The services, whether you believed or did not believe, were spiritual in nature because of their natural surroundings. Many of the girls had clear memories of the spot on the hill with the beautiful trees and view of the lake, and just as many reasons why they loved it.
As a present-day photographer, Anne Shutt (1961-66) had memories of dressing in whites to go to the services and the beauty of Chapel Hill. “It would photograph beautifully. Those were the years that I decided I wanted to be a photographer. I knew what I wanted to do at age ten. I was so into Camp Maqua and it was so beautiful.”
Linda Greenwald (1948-58) loved the scenery and sitting in the fresh air, as did Holly Foss (1966-72) who admired the views, but Valerie Monto (1964-68) not only enjoyed the view of the lake, but the boys from the camp across the lake patrolling by as they sat in their service!
Others, like Diane Dudley (1957-63) remembered Chapel Hill as a peacefully quiet place that smelled nice. “I liked the omni church of that place. It was everybody’s church—a nice deist service.”
Debi Gotlieb (1968+) had vivid memories of the white tee shirt with the green trim and the little green logo that was considered her Sunday “whites”. “I think it had to be the most peaceful place on earth, or in Michigan. It was very special to me, not just because it was the Sunday service, but it was a spiritual place. I remember Beanie leading the services and song as we sat on logs that seemed to be on the side of the hill.”
“Vespers were always on Sunday evenings,” said Sue Wiegand (1966-67), who assisted Beanie and Dorthe for the services on Sunday. “We would have a couple songs, a short message of some sort and then head down to the campfire. I never felt there was any prejudice, even with the different religions there, because Maqua was the place to be. The girls came there because they wanted to be there.”
The walk up to the peaceful spot on the hill remains in Sharon William’s mind in the seventies, just as Edna Young described her time in the early thirties. It did not matter what era the girls camped, Chapel Hill held a special place in their childhood minds.
Some, like Debbie Pennington (1961-62) thought of the services as ceremonial, while Melissa Plambeck (1968-78) recalled a counselor reading “The Velveteen Rabbit” with its great message at one of her services.
Nancy Neumyer (1975-78) had no memories of going to any services, and Cindy Rose (1968-70) thought of them as a more relaxing form of church for her, despite the fact many of the girls would sneak off and skip out of the services by feigning illness or just disappearing.
“Some of us would have like to have been anywhere else,” laughed Pam Wintermute (1955-56), who attended,and had great memories of the view. Were you a fan of Chapel Hill or did you sneak away?