in my hut that kept insisting on borrowing my fins and I kept turning her down. She ended up borrowing them and losing one of them in the lake.”
Gretchen’s dream of swimming like a fish ended with much unhappiness. She searched and searched and could not find the flipper. It was a useless endeavour with one flipper, so she gave the girl her address and asked for $10. “When I got home, there was the envelope. It had been steamed open. She was a creep. I think she just acted like she put the money in it and steamed it herself. I was destroyed over that incident.”
Caryl Sue Abendroth remembered the free swims and the dock in the L-shape and the different swim levels in the fifties. “I was always a good swimmer and my Daddy taught me to swim early. My only trauma or accident at camp was in the swimming area. I did not wear water shoes and I stepped on a broken clamshell and got a deep cut. At camp was the first time I was in a canoe and it remains something I love to do to this day. I love the quiet, the joy of paddling propery and seeing the activity under the water.”
What kind of swimming experience did you have during camp?