Camp Zoe Memories
Arrival
I felt the anticipation after Dad made the turn from highway 19 onto the Camp Zoe entrance road. It went on forever. Once in a while I spotted a clue. There was a homemade sign with a turtle that said "use low gear" as we approached a hill. Finally, we rounded a curve and I saw cabins in the clearing ahead. A counselor in a yellow T-shirt stopped us at the entrance. He held a clipboard and pointed to a small rectangular cabin near the road. This was Mac's cabin where the youngest boys stayed (ages 8-10). The 11 and 12 year old guys bunked in Boys cabin, while the 13, 14, and 15 year olds were in the coolest cabin of them all, Tent cabin. The girls had four cabins New Cabin housed the youngest girls, then Cabin I, Cabin II, and finally Cabin III for the oldest girls. By 1980 they had switched the order. If you attended Zoe during another time frame, chances are it was slightly different. For example, by 1975, they no longer housed campers in the lodge.
We checked in and finished registration at the lodge. The nurse ( in the late 70s it was Cindy Holder) obtained medication a child might need and someone (i.e. Lois Peters) collected any unpaid fees and snack shack funds.
The first counselor I met on the first day of camp was Mike Niswonger from Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He seemed like an adult, but he mentioned he worked at Dairy Queen so I guess he was a kid himself. The youngest counselors were 17. Counselors in training (C.I.T.) were 16. Mike helped me pick a bunk and got my bedroll unpacked. I said goodbye to dad without fanfare. I didn't want to look like a baby. Counselor Mike was a nice guy and it was obvious he read the information card my mother had sent with the down payment. He asked me about my coin collection. I gave nervous, single word responses to his inquiries. I picked a lower bunk and parked my footlocker at the end of the bed. Some guys were already there when I arrived. I noticed a barefoot tan kid sitting on a top bunk to my left thumbing through a magazine and talking.
"Do you wanna smell my feet?" Seeing as he was on the upper bunk and I was on the lower bunk across from him, his right foot was right at face level.
No," I said. That was Stuart Hanna. Stu and I became best friends, but I never smelled his feet. Our other counselors that year were Chris Hirsch, also from Cape Girardeau, and the senior counselor Sam McMahan.
Sam had red hair and seemed really old. Since I was ten when I thought that, he was probably 35. Sam knew how to tie every knot in the book. He tied square knots and sheep-shanks and a half-hitch. He taught us how to tie these knots and I wish I had paid more attention. I can tie a square knot these days on the second try (unless I end up with a granny). If you broke a safety rule in 1975, Sam made you demonstrate a couple of knots as penance.
Here's some Zoe trivia for you: The Nurse's cabin was also known as "Sammy's" cabin after the birth of Sam McMahan circa 1940. He lived there as an infant with a nanny while his parents ran the camp.