My oldest scouting memory...

[SemperParatus]

Scouting is about creating memories that young people can look back on with fondness.

 

Anyone want to share their oldest scouting memory?

 

For me, I think I was about 5 years old and I remember tagging along with my father (cubmaster) and older brother (who I believe was a Lion rank at the time - predecessor to Webelos) on what looking back must have been some kind of camporee. Anyway, the memory that haunts me to this day was seeing a boy scout (who must have been 10 feet tall if he was an inch) do the old flat hand through the flame trick. For some odd reason that is seared into my brain and from that point on I was hooked on scoutin'.

[EagleInKY]

My oldest scouting memory wasn't a positive one. I, too, was around 5 or 6. My older brother was also a Webelos. I was kind of like the den mascot. One night, after a pack meeting, we're playing a game of chase in the school playground. I climb to the top of the slide, lose my footing, and fall face-first on the concrete sidewalk. A bloody, black and blue face was what I remember most. But it didn't deter me, and I was back the next time!!!

 

As for MY scouting experience, I still remember walking from elementary school to Mrs. Johnson's house for our den meetings. That was back in the days when you met after school and your den leader was called a "Den Mother". My how times have changed!

[Fuzzy Bear]

My Father was the CM of a unit in an elementary school that was next to a university. The campus buildings were big and impressive. My brother walked with me across part of the campus on the way to a couple of meetings. I was five and my brother was 10 and a Lion CS.

 

In the early Spring and for this one meeting, my Dad had devised a "Turtle Race" game. He had cut out wood figures in the shape of turtles that were ten inches in length and seven inches in width. He used thumb tacks with plastic heads that were stuck in the feet of the turtles to cushion the feet and to give the turtles traction. A hole was drilled in the head of each turtle where a long string was inserted. One end of the string was tied to a heavy object across the Start line and the other end was given to a Scout at the Finish line. On the Ready Go signal, the Scout would pull then loosen the string while the turtle would raise and lower, thus creeping along the length of string toward the finish line and the Scout.

 

It was a fun race and everyone enjoyed it. My Dad raced the turtles with me once at the end of the meeting.

 

Several years ago, I was cleaning my Dad's house to sell after he had died; my Mother had died a few years earlier. I found the turtles in a box in the attic. Most likely the turtles had been used very few times, probably just that once. I found my Brother's Lion book with my parent's signatures. I found the old copied Pow Wow books that had begun to decay that my Dad had used to pattern the turtle race for that event. These items are now part of a Scout collection I keep that has grown over the years. I value those turtles, moreover, I am thankful for the good times that my Dad shared with me.

 

FB

[Trevorum]

My dad was also a Scouter and my earliest scouting memory is at summer camp. He was Camp Director. I remember being carried in his arms to an evening campfire, so I must have been about 3 or 4 years old. I remember playing with his neckerchief.

 

I inherited his collection of neckerchief slides and I now wear them fondly. After I earned my WB beads, I suddenly realized what his twisted-leather-thong slide was! I never even knew that he did Wood Badge.

 

My two sons are scouts and, when the time comes, I hope their sons will be scouts too.

[scoutldr]

SWMBO was recently going through old pictures searching for photos for my son's scrapbook. She found an old polaroid of a pudgy 8 year old in a brand new cub scout uniform with beany cap and Bobcat pin, standing in front of the family's aluminum Christmas tree with color-wheel spotlight. That was the same year I got my new Sears Spaceliner bike which is still hanging in the garage. Circa December 1963. My sons are now 26 and 22 and made Star and Life, respectively. 41 years later, still a Scout (and still pudgy!).

[OR Pioneer]

I remember three events in Pack 172 in Tarzana, California in the 1950s.

 

I remember dad and I (he was an assistant cubmaster) dressed up as clowns for a Circus theme pack meeting.

 

I remember selling tickets for and attending the "Scoutcapades" show at the Devonshire Downs fair grounds in Canoga Park where I saw all the great stuff Cubs, Scouts, and Explorers could do. I was hooked for life right there.

 

I remember being in the Den where Natalie Masters was the Den Mother. She was an actress that appeared in minor roles in Dragnet and a few other shows. It was always fun to see my Den Mother on TV!. At one meeting, we were learning boxing and I got a tooth chipped. Think of her and my Den mates every time I get dental x-rays.

 

 

Berk Moss, Newberg OP

ADC Pioneer District

Cascade Pacific Council

[Trevorum]

ahhh... Devonshire Downs!

I, too, remember selling tickets to the ScoutCraft Fair. My first year in Cubs, my dad had work contacts for an LA advertising agency and he got this big, animated Yogi Bear display. He modified it to say "Smarter than the av-er-age Pack!". I have no idea what our booth theme was that year, but I still remember that big Yogi Bear.

[scoutingagain]

I got started in scouting as a Cub Scout in New Jersey in the mid-sixties. I remember many of the typical Cub Scout activities we did as a den, at a the Den Mom's house down the street. One of the ealiest activities I can recall is a trip to see the then, brand new New York Jets, formerly the Titans of the fledgling American Football League. The stands were half full, more typical of a current American Professional Soccer Game.

 

One of my most vivid early scout memories is my first campout as a tenderfoot scout. We were in mixed age patrols then and I thought it was really cool to be camping with the older scouts. My patrol leader told me I was really lucky to be in the Flaming Arrows because we were the best patrol in the troop.

 

The campout was in late September, temperatures were in the low forties. There was a river nearby with a large rope swing. It had to swing our 50 - 60 feet over the river. Boys being boys, several thought it would be cool to ride the rope swing out across the river and then back. There was no intention to go in the river. About half the kids made the ride without falling in, the other half that tried ended up soaking wet, shivering cold after a good 15 ft drop into the river. Don't ask me where the adults were as this was going on, as I have no idea. As the new kid and somewhat shy, I was content to stand back and watch. Then one of the other scouts in my patrol mentioned that everyone in the patrol had taken a turn except me. With all eyes on me I kind of gulped and said OK I'd give it a try. The older scouts lifted me up and pulled back the rope so I had one heck of a ride. It seemed like forever, swooping down over the water, up into the air and then down again, to be safely caught by my patrol leader on the bank of the river. I had made it and didn't get wet. My PL, who was in high school and who I figured had to be the coolest kid in town told me it was neat that I tried the swing because we were the only patrol that had all it's members give it a try. It was great to be a Flaming Arrow!

 

Now of course if I were to find the scouts in the troop I now serve engaged in such hijinks, with no safe swim plan, or means of rescue, I read them the riot act, turn my back and smile.

 

Thanks for letting me dig up a great memory.

 

SA

[BPwannabe@137]

Sept. 1979, my first camping trip, Alpine Scout Camp, NJ. Camp Ranger found an injured baby fox. Had it wrapped up in his coat and was showing us. Thought that this whole scouting thing would be kinda fun. Stayed around ever since.

[OldGreyEagle]

My first scouting memory goes back to before I was actually in scouts. My mother was the Den Mother for my older brothers Den. And I thought they were the coolest thing going. When the Christmas meeting came around, the Den was assigned the song "Frosty the Snowman" to sing. I listened to the guys rehearse and I had it down long before anyone else did. I was crestfallen when my mother told me because I wasnt in the Den, I wouldnt be able to sing it. Then she got an idea. Being the seamtress she was, she took a white sheet, some batting and buttons and made me a Frosty suit. The Den sang and I ran around dressed up as Frosty.

 

I still tear up when I hear that song, even more so since my mother passed.

 

 

[Backpacker]

Trevorum and OR Pioneer,

 

I too was part of the SF Valley Council and Devonshire Downs Scout Fair, which is in Northridge, OR Pioneer, not Canoga Park.

 

My earliest scout memory was as a brand new Tenderfoot my first camping trip, which was in the snow. Of course they took us newbies on a snipe hunt that night and scared the @#*% out of us. The Tenderfeet all got stomach aches from our bad cooking. Still it is one of my favorite memories in scouting.

[Trevorum]

Snipe hunts!

 

I also remember going on a snipe hunt when I was a Tenderfoot! We were at Will Rogers State Park. I remember dragging back into camp with an empty sack and plopping down at the campfire amidst the guffaws. Can't do that anymore...

 

BackPacker, where were you in SFVC? I was in Sepulveda, and OR Pioneer tells us he was in Tarzana.(This message has been edited by Trevorum)

[Backpacker]

Trevorum

 

I was in Sepulveda as well, Troop 165. I remember at Scout Fair one year for a giveaway I tied mini hangman noose knots, they went like hotcakes. Man, that was a long time ago. Great to hear from you SF Valley Council guys.

[Trevorum]

No kidding? Sepulveda? What a small world!

 

I didn't even know there were any other troops in Sepulveda. I was in Troop 129. We met at Lassen School for a while and then at Sepulveda Park. When were you active? I was a scout from 1965 through 1969.

 

 

[Backpacker]

Hey Trev,

 

Small world indeed I was also in scouting 1966-1969, we met at Gledhill St. School. It's a small world after all, lol.