Some years there was fraternization with the boys’ camp and other years there was no social activities between the two camps. Marge Hasty (1946) had memories of meeting the boys by sailboat in the middle of the lake to pass “sneaky mail”, and said many of the counselors had boyfriends across the lake and this is how they passed the mail to them.
Susan Ruterbusch (1947-52) had camped in Huts 3 and 10 and later in Dutton above the Infirmary, which had wonderful windows that overlooked the lake. “The girls would dance around by the lake outside that building and say–I wish the boys from the camp across the lake could see us, but it was all wishful thinking.”
Michele Butsch “Missy” (1969-76) said she and all her friends always wanted a social or a dance with the boys from camp, but it never happened while she was there, even though she had heard other years had done just that. Karen Magidsohn recalled the older boys had mixers with the Maqua girls, but never any dances while she was there in the sixties.
Vague memories of a mixer at some point during Ruth Wiesen’s years (1957-59) triggered the joke that the girls always bet if the boys would even show up! When the boys were asked over, it was not always an ideal situation. Sue West (1975+) recalled director Carol Neiman getting into trouble for allowing the male staff to come to Maqua for an evening of fun with the counselors. Other years there were mixers for the counselors, which was considered a big deal, according to Susan Prieskorn (1966-72), and there were no consequences.
Cindy Knapp’s two brothers camped across the lake, so she had been there on Parents’ Day, but she laughed over a mixer with the boys one summer. “We tried to get all fancied up for the dance and they seemed pretty intimidated by us.”
Kimela Peck (1966-74) would canoe halfway and meet the boys in the middle of the lake with her friends, who loved the talking and flirting. “I think my last year, the boys even came over for a dance. It was the usual thing. Boys on one side staring at the girls on the other side and no one dancing any slow dances. But, when the faster songs came on, then they all got up and danced together.”
“I remember one year when I was thirteen and the boys from Camp Mahn-go-tah-see were bussed over to Maqua. If you were thirteen to fifteen, you could go to the dance in the lodge. We never ever worried about what we looked like until that night. Then we decided to brush teeth and do hair and whatever makeup we had with us, we applied. I know some of the counselors were dating some of the boys, so nothing was the same in the lodge on those nights. Even the older girls were putting themselves together,” said Amy Falvey (1969-78).
“When we were older they had a mixer or a dance for us. We all had a sign with a name on it and for the first dance, we had to find the corresponding name, “ said Debbie Tweedie(1965-72). “I think I was Bonnie and I had to find Clyde and there was Fred and Wilma, and I do believe that was the first boy I ever danced with. There were also lots of games.”
Laurie Cone (1962-68) said there were mixers for the staff at the beginning of some of the sessions that sparked new summer relationships. She remembered romances at camp that involved the boys at Camp Mahn-go-tah-see, but said for the most part, they met in the light of the day. The girls would latch their canoes together with ropes.
But just as boys will be boys, girls will be girls! Sometimes the girls would take hikes to Hale Park as counselors or sneak out in the canoes to meet the boys, but Marge Hasty insisted it was all innocent. Other girls recalled the girls disappearing and then they would be back. Some, like Sue Robson (1970-71) were too young to sneak out, and others were horrified to learn there were girls who did.
“Sometimes the junior counselors would creep away and we weren’t part of whatever they were doing, but they would say “we are pooped” and we always felt like we were missing something,” laughed KayMary Young (1954), “but I don’t know what we missed.”
Kim Wynne-Parry (1963-68) was a chameleon, by her own description. “I got along fine with everyone, but I was not brave. I was a rule follower and I did as I was told, but there were many who did not and those who snuck over to the boys’ camp, but I was not one of them.
Sister Vicki Wynne-Parry (1969-73) remembered the boys sneaking over to Camp Maqua, just as they had for decades. “The goal for every camper was to get the cabin above the boathouse. Usually the older girls got to stay there and I finally spent a couple of years in Hut 9,” said Beverley Schlatter (1944-49). “And the boys would sneak from across the lake and we would sneak out and talk to them on the dock, if the counselors weren’t around. But, we were always afraid of getting caught. There was never any hanky-panky, though.”
“We were naughty and liked to sneak out,” admitted Kellie Moore (1970-77). “We were constantly sneaking out. We would walk along the shoreline and the path was still so visible, even without a flashlight. Sometimes we would sneak a boat out or paddle the canoes over to the boys’ camp to see how close we could get. We never got caught, even though we had to sometimes dive into the bushes giggling.”
Do you remember any mixers or dances and were they fun or awkward? Were you one of the girls who snuck out?