Friendships and Relationships

Sister Shadows–

Published on by Kathy Baker

All of Helen McLogan’s sisters attended Camp Maqua, but she doesn’t remember if they camped at the same time. “I think of all of the four sisters,” said Helen (1954), “Jennifer had to be the one with the fondest and most memories of Maqua. I always felt like I was in her shadow. She was bigger than life and was one of the famous counselors with her name on the canoe paddles that hung on the mantle of the fireplace. She was charismatic and hilarious.”

Jeanne Kiltie’s parents sent her off to Camp Maqua and she was never homesick a day, maybe due to the fact her sister Susan was also there. One of the years, she stayed for seven weeks!

“I was shy and sensitive until people got to know me, unlike my sister who would be a AA+ compared to my B- in personality, in my opinion,” said Jeanne (1966-71). “One of the best things for me at camp was to get to know new people. I was always a team person, not a one on one type, so there were many team activities at camp and I enjoyed that. I loved that we were always busy and I was also the type that always had to have something to do. When I was a junior counselor, if there were homesick girls, I would take them for a walk and talk to them.”

Jennifer Fenton (1971-78) was not close to her sister Gigi, who was three years older and was at camp at the same time, and felt like she had been sent off and did not enjoy camp like Jennifer. Her sister was the type that liked to be in her room and Jennifer loved being outside. “I was a tomboy and my Mom always butchered my hair. In sixth grade, I looked like a boy. I was not one of the cute girls, but I got along with everyone.”

“I had one sister, Nancy, who had gone before me, but she was mean to me and my friends. My Mom was a lovely person, and I was an obedient daughter,” said Karen Kaunitz (1945), “but my sister was a different story. I remember the older campers, Nancy included, decided to give themselves a Mohawk haircut and shaved their heads right down the middle. There were a handful of them and they all were in the boathouse cabin.”

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Having My Sister There—

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

Elaine is the oldest of the three Engibous sisters and was friends with Beth Swift during her growing up years. Doris, fourteen months younger, and Judy, ten years younger, were all Maqua campers. (Ironically, Elaine ended up marrying Beth’s older brother and they must have always felt like family, since Beth had been in nursery school with Elaine and the families grew up with each other.)

Around eight years old and possibly somewhere between 1961-1963, Elaine and Beth headed to camp together. She thinks she was at Maqua with her sister one year, but only the first year that Doris attended.

“I was reserved as a child, but not moody and was not afraid of anyone, but everyone was bigger than me. Beth and I were both little goody-two-shoes. I always made sure I did the right thing and was not a troublemaker.  I liked taking care of the campers. My kids told me I put the smother in mother, “ laughed Elaine.

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Cousins and Sisters—

Published on by Kathy Baker

Helen Johnson’s first year at camp was 1968 at age seven, and she followed in the footsteps of her mother and aunt, Ellie and Nora Goddeyne. “It was only fitting that my cousin and I would go there, also. I’m not sure how many years I attended, probably five or six, and I’m not sure why I stopped going. I would go with my cousin Ann Niergarth and neighborhood friends Katie Easton and Susan Adams.”

Cindy Knapp also went with her cousin Jane Woodworth in 1968, and felt like Maqua brought out the best in everyone. She seemed to be assigned to the same cabin with friends she met at camp, who all ended up becoming staff.

In 1963, at seven years of age, Debra Osher headed to camp with her cousin Judy, who was two years older. Only slightly homesick, knowing her cousin was there, she hung out with Jan Schreiber and her friend Marcia Michelson, whose sister Nancy was also at camp. Somehow all these relations made camp less frightening for Debra.

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Someone Who Knew Someone—

Published on by Kathy Baker

Someone knew someone who knew someone who said Camp Maqua was the best. Either a mother, aunt, friend, cousin or sister would recruit future campers to enjoy the experiences they found to be so positive. Some would remain friends their entire lives and others lost touch.

“It was a huge part of our lives. We were all best friends all summer,” said Julie Bernard, who was eight years old in 1970 when she went off to camp, sharing the same cabin as Michele Plambeck and Michele Patterson. She stayed in touch with some of the girls and even stood up in Missy Plambeck’s wedding.

“I grew up at Maqua”, said Michele “Missy” Butsch of her many years at camp. “I was eight years old when I camped there for the first time in 1969 and although I was a little homesick, my sister, who was three years older, was there.”

Kim Sohigian and Michele were inseparable as young girls and shared the same cabin every summer at camp. “We are still close to this day,” said Michele. “I was shy, but I always had close friends, including Sue Williamson and Beth Hickner, who I stayed in touch all the way through high school. I was always in the middle of the group, which was popular, even though I wasn’t the most popular. We were always the screw-ups. Missy and Kim. If it could happen, it was us.”

Carol Wahl met Pam Moore at camp in 1972, the first year she was there. They ended up as college room-mates and Pam was in her wedding. While at Central she met many of the staff in her sorority, including Mary Toburen.

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You Can Never Have Enough—-

Published on by Kathy Baker

fullsizerender-20Many campers could trace their present day love for all things arts and crafts to their days at Maqua, including Maggie Young, who felt so fortunate to have the exposure during the sixties and seventies. Carol Requadt (1945) could still remember the cedar smell of the craft hut where she loved working with her hands.

Mary Hewes (1946) and MaryJane Keschman (1944-54) loved the traditions at camp, including the arts and crafts. “I remember making Gimp bracelets with four strands of plastic woven together and a leather lanyard that I gave to my brother. We also sanded wooden bowls until they were smooth, “ said Mary. For MaryJane, it was the wooden plate with her mother’s initials and the same Gimp bracelets that were her favorites.

“In the arts and crafts hut, there were work benches and tables in picnic table style”, said Caryl Sue Abendroth, who loved that they could work on their leather keychains, basket weaving or lanyards in the fifties, even on rainy days.

Lanterns and tile ashtrays were the craft of choice for Helen Thompson in 1968. A paperweight with a four- leaf clover embedded inside, formed with a regular three leaf and a single one added, pleased Bev Lemanski’s father in 1945. For Beverly Schlatter, who loved the craft hut in the forties, it did not matter what she brought home to her parents, she just liked working with flowers, stones, glue and scissors.

The little yellow painted bowl, with I LOVE YOU inscribed on it, is still in the possession of Maureen Moore’s mother from the sixties, as well as Patsy Walsh’s little leather woven purse in the shape of a triangle from 1938!

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Bullets and Bows–

Published on by Kathy Baker

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“I loved the riflery and still have my NRA diplomas and archery certificates from camp, “ said Diane “Dodo” Dudley (1957-63). “I still shoot and use my pellet guns to shoot at balloons or targets. I am not much for the rifles anymore, since they make too much noise, but I have been back and forth across the country about four times camping, so Maqua did influence me.”

Many of the girls learned new skills that came with these sports, bearing bruises as badges. Kathleen Clements (1961-62) decided after the welt on her forearm from archery, it was not for her, but it did not deter Chris Lambert (1958), who later taught the skills to others at camp.

“I loved riflery and my grandfather had given me a 22 when I was fairly young. I loved learning to shoot standing up, sitting down and laying down. I liked archery, but in the beginning my arm would be all black and blue, so I took an archery class before I taught it, so I could hold it the right way.”

Kim Wynne-Parry (1963-68) felt archery and riflery broadened her horizons and was pleased at how proud her Dad was when she came home from camp with her awards. Rosemary Orgren (1956-58) had to be encouraged to try archery and riflery, but loved that she could hit a target. “My Dad was a hunter and I had learned to shoot tin cans off a log, but the archery always bruised my arm.”

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