Sheryl Biesman, contacted me after googling Camp Maqua, ( after finding the article from the Bay City Times), and belongs to a writers’ group and has always been interested in writing. Some of her writings are centered on camp memories.
“I wrote about the music, because the camp songs were trapped inside my head. It was a time in my life that music influenced my life. I have been searching for a cassette tape that I captured as a twelve-year old at the final ceremony. I love to record everything. (Photos, music, etc.) When I listened to it, I realized someone had whispered in it—hope to see you next year,” said Sheryl, who realized that it would never happen since the camp closed. She carried the memories and songs and friendships in her mind, as well as her pen-pal relationships.
With her career in marketing and degree from U of M in communications, Sheryl was an early adopter of technology. When camp closed in 1978, the internet was already in process, with e-mail not far behind in 1995, according to Sheryl. “There were twenty years with music in my head. Napster rolled around and I searched and found the songs from camp. It was my first experience hearing them since camp and it was incredible. With YouTube, I could see many of the songs being sung. Hundreds of camp songs. There was nothing I could not find on YouTube. It was a major revelation when I googled this wacky song by Tom Lehrer in 1962, who turned out to be a folk artist who sang this song “Rickity Tickity Tin”, It was also a revelation to me that all these songs we sang at camp were covers for popular songs like Peter, Paul and Mary’s songs. I can remember a Spiders Web song, but I can’t find the origin.”
Cindy Knapp, or “Spaz”, was one of the girls who would perform a fabulous rendition of ‘”Cabaret” and Bonnie (last name unknown), who worked as a waitress in Frankenmuth, were two of the girls she remembered. The girls would settle into the campfire and sing fast, playful songs in the beginning and more reflective songs later, like “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”, according to Sheryl.
Phyllis Michelson sold her baritone ukulele to Susan Bradford for $15.00 and she played it for many years after her camp years in the sixties’. “I played piano, clarinet, and oboe during my school days, but the ukulele was so special to me. I later joined Young Life and bought their song book so I could play the songs we sang at our gatherings at home, too. I actually wrote an original song that I played on it and sang, but only to myself.”
Music was the component that Sarah Smith loved that held everything together. Threads of Karen Carpenter’s songs, singing the prayers and playing the guitar at camp were precious memories during her years at camp in the sixties’ and seventies’. “It was the first time I had ever performed in front of people and it was so cool that people looked up to me. It was also the first time someone said what a pretty singing voice I had. The campfire and singing those songs really stuck with me. When I was a counselor, we had to take turns at the waterfront and campfire and I loved doing it just so I could sing and play my guitar.”
Andrea Gale (1970-74) knows all the songs by heart from her days at camp and taught her husband. When she was ten her Mom paid for guitar lessons and she got her first guitar at eleven. “I can remember sitting in my cabin around 1974, singing Joni Mitchell and ELO. I think my guitar playing compensated for some of those other insecurities. Later, I would go sing by myself at a ferry dock in Charlevoix for money and it developed my confidence when people complimented me. That was formed for me at camp. I was such a music geek and loved singing at the bonfires and the hours in the lodge when our director taught us songs. It was a lovely time in my life.”
How did the music from camp continue with you?