A Scoutmaster's Obituary - The Record of a Life Well Lived

I have a confession to make.  I kind of like to read obituaries.  As morbid as it seems, I try to view my life through an obituary that hopefully won't be written for many years.

A friend of mine in the community where I live passed along this obituary.  This former scoutmaster lived a great life, and part of what he had earned credit for achieving was helping save Red River Gorge which is a playground for outdoor enthusiasts including and especially Boy Scouts.  According to what is in his obituary, he lived a life that I cannot live up to.  But I'm not trying to live up to his life; I'm trying to live up to my own.

I just found a memory page for another former scoutmaster who had passed away.  I was not able to find his obituary.  All I could find was the comments from his friends and former scouts.  It was still enough to almost move me to tears.  His former scouts wrote on his page,

"One cannot overstate his commitment to scouting and to the generations of scouts he led.  So much I know about service and character comes from Dave."

Another Scoutmaster's obituary I just found said the following,

"He was a Boy Scout as a youth, and as an adult, he carried on that tradition by serving as Scoutmaster for 35 years, attending five national and five world jamboree events.  OVer those years, he helped countless young men find self-reliance and self-confidence with his constant mantra, "You can do it."  Former Scout C. Johnson remembers Bob fondly: "I appreciated Bob's calm and steady leadership.  He set a great example.... Bob was generous in sharing his vast experience with me."  J. Erickson, who served as an Assistant Scoutmaster, echoed that thought.  "There is hardly a day that goes by that I do not have at least a passing thought of Bob and all the young men he gave a helping hand to."

This Scoutmaster joined the "Troop Eternal" in 2013

Tonight during my Scoutmaster minute at the end of the Troop meeting, I'm going to talk about CHARACTER.  I'm going to talk about living a life with the intent to help other people and how that will make this world a better place.  Leaving a legacy for other people to follow.  I may mention my own Grandfather who left an amazing legacy for me to follow.

This is the obituary for John Kingsley who had spent the best part of 61 years with a troop out of Lexington KY, Camp McKee and Blue Grass Council.  He spent the last summer of his 81st year serving the boys and staff of Camp McKee.  This is from his obituary,

"Mr Kingsley was was also a Vigil member of the Order of the Arrow where he was given the Indian name "Guttgennemew", which means "One Who Gives Back."

That's the kind of life I want to live.  That's the kind of legacy I want to leave.  I already have a good start.  My Vigil name is "Tkawsit Maxkw Alukakan Ilaok", which means "Gentle Bear, Servant of Warriors."  There will be a time when I'll be too old for this, and I'm doing my best to live every day as if it's my last.

I used to be an Antelope

And a good ole' Antelope too

But now I'm finished Anteloping 

and I don't know what to do

I'm growing old and feeble 

and I can 'Lope no more

So I'm going to work my ticket if I can.

Back to Gillwell happy land

I'm going to work my ticket if I can.