Many girls made a summer tradition of returning to Maqua, beginning at an early age, and aging out when they could no longer qualify. For others, it was not enough to be a camper, they aspired to be counselors, which extended their camp careers until college and beyond. Many just quit going and the reasons were as varied as their personalities!
“My Mom grew up in Bay City and she was a camper and a junior counselor. There is a photo somewhere of her with my Dad (when they were dating) on the lake. I went for two weeks the first time and after that, it was all summer,” said Cara Prieskorn (1966-71). “Susan, my Mom and I could never figure out why Matt and Becca didn’t like it as we did. My theory is that after they moved into the big house, the two of them didn’t want to leave their big house with their own rooms and bathrooms to go to an old camp.”
“I finally figured out my parents were taking really nice vacations while we were all at camp, so while my sisters were at Maqua and my brother was at Mahn-go-tah-see, they were off somewhere having fun without us,” said Julie Hutchins (1960). “I only went to Maqua one week that one summer and the rest of the time I was on vacation with my parents while my sisters were at camp! Years later when we all looked at the photo albums, my siblings wondered where I was in some of the photos, and I would say which state it was, and then remind them they were at camp.”
Sara Wickizer had moved to Detroit from Canada when she was fourteen in 1964 and her new friends recruited her to Maqua. “I was not homesick at all and I remember the little wooden cabins. I can still picture my counselor, short with dark hair, and I can remember she won “prettiest feet” at camp. My summer was generally fun and I was (fairly) outgoing. Ontario was filled with lakes, so I knew how to swim, but in the middle of my two weeks, I did not ever want to go in the water again. I was a good swimmer, but I got leeches on me and that was enough for me never to want to return.”
“I was of the generation where I was a Pollyanna,” laughed Laya Rose (1939-47) “I wanted to find a husband and settle down and have kids, but I had a secret ambition that I never dared express. I would have loved to have gone to New York and worked in the clothing industry and been a showroom model, but it was squelched because I think I had a fear of the city. But, I went to Michigan State University and the first week I met my future husband. We had our own high-end clothing store in Benton Harbor until the advent of catalogs and outlet malls.”
Director Dorthe Balaskas wanted Diane Dudley (1957-63) to return to camp to become a counselor in the nature hut, but the summer job won out and she worked at the “Brass Whale” selling souvenirs at the World’s Fair in New York!
For Edna Young, who aged out after nine years, (1939-1948), it was the end of the line as a camper. “My last year of camp I turned eighteen and I got a real job in Bay City before I went off to Bay City Junior College. I knew I did not want to be a teacher or a nurse, but I got married after the war.”
Sometimes it was something as simple as being too busy with other activities or an extenuating circumstance, as Debbie Pennington (1961-62) explained, “I broke my arm and had it in a cast the summer of eighth grade, so I did not return. The following summer, I had to have it re-broken since it did not heal properly, and by that time I was in high school and just did not go back.”
Why did you not return to camp?