Stan,
I had a subscription from the second grade, when my mom was our den mother for the neighborhood troop, until about eighth grade, when I lost interest in being a Boy Scout. Ironically, it was the lack of opportunities to hunt and fish within the scouts that caused my interest to wan. That was what I wanted to be doing.
It never happened to me, but the local troop was disbanded after accusations of child abuse were leveled at the people running it. I don’t recall what they were, but, for whatever reason troop 516 was disbanded pretty quickly about a decade after I was no longer part of it. Another troop was founded, and my next door neighbor kid was part of that organization. I vividly recall that kid asking me to accompany him so he could go on a father and son camping trip, because, for no reason of his own, he didn’t have a father, and he couldn’t go without an adult male to accompany him. I volunteered to go, and actually had an outstanding time camping in the woods with his Cub Scout pack.
We caught a mess of smallmouth bass in the Rum River, and had an actual shore lunch. The guys running the new troop were fantastic fishermen. That kid ended up dropping out of college, traveling to Europe to spend the summer touring on a motorcycle, and met a girl in Spain, married her, and never returned. He has a couple kids. They for sure have a dad. Last conversation I had with him he chatted with my wife in Spanish on the phone for 15 minutes or so. He really turned his life a different, and good direction.
Thanks for the good memory prompt.
Best,
Ted
