Laurie Cullen attended in the late sixties at a time when camp registrations were overflowing. She was ten and had camped at another camp from age eight to ten.
“I met a little girl by the name of Jennifer. It was such an unusual name back then. I was so homesick and her Mom found me crying at the top of a hill and asked if I was okay. I went back and we became pen pals as little girls, but lost track. But, at age ten at Maqua, we found ourselves in the same cabin! We were friends well into college. Jennifer McLogan is now an anchorwoman in New York.”
Jennifer was one of seven in her family, all who loved summer camp. The two years at camp where she met Laurie were pivotal in their relationship.
“One of the girls at Camp Tyrone loved horses and had talked to me about Camp Maqua. Her name was Laurie Cullen. I remember my Mom telling me to be nice to her because she was the odd man out in our cabin, but we became friends. Despite the fact that it was more money, I decided to go to Maqua the next year. “Cullen” and I were thirteen when we were at Maqua, counselors until eighteen and continued to be friends all the way through Western Michigan University. We were asked if we would like to be kitchen aides at sixteen and the older counselors adopted us, and of course, we loved it,” said Jennifer. “It was the greatest summer. I remember we both moved up as junior counselors the next summer and we had such a wonderful friendship—a deep love and respect for each other.”
Missy Butsch (1969-76) and Kim Sohigian were inseparable as young girls and shared the same cabin every summer at camp. “We are still close to this day,” said Michele(Missy). “ I was shy, but always had close friends, including Sue Williamson and Beth Hickner, who I stayed in touch with all through high school.”
Coleen Gasta and friend Maureen Mish were friends in the early sixties and both attended Maqua together, as did Anne Moore. Beginning at age eight, Ann went for a total of ten summers with her sister Maureen Moore and friend Sue Augustyniak, who attended elementary school together. They shared a cabin, which made their camping memories even more special in the late sixties and early seventies.
Many of the girls from Flint had attended Camp Tyrone before their adventures began at Maqua. Sandy Indianer and Barb Weston’s mothers were friends, so the girls went off to camp together in 1967 at the age of ten, hearing that there was so much more to offer at Maqua. Being the seasoned campers that they were, they begged their parents to stay all summer, because there was nothing to do in the neighborhood.
“My parents were on the golf course all summer long and they didn’t take us golfing. Kids were like accessories back then,” laughed Sandy, who claimed she would have loved to learn to play golf. “I think they weren’t interested in being with us. Now days it is a different story. I think it was one of the reasons I loved camp so much. People were actually paying attention to us.”
Did you like sharing the cabin with your sister, cousin or friend or did you have a desire to spend time making new friends?