Boy Scouting in the Teen Years by Bob

MEMORIES AS A TEENAGER

BOY SCOUTING

Chapter ONE

by Bob (July 2008)

Shortly after turning 12 in April 1943, I became a Boy Scout with Troop 25 in Manchester, Connecticut. The troop was sponsored by my home church, Center Congregational, located right in the center of town as it had been since the time it was organized in 1779.

I clearly remember standing under the large oak tree which stands to this day, just to the east of the sanctuary as Scoutmaster Charlie Lynn pinned on my Tenderfoot Badge. From that day on and for the next three and half years, scouting was a very important part of my teen age years.

Charlie Lynn was a man that I greatly admired, grew to love, and kept in touch with for nearly sixty years, right up until the time of his death at the age of 90.

Measured by what might be standard criteria for evaluating a scoutmaster, I suppose that Charlie would not rank very high on the list. We never took hikes and never went on campouts except at the annual camporee. In fact I do not remember him even giving us any encouragement to advance in rank, but he was always there to help if we were self-motivated to do so.

Within three months of joining the troop, I had passed all the requirements for Second Class. I was so proud of that badge and still remember Assistant Scoutmaster, Frank Crawshaw, pinning it on my shirt in the rather large foyer area just outside the sanctuary.

In Chapter One, Bob gave us a look into the world of Boy Scouts. His journey took us from the very beginnings of his Boy Scout initiation to the years far past his teen life. It was great to see Bob expand the story, but in doing so he needed to break the details down into chapters. So this is a wonderful example of how we can do that effectively. We keep the reader interested by inviting them to read the NEXT chapter. For sure, they will want to find out what happened. We have short stories and we have longer ones, which is the way life plays out, does it not?

Photo: Google Images
Copyright © 2008 by The Write Workshop. All rights reserved.