Thursday, June 17, 2004
A LITTLE ABOUT SCOUTING....
George Jr. was smaller built than some of the other Scout’s when he joined. I was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to make it on the 20-mile-hikes and some of the more rugged aspects of Scouting. George Sr. told me not to worry…“George may be smaller than most of the boys but he’s wiry. He doesn’t come in first but he just keeps plugging and ends up at the finish line.” That was all I needed to know. He was the kind of kid that would also come home telling me what kind of wild flowers he’d seen, strange bird…..you get the idea. He knew where he had been. I called George Jr. to get the name of some of those hikes he went on and other such accomplishments. One was the Lincoln Trail that ended up in Springfield, IL., and two trails in Nebraska….a Prairie Schooner Trail and (he couldn’t remember the name of the other one.) They hiked one trail the first day then the other the next day. It was a great experience for them. He also went to Philmont, N.M. and on a canoe-portage at Eli, MN. He ended up with the rank of Eagle, God and Country and the Order of the Arrow. He tells me it is still a source of pride to have finished those ranks. It was fun seeing him rightfully achieve it.
Of course transportation was tedious in the beginning. After the men tired of cramming equipment and boys into station wagons they decided to buy an old school bus in good enough shape they could make their trips in it. After careful searching and acquiring it….the men worked the motor over. The final stage was the paint…..then Delores Ferris, one of the Scout mother’s painted our Santa Fe Trail logo on the bus along with our Troop credentials. It was a blazing orange for our colors were orange and navy.
The kids noticed at all the Jamboree’s and area camp-outs that each Troop had an individual neckerchief. While at those events with other Troops there was much pin and neckerchief trading. Delores and I and a couple of other ladies bought, ripped and sewed over 100 neckerchiefs in our kitchen. The other ladies brought their portable sewing machines and we worked hard….first on the design and then all the stitching. The finished product was something to be proud of and the boys loved them. It was worth the effort as far as we were concerned.
When John came into Scouts he was well known from growing up in the neighborhood, being George Jr.s little brother and the son of the Scout Master. He had no problem connecting because at a young age he was so outgoing and funny he was accepted as the clown that he was. John also had a talent for swimming. Through the mornings for a few weeks in the summer he and I sat watching the kids taking their Red Cross lessons. He yearned to be in the water with them.
When George Sr. and I took the kids to the pool (when daddy got off work) we took John to the more shallow end and instead of swimming on top of the water….he swam underneath. He could go quite a distance for his age, back and forth between us. When I went under water to see what he was doing…..he had his eyes wide open and swam like a fish. Growing older made him even more of a swimmer and he loved the water. I have heard the expression that some people swim because they know how….other’s swim because they don’t know they can’t. George was the first, John was the later.
You know the expression, “every old dog has his day”….well, along with some of the things that John couldn’t do…..swimming was one he could. One of our favorite family stories about Scouting is the day John made points for our Troop at Camp Nash. I called him to get the particulars and he emailed me back with the following:
“At camp, troops competed at different events. One such event was the mile swim. I don’t remember the details of anyone else swimming or not swimming. Most people looked at it like an impossible feat. I wanted to try since I was a pretty good swimmer. The pool had buoys out and I had to swim something like 66 laps around the pool. They did have guys in the water watching the shallow end to make sure guys didn’t take a break. As I was swimming, I came across a leaf in the water. I had been learning about identifying leaves at camp. I held it up and yelled at dad, “Look Dad, an American Elm.” They all laughed and thought it was funny I could think about that while doing such a physical thing. Also, on the way to the swim I tripped on the path and fell headlong. My ear hit a tree trunk and I scraped up a knee pretty bad. I was bleeding and they weren’t going to let me swim, but I insisted. They finally figured the water would help heal the cuts. By completing the swim, our Troop got a big boost in the point area. I have no idea how we did overall.”
His dad said at first everyone figured he’d never make it but the longer he kept going the more a crowd gathered. By the time he finished the whole Troop was yelling for him to make it…..it was one of those David and Goliath stories….the kid you least expect to do something big turns in a stellar performance. Needless to say we were all proud of his accomplishment. For a kid who just wanted to be a normal kid………he was an over achiever. Not bad for a day’s work…….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Of course transportation was tedious in the beginning. After the men tired of cramming equipment and boys into station wagons they decided to buy an old school bus in good enough shape they could make their trips in it. After careful searching and acquiring it….the men worked the motor over. The final stage was the paint…..then Delores Ferris, one of the Scout mother’s painted our Santa Fe Trail logo on the bus along with our Troop credentials. It was a blazing orange for our colors were orange and navy.
The kids noticed at all the Jamboree’s and area camp-outs that each Troop had an individual neckerchief. While at those events with other Troops there was much pin and neckerchief trading. Delores and I and a couple of other ladies bought, ripped and sewed over 100 neckerchiefs in our kitchen. The other ladies brought their portable sewing machines and we worked hard….first on the design and then all the stitching. The finished product was something to be proud of and the boys loved them. It was worth the effort as far as we were concerned.
When John came into Scouts he was well known from growing up in the neighborhood, being George Jr.s little brother and the son of the Scout Master. He had no problem connecting because at a young age he was so outgoing and funny he was accepted as the clown that he was. John also had a talent for swimming. Through the mornings for a few weeks in the summer he and I sat watching the kids taking their Red Cross lessons. He yearned to be in the water with them.
When George Sr. and I took the kids to the pool (when daddy got off work) we took John to the more shallow end and instead of swimming on top of the water….he swam underneath. He could go quite a distance for his age, back and forth between us. When I went under water to see what he was doing…..he had his eyes wide open and swam like a fish. Growing older made him even more of a swimmer and he loved the water. I have heard the expression that some people swim because they know how….other’s swim because they don’t know they can’t. George was the first, John was the later.
You know the expression, “every old dog has his day”….well, along with some of the things that John couldn’t do…..swimming was one he could. One of our favorite family stories about Scouting is the day John made points for our Troop at Camp Nash. I called him to get the particulars and he emailed me back with the following:
“At camp, troops competed at different events. One such event was the mile swim. I don’t remember the details of anyone else swimming or not swimming. Most people looked at it like an impossible feat. I wanted to try since I was a pretty good swimmer. The pool had buoys out and I had to swim something like 66 laps around the pool. They did have guys in the water watching the shallow end to make sure guys didn’t take a break. As I was swimming, I came across a leaf in the water. I had been learning about identifying leaves at camp. I held it up and yelled at dad, “Look Dad, an American Elm.” They all laughed and thought it was funny I could think about that while doing such a physical thing. Also, on the way to the swim I tripped on the path and fell headlong. My ear hit a tree trunk and I scraped up a knee pretty bad. I was bleeding and they weren’t going to let me swim, but I insisted. They finally figured the water would help heal the cuts. By completing the swim, our Troop got a big boost in the point area. I have no idea how we did overall.”
His dad said at first everyone figured he’d never make it but the longer he kept going the more a crowd gathered. By the time he finished the whole Troop was yelling for him to make it…..it was one of those David and Goliath stories….the kid you least expect to do something big turns in a stellar performance. Needless to say we were all proud of his accomplishment. For a kid who just wanted to be a normal kid………he was an over achiever. Not bad for a day’s work…….
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
