Marlene Suter (pictured left) is a longtime camper, volunteer, and Builder of Camp Friedenswald. She shares the following reflection as part of a collection of stories in honor of Camp’s 75th anniversary. 

As I think of camp experiences over the many years that we have been involved in in various aspects of camp life, I go back a long way. Having never heard of Camp Friedenswald in my growing up years, it has been quite exciting to become part of this history. Early on, the Markham Church became involved through our pastor, Larry Voth, who introduced us to camp life with church retreats and work days. One of my first memories at camp was when we came for a work day and one of my duties was to water the young tree saplings that had been planted along the roadway by Sycamore lodge. If I am correct they are the white pines which are now 40 – 50 feet tall.

I started attending the Women’s Retreat weekend in about 1969 (and almost every year since). The Markham women always looked forward with much anticipation to those enjoyable weekends together filled with laughing, sharing stories about our lives, walking in the woods, relaxing pontoon rides on Shavehead Lake, being challenged by a variety of speakers, meditating beside the lake and meeting other Mennonite women from the district.

Over time we gained a reputation for our “pie parties” on Saturday evenings which soon grew to more than pies – Ivorie Lowe usually made sausages and we all brought a variety of snacks to enjoy along with the pies and cheese from Middlebury. We were probably known as the “Rowdy group” staying up until after midnight “letting loose” for a few days until we needed to get back to our normal lives with jobs and caring for our families. In later years we took our turn in helping to plan the weekend retreat program along with other Chicago-area churches. It was a challenge for our small congregations, but quite rewarding.

We stayed in the old cabins which required nighttime jaunts and morning showers in the bathhouse. We also remember staying in the old chapel dorms where there were mice creeping along the ceiling during the night. In the “old days” we had to wash our dishes, by hand, at the tables, before the modern convenience of a dishwasher.

One evening a raccoon followed us into the chapel and one of our women fed it some cookies she had in her purse. After that it wanted to join us in our cabin. Some women were quite amazed at how dark it is in the country with no street lights. I remember some Chicago women serenading us in our cabin when the harvest moon was out big and bright.

The Markham church also had church retreat weekends at camp which were meaningful times combining fun family activities and spiritual input with baptisms of our youth in the lake.

I have fond memories of the popcorn campfires in Mosquito Hollow. We would sing camp songs and always looked forward to the stories told by Jess Kauffman, one of the former camp directors.

After retirement, my husband Dave and I were able to spend time volunteering: in the office, doing dishes, yard work, or light maintenance. For several years I weeded the flower bed that was at the entrance to camp until it was turned back into grass. We stayed in camp housing, or for several summers, in our camper, which was parked at a campsite by the tennis courts. We have enjoyed attending Builders weekends and family weekends in any season — summer or winter. The wildflower meadow is delightful and on any weekend that we attend we take a walk down to the Fen to listen to the birds and enjoy the landscape.

We were also able to have our 50th anniversary celebration weekend at camp with friends from the Markham church attending along with family members from Ohio and Canada.

During the pandemic we enjoyed a get-away weekend in a cabin and our meals were delivered to our door. What a delightful time away. It has been remarkable to see all the changes and upgrades of the facilities and the constant upkeep by staff which makes it a pleasure to look forward to spending time at Camp Friedenswald.

~ Marlene Suter (Markham, IL)