About 100 people packed into First Presbyterian Church to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Boy Scout Troop 501 on Sunday evening.
Older current troop members, some bedecked with more decorations than vaunted American generals, politely greeted guests and helped the elderly seat themselves. Meanwhile, younger current troop members tried to sit quietly as the adults that make Scouting possible – Scoutmasters, assistant Scoutmasters and others leaders – regaled the crowd with tales of the Scouts’ bravery, honor and camping trips.
Vicki McLaughlin, Troop 501’s committee chairwoman, said 501 was unique because it was the oldest troop in the Great Southwest Council to be continuously sponsored by an organization – the First Presbyterian Church of Durango.
“It’s a marvelous feat to keep the group going this long and stay in one location,” she said.
She said the troop also had a long track record of boys achieving Eagle Scout status – the highest echelon of scouting accomplishment.
Today, there are about 40 members in the 501 Troop – up from 30 members in 1988.
She said she was hugely proud of the troop: In the last year alone, members clocked nearly 1,000 hours of community service.
Philip Wiley, an assistant Scoutmaster who is slated to become Troop 501’s Scoutmaster in September, said 75 years ago, America was about to enter World War II. Since then, he said, America had undergone enormous social changes, including Vietnam, putting a man on the moon and the invention of the Internet. He said Troop 501’s 75th anniversary was a testament to the timelessness of the Boy Scouts’ values, of honesty, trustworthiness, loyalty and kindness.
Joe Nelson, Troop 501’s Scoutmaster, told the crowd that throughout his tenure as scoutmaster, he’d been grateful to everyone who had helped him.
“I never really had to ask, people volunteered without prompting,” he said.
Durango School District 9-R board member Joe Colgan, who was dressed in his scout uniform, said the Boy Scouts offered children a rare opportunity.
“There are a lot of things a kid can do with the outdoors, whether they’re Boy Scouts or not. But no program develops the leadership that scouting does,” he said.
At one point, McLaughlin and Wiley asked all former Troop 501 scoutmasters and assistant scout masters to come up to the front of the hall and receive awards – a fleur de lille badge commemorating their service to the troop.
About 11 men, some very old, came forward.
Colgan said, “Once you get mixed up in this business, you never get away from it.”
cmcallister@durangoherald.com
