Who could have guessed a movie would have such impact on the camping industry, but “The Parent Trap” (released in 1961) starring Hayley Mills as a set of twins, was a preview of a sleep away camp for sixties campers Mary Grego, and sisters Cathy and Debbie Hawkins, who felt the movie prepared them for Camp Maqua in a happy, positive way.
For many of the girls, this camp was THE camp everyone had heard of and “the expected thing to do”, according to twenties camper Mary Jo Stegall. Even Anne Obey, camper and later a counselor in the sixties, felt like it was a tradition, especially for families who had relatives who had previously attended. “While some were being sent of to those rich uppity camps, we middle class folk went to Maqua.”
Carol Requadt (1945) did not have a best friend and although she was on the shy side, making new friends at camp never seemed to be an issue. “I felt like school was boring, the summers were boring and camp was an exciting place to be!”
Parents who wanted their girls to escape the city and broaden their horizons looked at camp as an ideal solution. Ilene Roger’s family wanted her out in the country for fresh air. Sisters Marge and Helen Hasty, whose father was the camp doctor in the forties, were from the small town of Whittemore, only miles up the road. They found the experience a way to “meet peers at a different level”.
Jan Mosier’s father was also a physician (Dr. Dwight Mosier-General Practitioner), who enlisted as a doctor during World War II, and was gone a good deal of the time. Her mother didn’t drive, but she wanted Jan to have the camp experiences, so she wisely signed her up for a stay at home camp in 1946, which led to her full camping days.
Sisters Phoebe and Georgia Atha camped in the forties and were so grateful to be there, as they understood their mother, (a single Mom raising four kids alone as a nurse), made sacrifices. Many girls pleaded and begged to be allowed to go, as they watched their friends pack up for their summer adventure.
Caryl Sue Abendroth’s mother Thelma McIntyre was born in 1919 and attended camp as a young girl. “She was a very private person, but told me she wanted to go to camp so desperately. It was during the Depression and post-Depression years and times were hard. Her only option was to sell candy bars. She was so young, but so adorable with round china blue eyes, dark hair and very petite. She would be called a “show stopper”. She decided to sell candy bars in a wealthy neighborhood. Well, an elderly man bought all her candy and she was able to go to camp. She wanted me to go when I became of age,” said Caryl, who fulfilled her Mom’s wish the summers of 1953-1954.
“In 1967 our family returned to the ancestral homeland of both parents, who were war refugees from Poland and Italy”, recalled sixties camper Chris Augustyniak. “Since my parents came to the United States as adults, we didn’t learn the Americana and traditions that other girls may have. Toasting marshmallows, singing the folk songs and other activities were learned at camp.”
Our family was very familial and wanted my sister (Sue) and I to have education. They also waited until we were done with camp to have family vacations, unlike some of the parents who had them when their kids were at camp. By age six, I knew I wanted to go to college and our parents wanted us to be independent and self-sufficient. They taught us to drive at thirteen and I think our camp experiences added and reinforced that self-sufficiency.”
What were your reasons for going off to camp? Were you influenced by friends or were there other circumstances that led to your parents “shipping you off to camp”?