When Joan McKinney arrived in 1970, she took an inventory of the nature hut (Dutton) and its equipment, cleaned it and readied during her pre-camp. She described the surroundings as central to all the cabins and by the water, with a front screened-in porch that faced the water. She kept her reptiles and amphibians there, plus […]
Kathy Baker
Nature Director-1968
Audrey Delcourt was a first-year biology major at Albion College in 1968 and had a few classes in her field when she was hired as the Nature Director. She had relatives in northern Michigan, and had often gone up to Oscoda. She saw the sign as she passed through Hale, and her Mom wrote the camp […]
Nature Directors 1959-67
For many years the nature center was housed in “Dutton”—the original farmhouse on the property by the lake. It was never in great shape, but every year renovations were done to keep the building standing just a little longer. Karen (“Billie”) Kaiser was the first director of nature that was mentioned in archival notes. Karen […]
Passing On The Songs—
The legacy of camp songs continued to be passed down through the generations as campers and staff sang the camp songs to husbands, friends, children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, patients in their practices or students in their classrooms. The songs and singing were a standout to Audrey Graff (1948), who taught all three of her children […]
Camp Songs Influenced Me—
“It is an amazing thing to look back and have those memories of those relationships, the counselors, the campers, the music—-as you can see from the online songbook that is now being retyped, singing was the thread,” said Pamela Hartz. “In the early years, there was a Christian message to many of the songs, but […]
The Music Is Tucked In My Heart–
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 […]