History

Ethel Kloberg, after operating one of the first day camps in the USA around 1927 and working in several other residential camps, decided to find a camp in 1937 that she could call her own. Olive Watkinson and Miss Kloberg wanted a site completely picturesque with room to grow and expand. They searched in Vermont, Maine, New York, and were headed to Concord, New Hampshire to look at a possible property when a snowstorm hit. Olive and Ethel were stranded in Peterborough, New Hampshire and had to spend the night there. Both saw a “Mr. Bishop’s Real Estate Sign” when eating in a diner and decided to contact him. Mr. Bishop thought that he might have a property that might work for a girl’s summer camp, so he took Olive and Ethel to a summer home on Thorndike Pond in a horse drawn sled. As soon as Olive and Ethel saw the site, Wa-Klo was born. They knew that this summer home was the beginning of their dream.

Miss Watkinson was a Physical Education teacher and married to a Merchant Marine. She and her husband had a son, Billy. During World War II and a brief time in the 50’s, Wa-Klo became a co-ed camp. In the 1950’s, with the war ended, Miss Watkinson decided to leave camp after her husband retired from the Merchant Marines. After 1955, Wa-Klo once again became a camp for girls only.

Ethel grew up on Long Island, she was enrolled in Wellesley College with plans to become a lawyer, and after her high school graduation she decided to spend a summer at a camp. While working as a summer counselor, she told her parents that she no longer wanted to go to Wellesley but to Boston University’s Sargent College to major in Physical Education. Miss Kloberg was one of the first women to major in this field. Miss Kloberg worked at Baldwin High School on Long Island as a physical education teacher, eventually became Dean of the high school, and before retiring in 1979, she served as assistant to the district superintendent in charge of physical education and athletics.

While working in Baldwin High School, Miss Kloberg hired Marie Jensen as a physical education teacher and eventually coaxed her to work a summer with her at Wa-Klo. Marie Jensen received her physical education degree and masters at New York University and began working at Wa-Klo in the early 50’s becoming a director by 1963. Marie Jensen was a visionary and was able to see how camp should grow. Land around Wa-Klo was bought, buildings added, and the Wa-Klo we know today was developed.

When Miss Kloberg passed away in 1995, she left the camp to Miss Jensen, who continued to improve camp with a state-of-the-art dining room, new cabins, a huge gymnasium, and countless other improvements. During Miss Jensen’s tenure as owner/director of Wa-Klo, Dr. Virginia Maurer decided to visit camp to see the changes and additions before sending her daughters there. “Ginny” was a camper in the 1950’s when Marie Jensen was just starting as a counselor. In fact, Marie was one of Ginny’s activity counselors. While Ginny’s daughters, Kim and Tammy, attended camp, Ginny would come up on weekends to assist with any medical needs in the infirmary and work with the maintenance staff to take care of the physical plant. Miss Jensen unexpectedly died during the summer of 2005 leaving Wa-Klo to Ginny to carry on the precious traditions.

Virginia E. Maurer is a prominent breast cancer surgeon on Long Island and is the founder of the Maurer Foundation for breast health education with programs for the pre-teen, teens, community and corporate world. Ginny attended Queen’s University in Canada for medical school. Dr. Maurer has continued to accomplish Miss Jensen’s vision with the expansion of the riding stables, a renovated Cracker Barrel, and building a brand new cabin “Out There.” She loves being a part of a camp that was so special to her while growing up and continuing the legacy with her daughters.

Tammy has been at Wa-Klo since 1996 starting as a camper in Pop Out 2. Since then, she has moved up the ranks and is now an owner and director. Through the years, she saw the impact Wa-Klo had on each camper. Girls would attend for the summer and leave with more confidence and better self esteem as they were able to grow and develop themselves in a supportive and encouraging environment. Seeing this, Tammy knew that it is critical for girls to have a place to go where they can get away from the social pressures and the daily bombardment of technology!

It was at camp that Tammy realized her passion for youth development. She first attended the University of Denver where she earned a bachelor of arts in Sociology and played Division I lacrosse. After this, Tammy attended Boston College to earn her Master in Education with a focus on elementary education. She went on to teach 8th grade math and algebra for several years before becoming a math specialist. Despite her love for teaching, Tammy knew her place was at Wa-Klo.

Dennis and Tammy couldn’t think of a better place to raise their children than at Wa-Klo; Alliyah, John and their dog, Dublin, join them at camp every summer. Dennis has also spent his summers on Thorndike Pond ever since he started at a boy scout camp just across the lake in 1996.