A Scoutmaster's Blog

As I was posting the previous entry to this blog, I began thinking about other multi-generational families of Melrose Boy Scout Troop 68. There have been a few of these.

Jerome is two years younger then I am. We were both members of the Falcon Patrol in the mid 1970’s. His younger brother, Shawn, joined the troop in the 1980’s, a few years after I became the scoutmaster. Their nephew, Zack, is currently a member of the troop, in the Nighthawk Patrol.

John was also a member of Troop 68 when I was a Boy Scout. John grew up, got married, and moved to the Twin Cities area. When he moved back to Melrose his sons joined Troop 68 as they got old enough. John’s two oldest boys, Nick and Jacob, have both earned the rank of Eagle Scouts while members of the troop. His youngest son, Lucas, joined the troop early this year.

Bill was an adult leader of Troop 68 in the 1960’s. One of his youngest sons was a member of the troop when I became the assistant scoutmaster in 1980. Bill’s grandson, Chris, joined the troop in 2000 and last year was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout.

One final note about spanning the generations. When I was a student in high school I never gave a thought to being a scoutmaster when I became an adult. I found it interesting that many of the members of the troop committee who appointed me as the scoutmaster were former high school teachers of mine. I am sure it never occurred to them that one of their students would one day be in charge of teaching their sons the skills needed in Boy Scouting.

A little ironic, don’t ya think?
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I began my career as a Boy Scout troop leader early in my life. I was only a few months shy of my twentieth birthday when I became the assistant scoutmaster for Troop 68. Two months after my twenty-first birthday I was appointed the scoutmaster, a position I still hold today. There have been a few unique markers along this highway of my Scouting life that I would like to share with you.

The first marker was when I became the scoutmaster. Suddenly I was “responsible” for the troop. I was not the young assistant scoutmaster any longer who was practically still one of the gang. I was now the adult “figurehead” of Scouting in town. More then anything else, becoming the troop’s scoutmaster marked the beginning of my adulthood.

During the eighties the troop began going to Philmont Scout Ranch. I will admit that one of the reasons I stayed on as a scoutmaster is because I wanted to go to Philmont. I went to Philmont in 1986 and 1989 with the Scouts from Melrose. That first decade seemed to go by pretty quickly.

The second marker caught me a little off guard. Boys began joining the troop that were born after I signed on as an assistant scoutmaster. Two years later boys entered Scouting that would come to know me as the only scoutmaster in Melrose during their lifetime. I was beginning to feel old at thirty-one.

The third marker was when I began receiving invitations to weddings of troop alumni. I was even asked to be the best man at one of those weddings.

The fourth marker was when I noticed that the parents of some of the Scouts were younger then I was. Holy cow, I thought. I have been doing this scoutmaster thing for a long time. I was really starting to feel older.

Another marker came along when next generation cousins of former troop members began joining Scouting. In fact, my assistant scoutmaster, who is eighty years old, joined the troop when his youngest son was a Boy Scout. Since then, two of his grandchildren, sons of my assistant’s oldest son, have been members of the troop. I have seen three generations of this family involved with the Scout program on some level.

I think the next marker will be when the son of a former Boy Scout joins the troop. That has not happened yet, but it could. While most of the troop members have moved to other cities as they got older, there are a few that have decided to stay in this area. There seems to be more daughters then sons among that small group at the moment. I am thinking it may be time to retire when the first son of a troop member joins the troop. (he writes with a grin on his face.)