Traditions

Even The Walls Sing!

Published on by Kathy Baker

553620_3521084516433_30991956_n“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.

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Sing For Your Supper–

Published on by Kathy Baker

“The lodge and the food were wonderful,” said 529777_3521098916793_2124056752_nMinette 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.”

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Music, Music, Music—

Published on by Kathy Baker

23505_115400755153605_1775792_nPicture a sheet music with notes, and then picture the notes of music leaving the page—floating over the camp, through the lodge dining hall, past the flagpole, down to the campfire, back up to Chapel Hill and down through the cabins of all the little campers. Music tied the camp together and those notes were not invisible. They poured forth from every girl who attended camp and they left lasting impressions. The piano, phonograph and music were at home in the lodge, and many girls learned their first tunes there.

The piano was a memory for Kerry Weber (1952), who decided no one knew any other song except “Chopsticks”, but the happy songs remain in her mind. When friends threw her a surprise party for her fiftieth birthday, someone mentioned Camp Maqua and ten girls stood up and proceeded to sing “We Are The Girls From Camp Maqua”.

Barb Ballor (1951-55) asked me to picture five elderly ladies singing as she and her four girlfriends met recently in Florida for a get-together– all in the kitchen singing the same song.

The rendition of one of the Camp Maqua songs came to me from Maribeth Morton (1974-75). “We welcome you to Camp Maqua, We’re mighty glad you’re here. We’ll send the air reverberating with our cheer. We’ll sing you in, we’ll sing you out, To you we raise a mighty shout: Hail, hail, the gangs all here, and you’re welcome to Camp Maqua”.

Mary Jane Keschman (1944-54) hated getting up early to raise the flag, but she loved the evenings at camp when the counselors would begin at the caretaker’s cottage and walk around to serenade all the cabins with slow, sad songs.

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Overnight Biking and Horseback Riding Trips

Published on by Kathy Baker

img_7554A circle bike trip was one of the clearest memories for fair-skinned Nancy Keeler (1973-74), who ended up in the Infirmary with a sunburn. Six girls, accompanied by Pam Hartz (1966-75) and Mary Bent, biked nine miles the first day, twenty miles the second day, and another nine on the third day.

“I was totally wiped out,” she said., “but they gave us salt tablets. We stopped along the way on lawns and people would bring out water and lemonade to us. It was a more trusting time back then. I remember one of them bringing “Gorp” out to us, which was M&M’s, raisins and peanuts.”

In 1974, James Sweeting evaluated the camp for the state and had noted that a three- day trip had been planned. Sue Patenge was the director at that time and had given her blessing to this adventure.

Another biking trip led by Mary Bent and Pam Hartz took six girls for a two-day overnight camping bike trip. They spent the night in pup tents, cooked over an open fire, packed lunches and rode the Rifle River campground trails. At night they had foil dinners and returned on the third day with “scraped knees, sunburns and pleasant memories”.

Bonnie Schlatter recalled three or four different groups of girls she led on a bike hike in the seventies. “One was older and I don’t know if I suggested it, but I took a few on a bike ride and headed to Tawas, ending at the Lumberman’s Monument. I know we had to be picked up at the end due to the rain. We got drenched,” said Bonnie, who still loves to bike.

“The Peddlin’ Pals” were Mary Surabian, Debbie Agarwal and Bonnie. They started their bike trip on July 6, after some short practice trips heavily loaded. On the first night they stopped at Tawas Point State Park, and the second day into Osoda for lunch and on to their destination at the Lumberman’s Monument. According to the “Loon”, they encountered the rain at the Foote Dam and were picked up, but continued their ride around Long Lake the following day, with sun, swimming and a picnic.

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Tripping Down The River

Published on by Kathy Baker

23505_115400925153588_1438907_n“One of our canoe trips from Mio to Grayling was spent in a tornado warning,” said Susie Utter, who was a CIT in the fifties. “We went to the banks of the river where it was lower and more protected, and it poured. We looked and saw whatever was holding all the Kotex pads had tipped over and emptied in the river! They were floating down the river!”

The canoe trips were always her favorite, but she hated learning to dump it over and straighten it out. For Susie, it was traumatic. But, those safety drills were valuable when the time came to actually canoe a real river and not near a shore on Loon Lake with the safety of the shore and staff.

Adventures came in many forms. For Cindy Morrison (1960) and Sue Kiltie (1960-68), who were at the end of the canoe paddling forward, it came when the canoe tipped over and everyone got wet. It came when they could stop at the store on the AuSable to purchase goodies and later at night, zip their sleeping bags together to stay warm. Cindy also thought it was an adventure to wash her hair and bathe in freezing cold water. One trip it rained so hard that she and another small girl crawled under the lean-to, scared to death.

Barb Rehmus, Charla Batsell and eight canoeists left for their three-day adventure in July 1975 with much advanced preparation. The kitchen aides carefully packed the supplies they needed with the help of Cabin C. According to the “Loon” arrangements were made with Jolly Redskin campgrounds for “shining, bright canoes to start their journey” and the campers packed their clothes in plastic bags, took a special canoe class and off they went! A fifty-five mile trip in sunny and warm weather ensued for twelve to fifteen hours. “

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Beware and Be Aware!

Published on by Kathy Baker

lighteningThe elements, the wildlife, other campers on the river and unforeseen circumstances forced campers and counselors to remain on guard at all times. But, adventures were adventures, and unexpected incidents occurred, which were handled as they arose. Some were fun, some were funny and some were dangerous, but all were memorable.

“My most vivid memory of camp was in my last year (1962) of the overnight canoe trip,” said Ilene Zacher, who began attending Camp Maqua in 1959 at the age of ten. “I was with all my cohorts paddling the AuSable. I think they had bussed us to Grayling. It was a backpack type of trip. We embarked upon the river, pitched our tents, prepared our food, hiked the woods and learned about the flora and fauna. It was mostly about survival skills. We had to dig our own latrines, which was interesting and a first for me. I was awestruck by the AuSable and the high cliffs. The worst part of the trip was a thunderstorm with lightning. Our counselor would not let us stop. We were on schedule and she was going to stick to our schedule. Of course, no one got hit by lightning, but I just remember how scary it was.”

Anne Obey, (camper and counselor from 1960-70) had memories of a “heinously awful lightning storm” that sent everyone running to some stranger’s cabin, thankful that no one was home to see the campers trespassing and the raccoons that ate their breakfast.

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