Nicknames were a way to make girls feel included with a sense of intimacy and camaraderie. “Magot” (or maybe Maggot) would not be the cutesy nickname a young girl would pick, but Karen Magidsohn won that name. It was very common for girls to be christened with new or short names at camp. Sue Purdue, who taught tennis in 1968, was remembered as one of the favorite counselors with the greatest nickname—Super! (Supercalifragisticexpealadocious was too difficult to spell, so they called her Super or Superdoo.)
Nicknames were especially popular with the staff and in 1966, Karen Boger was Bogie, Lorraine Buban was Collie, Oleta Engel was Lee, Kathy French was Frenchie, Ann Giebel was Snoopy, Carol Griffith was Ginger, Barbara Haggart was Beanie, Linda Harp was Harpie, Emogene Host was Emmy, Mary Laich was Buff, Janet McLeod was Squirt, Ann Temple was Rusty, Ursula Witkowski was Urs, Gretchen Sharpley was Gretty, and Nancy Westfall was Nan.
“Beanie”, as she was known at camp, received her nickname the first summer at Maqua. “I didn’t have a name and I remember Lee, who ran the camp store, came out with the staff and showed us what she was going to sell in her store. Everyone laughed when she pulled out this little green beanie,” she said. “No-one thought it would sell. I came out with one, rigged up with two tongue depressors like a “Beanie Copter” and they sold out!” (If you remember, the Beanie Copter hat was from the Beanie and Cecil show—- an animated color cartoon.)
The “Loon” in 1965 ran an article “How Counselors Got Their Nicknames”. “Frenchie’s last name was French; Bubble’s initials are BUB; Scotch’s name was Ginny, shortened to gin, then scotch; O-B’s last name was Obey; Beanie received her name for wearing a beanie: Snoopy had the name of Napolean, which was Nappie for short, which was associated with the blanket of Linus in the Snoopy cartoon, which was associated with Snoopy; Horse was in a cabin with too many Kathys’ and she liked horses; Peachy’s real name was Gail, but her little charges named her Peachy for no reason; the souvenirs all around the room of Colorado, who was from Colorado, earned her name; Saunders was Candi’s last name: Melba was shortened to Mel; blowing up rafts on vacation earned Windy her nickname; Corky was first named Curly for having curlers in her hair, but she renamed herself; Reb supposedly had a Rebel accent and Smokey wore a fire hat the day she was named.”
Laurie Cone had two nicknames in 1968—Coon and Pinecone! Jeanne Kiltie also was known as Froggy (for her raspy voice) or Little Kiltie, since she was Sue Kiltie’s little sister. Kathy Hall (1966-71) laughed like Phyllis Diller, so she was known as Diller. Quiet Linda Doering was crowned (facetiously) by Beanie and was known as Yakky, while Cindy Morrison (1960) was known as Bug Eyes for her blue eyes and always considered it an endearment.
When Karen Kaiser (1959-62) was asked how she got her nickname, she said there were three girls named Karen in her hut when she was seven and everyone called her friend’s mother Billie and she loved the name, so it stuck. Valerie Monto (1964-68) had a girl from Florida with a southern accent and her nickname was Southern. “By the end of the session, half the camp had caught her accent and it was “y’all this and y’all that”, she laughed.
Sue Wiegand earned her nickname Flash from Beanie. (“I think it had something to do with the fact that I was not particularly quick in the morning. But, as I’ve gotten older, I have actually become a morning person.”) She was also described in a paragraph of the “Loon” in 1968 in an article “The Legend of Flash Gordon”. “Yes, Flash does live and we are proud, yes, very proud, deep down in our hearts that we, the humble staff of Maqua have actually seen her.”
“Camp was just a place where I began to think about my identity,” said Debbie Tweedie (1965-72). “Because my last name was Tweedie, I was always nicknamed Tweetie Bird and my friends would give me gifts of Tweetie Birds. At camp my counselor decided to give me a new name. I was Peanuts. I suddenly realized I didn’t have to be Tweetie Bird anymore, and I did not have to be defined by others. It was a big moment.”
Diane Dudley (1957-63) got her nickname as a small child and it stayed with her at camp. “I was named for my Aunt Doris, who was called Dodie or Dodo and my Mom said when I tried to pronounce my name as a small child, I would say Dodo, so either I mixed it up or it was all I could say. I didn’t tell people at school, but one year a friend came up to me in Cunningham’s Drug store and said “Hi Dodo” and the president of our high school heard it and that was it.”
Karen Cox (1967-69) was nicknamed Cowboy pretty much the first day on the job. Linnie Harris, who was the waterfront director at the time, did not know the names of all the new staff members. Karen just happened to be wearing her plastic “Broncos” spirit hat decorated with flowers by her first assigned roommate at Western Michigan University. “Hey Cowboy”, she yelled to me to get my attention at the waterfront,” said Karen, “and the name just stuck. But many of them just called me C.B. for short.”
“I think my nickname at camp was Charlie,” said Kathy Butsch (1968-74). “I wore this ball cap that was blue with white polka dots. I always hated to leave camp and remember moping on a shopping trip with my Mom when I ran into a friend from camp. Karen Evans. She recognized my hat!” (Just that little incident gave her instant happiness.)
The camp nurse, Carol Hulett was nicknamed Hypo in 1974, and the”store lady” Rhonda Thayer received her nickname from her mother, who was always yelling RhonnyJo!
“One of the girls was nicknamed “Spaz” (Cindy Knapp) because she was always tripping over everything. She had those wooden Dr. Scholl’s sandals and wore painter pants, so of course when we drove back home, I had to get my own painter pants,” laughed Sue West (1975+). “My nickname was “Squat” because I could pee outside without getting it down my leg.”
Cindy Knapp (1968+) had her own version of how she got her nickname. “I earned Spaz after I fell, hurrying to class. I tripped over a root. (I think it was in the path coming down from cabin 6). It ripped open my hands and knees. I went to the Infirmary to get it cleaned out. I remember the nurse working to get the sand out of my hand, while she sang, “Boom, Boom, Ain’t It Great Tp Be Crazy?” Sadly, I was promoted to Super Spaz a few days later when I tripped over a root at the bottom of the boat house stairs and tore everything open again. Thankfully, the Super part didn’t stick, but Spaz did and I was Spaz every summer after!”
What was your nickname and how did you receive it?