November 7, 2001

Dinner honors Eagle Scouts, Silver Beavers

Boy Scouts Scenic Trails Council holds 62nd annual meeting

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
       In a ceremony acknowledging service of all kinds, Boy Scouts past and present were recognized for their contributions to the Scenic Trails Council.
      Adult leaders, Eagle Scouts, executive council members and staff were celebrated for making another year happen for the 5,200 scouts and 1,800 adult leaders in the council.
      The ceremonies began by welcoming the 2001 class of Eagle Scouts, all 38 strong. With four percent of boys in the council achieving Eagle Rank, Scenic Trails Council troops make Eagles at twice the national rate, said Peter Magoun, council president.
      Nine scout troops sponsors from around the region were recognized for their lengthy commitment to scouting. These organizations included the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for 25 years of sponsoring Troop 33, St. Francis School Parent Teacher Organization for 45 years of sponsoring Pack 31 and Willow Hill Organization for sponsoring Troop 35 for 70 years.
      The 62nd Annual Recognition Dinner wound up with a solemn ceremony that highlighted four adult volunteers, bestowing on them the Silver Beaver Award. Nominated by their peers and chosen in secret by a special committee, Silver Beaver recipients exemplify the Boy Scout credo of outstanding leadership and service.
      The Silver Beaver awards this year went to Joe Larrance of Williamsburg, Ronald McRae of Harbor Springs, Bill Ewing of Cadillac and Thomas Oster of Traverse City.
      Oster, a real estate appraiser, serves on the executive committee of the Scenic Trails Council. He has been involved in scouting for 25 years, starting as a Cub Scout and later earning the Eagle Scout rank. As an adult he served as scout leader for many years before joining the council's executive committee.
      Totally surprised at the Silver Beaver award, Oster was pleased with the acknowledgment from other adults in scouting.
      "It is a real honor to receive this," he said. "It makes you proud to know that others appreciate what you do."
      Service and scouting are family traditions for Oster: his father, two uncles and two brothers were all Eagle Scouts. His two sons have also achieved Eagle Scout rank.
      Oster demonstrates that scouting gets in the blood. He said he still uses what he learned there today, from leadership and service to his hobbies of hiking and backpacking.
      "Boy Scouts was a significant part of my growing up and I just felt I had to remain active in scouting to carry on the tradition," he said. "I also wanted to pay back a little of what the adult leaders gave me growing up."
      Magoun also announced at the recognition dinner an ambitious plan for the council to double its membership in fewer than 10 years. In addition, he said that Paul Ryan, the council's scout executive, was retiring this month. Ryan, who has held that position for 22 years, steps down as the longest serving scout executive in the nation.
      Ryan got started in scouting in the 1944. He clearly remembers listening to his favorite radio shows, Tom Mix and The Lone Ranger, one afternoon when President Harry Truman spoke, asking boys to join the Boy Scouts and help the country be prepared.
      "He said we needed more Boy Scouts so I walked down to the local troop hall," said Ryan, who lived with his family in St. Louis at the time. "But they said I was a little young, I was eight or nine, then they took me along on the campout anyway."
      Ryan stayed in scouting and came aboard as a paid staff member in 1961. Posts in Omaha, Kansas and Wyoming followed, until he was offered the position of scout executive in Michigan. Never having been here, he took the job and stayed 22 years, raising his family here.
      "The satisfaction comes when you see some kid you knew when he started out become a Jason Allen or a Bill Ewing," Ryan said. "You see them grow up and grow up right. That's what counts."