Camping With Critters

Published on December 18, 2017December 18, 2017 by Kathy Baker

What would camping be without mosquitoes, spiders, frogs, and other creepy crawlies? There were numerous tales of bites and sightings that scared little girls to death, especially in the dark, as they walked to use the “Brownie”.

Marsha Immerman can still smell the “612” insect repellent from the forties’ and fifties’. Sisters Marcia and Kathleen Dworman used to count each other’s mosquito bites in the sixties’. “The mosquitoes bit me all night long, since my bed was right near the screen that had holes in it. I would hide under my sleeping bag, get hot, crawl out, get bit and then hide under it again,” said Kathleen.

“I was eaten alive by mosquitoes,” said Maggie Young, who camped in the sixties’and seventies’ and went home looking like she had chicken pox, since she could not leave them alone. Julie Richardson (1966-68) was allergic to them and would have welts all over her body, but it did not stop her from campfires.

Janet Gehres was the camp nurse in 1961 and felt bad when she led the girls into a swampy area playing hide and go seek. ‘We came back with mosquito bites all over our behinds!”

“We would play capture the flag in the woods and come out itching from poison Sumac. There were mosquito bites and earaches, but that never stopped us from loving the times there. I remember one year we all switched from “Off” to “Cutters” insect repellent. My frames and glasses melted when the Cutters spray got on it. I couldn’t see out of my lenses,” laughed Julie Bernard (1970-78).

There were mosquitoes everywhere and Carrie Norris (1972-73) said she went through so many cans of “Off” that she is quite sure the repellent has caused damage to her. And she was not wild about the spiders, either—nor were many girls!

Andrea Gale (1970-74) admitted she had a deathly fear of spiders and would scream when the Daddy Longlegs were in her cabin. She was not one of the girls to venture out in the middle of the night, for fear of finding them, but she remembered the counselor accompanying the brave girls by flashlight.

Nature Directors 1970-71

Published on December 13, 2017December 11, 2017 by Kathy Baker

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 the two bird’s nests to be observed. (Phoebe and Robin)

The main room held sixteen to twenty people or two cabins, blackboard, large work room cabinet to store chemicals and paints, bulletin boards, shelves, racks, tools. equipment, chairs and tables. A small back room held a toilet and an unplugged cooler. The second floor was sleeping quarters for unattached staff. She had a little diagram, which indicated a sink in the workroom that faced the road, and “Dorthe’s Island” to the right of Dutton, which was an outdoor nature terrarium that had been built three summers previously.

Joan’s bulletin boards featured “Animals Around Us” with photos of reptiles, birds and mammals and specimens and explanations of pressed leaves and photos of trees. She conducted nature contests each session, tree identification of twenty-five trees, and competitions between the cabins. Her prizes included penny candy and nature ribbons at the closing ceremonies.

There was also a boa constrictor, mice and a Blanding turtle that Joan brought with her, which the campers cared for over the summer, as well as a painted turtle found at camp. Her father had made a poster on wild flowers entitled “Let them live in your eyes, not die in your hand”, which she thought was appropriate since many of the campers decorated their wishing boats with flowers at the end of the session. Other posters pertained to Smokey the Bear, poison ivy and poison sumac. An assistant was on hand from the first week and they worked together on scheduling lessons and rainy day activities.

Nature Director-1968

Published on December 11, 2017December 5, 2017 by Kathy Baker

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 name down. The director came to her house to interview her and that was the beginning of her north woods adventure!

There were no notes left for her to follow, despite the camp having always had a nature studies program. Audrey made charts and used her own interests and knowledge for the program. There were scavenger hunts, where the girls would run around and find plants on lists, including “Lady Slippers”. “They don’t grow everywhere,” she said, “so I told the girls not to pick them.”

Dissection was also on her program and she believed the girls thought it was fascinating. One of the maintenance staff secured a cow’s head and they dissected the eyeballs. There was also an outdoor site, which was a moat with a little island on the side of the nature cabin.

The second year, Audrey came in as the assistant cook, hoping to try something a little different. “It looked more like perseverance. I got up early for this job. I burned my fingers a few times and decided I needed to change my attitude,” she said. “Then I had fun. Before my attitude change it was just work. I remember bringing my plant press into the kitchen because I needed a heat source to dry my plants. I used a shelf over the huge stove.” (Audrey’s explanation for this fascination was the recent plant course she had at college.)

Audrey received excellent ratings from Dorthe. “Nature went very well this summer. I felt Audrey worked very hard and had planned some new interesting activities for the campers. A great deal of hard work went into the completion of the island started last year. The Nature part of Dutton was always neat and clean at all times and it was a pleasure to visit her classes and observe her in action. She was an asset in many ways to our staff.”

“Audrey was new to Maqua but right right into the spirit of Maqua. She was always interested in the campers and was most effective with them. She ran a good program in Nature and had a variety of activities. She was always on the job and most mature in the way she assumed her responsibilities. She could be called on for extra duty or to help out in the kitchen and she was always a willing worker. She was liked by her co-workers and was indeed an asset to our staff. I found her most cooperative.”

Nature Directors 1959-67

Published on December 6, 2017November 22, 2017 by Kathy Baker

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 applied in her senior year of high school and Camp Maqua made an age exception for her to become the Nature Director from 1959- 1962. With her interest in Biology, she and her father developed the nature center at camp.

“My Dad and I built the cages and I made charts and we were part of the Infirmary in the beginning. It was quite a good program, and every year I directed the nature program and the music at camp. I was a good leader, the kids loved the program, and I loved being with kids of all ages. I was fun and I loved my campers. I have wonderful memories of great kids and even a pet goat named “Daisy’ that belonged to the fella who took care of the grounds—Mr. Watson.”

Even The Walls Sing!

Published on November 22, 2017November 16, 2017 by Kathy Baker

“We were always singing,” said Kimela Peck (1966-74), who said she could still see “Beanie” with her guitar by the fireplace and the girls in their “whites” swaying back and forth to “High On Chapel Hill”.

“The lodge was filled with kids all summer long from Bay City, Saginaw, Flint and Detroit and everyone seemed to have a good time,” said Nancy Sautter (1968-70). “The staff worked hard to make it fun. Everyone sang. I played a guitar, but poorly, but I remember Barb (Haggart), her guitar and her ‘Montague” routine and singine “Adelina”. We had such fun!”

“I was not not a picky eater and I ate everything and I loved being in the lodge,” said Jenifer Penzien (1969-71). “I can still see the words to the songs on big pieces of paper on the wall and “Beanie” leading us in songs. Two songs I still remember are the “Ram Sam Sam” song and “Little Bunny FooFoo”.

“Beanie” (Barbara Haggart) made up all the activities, led the songs and played her guitar. “We sang after lunch and after dinner. I wrote out some of the songs on big poster boards and tacked them to the lodge walls. I later mimeographed them into a songbook for the staff. I think I still have them.”

“I was an only child. I went to camp late in life at age thirteen and was only supposed to stay for two weeks, but I called home and asked to stay the whole summer. I was always interested in sports, sang in church choirs and in college and learned the baritone ukulele while I was living in the dorm,” said Barbara. It would turn out that her favorite interests would be what created the perfect counselor and director, where she would be remembered for her singing, her love of the sporting activities and her fairness as a director.

Sing For Your Supper–

Published on November 20, 2017November 16, 2017 by Kathy Baker

“The lodge and the food were wonderful,” said Minette Jacques, the skinny kid from the fifties’ who loved to eat. “I loved the backwards meal, where we ate dessert first and all the way back to our salad. And we sang our prayer and the chant of “able, able, get your arms off the table”, when someone had their elbows on the table. I also remember Billie singing “No Man Is An Island” and she led us in the “Johnny Appleseed” prayer.”

“I inherited a good speaking voice,” said Minette Immerman (1938-41), when I complimented her young sounding eighty-two year old voice. “I loved the singing and we sang a lot after dinner in the lodge. I can still remember the lyrics to the last one. Run along home and jump into bed. Say your prayers and cover your head. This very same thing I say unto you, you dream of me and I’ll dream of you.”

Missy Plambeck (1968-78) hated the announcements, but loved the singing after every meal and the song they all sang to Edna the cook. “There were songs on paper on the walls of the lodge, but some we didn’t sing because they were so old. I do remember singing one of them and my daughter asked me how I knew the song. I told her it was from camp and she said not else should know that, since it was a sorority song.”

She was one of many who remembered singing to “Cookie”. Debbie Tweedie (1965-72) said, ”We would make the cooks come out of the kitchen with this song and they would run around the table, and beg Beanie to play her songs and I can still sing the “elbows on the table song”, but, we also had our table responsibilities in the lodge.”

Girls of Camp Maqua

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