Scouting Activities

William C. Straka
draft of March 3, 1999
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Unfortunately, many of my records have been lost through many moves, and I don't remember a lot of the dates. So this is an incomplete listing.

Cub Scouts - joined Pack 132 in Sacaton, Arizona, September 1949. Went through Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Lion, Webelos

Boy Scouts:

Some other awards:

My Eagle portrait, a bit worse for the poor storage conditions. I sure had a lot more hair then, and a bit darker, too.

 
 
 
 
 
 
This is the staff of Camp Emerson, near Idylwild, California, for the summer of 1957. I am second from the right, with our Camp Director on the far left. The painted rock in the background is Tahquitz, the totem of the Tahquitz Lodge, Order of the Arrow. Since Riverside County Council has long since been merged into Inland Empire Council, Tahquitz Lodge was also merged and no longer exists. This was the summer I got pushed out and taken into the woods for my Ordeal. In those days, it really was a push-out, and you went immediately to your night of contemplation. A year later, I became Brotherhood, and 40 years later became Wachtschu Achpamsin, with the Vigil Honor in the Ohlone Lodge.  
 
 
Receiving my Silver Beaver award. That's my wife Barbara on my right (appropriate, since she has been my "Right-Hand Person" for over a third of a century now, especially supporting my adult Scouting activities). I like to think of my Silver Beaver as also being in recognition of my father's involvement in Scouting. He started as Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 1, Universal, Pennsylvania, in 1914. He stayed involved in Scouting as an adult leader most of the rest of his life, with gaps when he served in the Navy in World War I and with the State Department in World War II. As far as I have been able to determine, he did not receive the Silver Beaver himself. At least, I haven't found anything indicating that among his papers.  
 
 
 
 
 

Merit Badges - I have the cards for the following 30, but since they gave me a Gold Palm, there clearly is one missing. Noting the gap in time between World Brotherhood (November 1957) and the Gold Palm (April 1958), the missing badge obviously is the last one I got. I do recall some pressure to finish the Palm as my Senior year at Poly High approached (and the same for some others in Post 3). Hopefully, somewhere in my junkpile, I will find it.:

Adult positions (incomplete, dates missing):

Adult training and awards (incomplete, dates missing):