10 Church 2, Scouting

Church 2, Scouting

At about the age of eleven I started attending St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Highland Park, where my grandparents and my uncle’s family were members, to become involved with Boy Scout troop 25, which the church hosted, and of which my uncle was a leader. The troop met weekly in its space in the church’s basement, played outside when weather permitted, and had special events throughout the year. We took hikes, canoe trips and went camping, or a combination of all three; I remember Chilhowie and Sugarloaf Mountains and Ocoee Lake, where the Boy Scouts had camp every summer, in two week sessions.

I subscribed to Boys’ Life magazine, the monthly BSA publication. I advanced to the level of Star Scout (my cousin Ted joined at the same time, and reached before we dropped out). We were encouraged by his father – our scoutmaster – but were both short of the top rank of Eagle Scout, which he had nearly attained except for Lifesaving (he had impaired his lungs blowing a bugle). We earned appropriate merit badges along the way; my mom sewed them on my sash, which I have given to my grandson Caleb.

In a scrap with a fellow scout, I struck a steel column downstairs, and crushed my right index finger metacarpal at the knuckle; a doctor at Erlanger Hospital applied a splint and wrapped it, and after swelling induced by premature use, I recovered fully, and have only a deformed knuckle to show for it.

I left the Scout troop (but not St Andrew’s Church) when I was about 15, and adolescence took over. During my scouting years and beyond, I attended Sunday School and the youth group of St Andrew’s, comprising about eight regulars, about evenly split between girls and boys. Our adult leaders were a godly husband-wife pair, who occasionally hosted seasonal parties for the group at their home; we were also treated in the home of our pastor and his wife, who lived near the church in our parsonage. Several years later (cock-sure, being newly saved) I visited him and his wife in their WV home (he was now retired); we spent the evening debating the tenets of Calvinism (my youthful position) and Arminianism (his training). The next day I coasted my mom’s car down the mountain, bought gas, and drove back to Chattanooga.