The directors during the fifties included Dorothy Jane Dickey (1950-52), Kathleen Geerlings (1953), Janet Adams (1954), Kathleen Dillinger (1955-58), and Shirley Rausch (1959). Unfortunately, no directors’ reports were found in the YWCA pertaining to their years on staff. Often it was difficult to find staff that could leave their families behind if they were married. […]
Kathy Baker
Staffing During the Depression and War Years
While camping before the Depression and World War II was seen as a way for young people to extend their skills and extend their education, it evolved from a middle class activity to a summer program for all economic levels. Camping grew during the years after 1945 and parents encouraged their children to return to […]
Staffing in the Thirties
Minutes from the camp committee began on April 1, 1932 and discussed hiring a lifeguard. The Camp Maqua (Loon Lake) property had been operating for less than ten years with waterfront activities. Four males were in contention for the lifeguard position, and Mr. Francis Barnett was hired from the pool of five applicants. “…after a […]
Directors #10
In 1977, Camp Maqua was still operating as the co-ed Camp Maquois,and Ken Dike assumed the position as camp director. He had been the program director at Camp Iroquois on Sand Lake under director David Bast, and was only twenty-two years old, but had a great resume. He had already accumulated seven years in camping and four […]
Directors #9
Marge Falvey, camp committee director during the early seventies, had been instrumental in hiring Carol Nieman for the position of camp director in 1975, and had known her family. Carol had been a substitute teacher in the Essexville school system and had done well as a teacher, but somehow her abilities did not seem to […]
Memories From Camp Health Director 1973-74
I worked at Camp Maqua as the Camp Health director 2 summers 1973 and 1974. I was pre-med at Albion College. I had spent my childhood at another YWCA camp, near Flint Camp Tyrone and worked 2 summers 71/72 at Forest Beach Camp in New Buffalo, MI from the Chicago YWCA. As soon as I […]