Where is Joe Burrow

Hi, I am Sherwin Rubin from Troop 21 in Fort Worth, Texas.  I was a member in the late 1940's and Trey has posted a couple pictures of mine in this blog.  One of the pictures was four scouts walking together.  (David Rubin, Dick Tooley, myself, and Joe Burrow.)  I think it was taken about 1945.  I have Dick Tooley's e-mail and postal address, but I have lost contact with Joe.  David passed away in 1997.

If anyone knows how to contact Joe Burrow, I would appreciate the information.

What Has Ten Legs, Four Heads and Comes in Green?

(...and goes on long hikes in front of a forest backdrop?)

Back in the time when boys were boys and men were men (say, around 1945), Sherwin Ruben, his brother David Rubin, and friends Dick Tooley and Joe Burrow were members of the venerable Troop 21. And in case anyone doubts this, we have a photo to prove it.

(If anyone is taking bets on who is the wild man of the group, our money's on Joe.)

Here's another one from Sherwin of him and his brother David.

Easter Eggs

Just for the heck of it we've placed a couple of hidden references on the home page:

If you have ever wondered if Moe Dean Gunch might be of such mythical stature as to rank with the likes of Odin, there may be some truth to this (you have, of course heard of Loki Pierre). Also, while the many and various adventures of Moe Dean may have been somewhat spectacular on occasion, they are not above a wisecrack every now and then (drag the corner of the browser window towards the top for this one).

By the way - have you ever been lost in the woods? Go to the home page and type a couple of random characters after the URL and you can relive the experience. Better yet click here.

The Cult of Moe, 2013

I've been in contact with Brendan Smith, Post advisor. He will be getting in touch with the current Post president about the suggestion for setting up a current front-end website for the Post at the same domain name and with the history site being connected to it by a menu link. No change in hosting, just a different home page with the recently developed pages and content remaining as they are.

New Member

John Fortier has just signed up. For those who haven't met John, he was a member from 1982 to 1987. During his time with the Post he was the Nishkin ceremonies chairman in 1984, vigil secretary in 1985, served on the WR Camp Staff from 1983 through 1985, made the Post 52 Philmont trek in 1984 and numerous ski trips in 1984, 1985 and 1986.

Welcome aboard, John!

Photo from Dink

Bill Wilson (Nishkin Vice Chief and second Chief) and Dink Starnes (first Nishkin Chief)

Dink's note:


"You have a good pic of the vice chief of the Nishkins.  See the chief belt on me.  See the vice chief belt on Bill Wilson soon (in about an hour and a half to get the big, heavy burden (and blue) tradition.  My idea of how to get rid of it.

"Photo taken by the Star-Telegram out side the Chrystal Ballroom, top floor of the Texas Hotel. Second banquet for O A.

"Maurice Lambert has my copy of the article.  Maurice and I go back to 14 - 16. He will be a great resource for you.  He is not one of us but he has a vast collection of BSA and has done a number books onW R, etc.

"Also, does the museum at W R.  Also, check out Deran Wright (web site).  I am trying to send to you a photo of the same period, but it is not working for me. So, it may come from him or Maurice.

"I had a long talk with Robert Vivion late today.  He is ready to talk (his place) this Thanks week.  Bring your gear.  You get maybe 3 early Chiefs in place."

Break Down near Muddy Gap, Wyoming

I got the only phone call I ever got from Jack was in August of 1975.  He was headed back from Oregon to Fort Worth with about 16 kids when the water pump on his second hand school bus gave out.  Jack called from about 30 miles north of Muddy Gap, Wyoming.  Muddy Gap is where the highway splits going to either Laramie or Rawlins.  It's in the middle of no where along the Sweetwater River.  

This was a Saturday afternoon.  He knew that the bus was a GMC and that it had a big engine.  I found no less than five water pumps that might fit his bus.   We lived in Riverton about two hours away from where he said the bus was on the side of the road.  Kathy had bought a bunch of food while I got the parts.  We got there about dark, just in time to be attacked by bands of roving mosquitos.

The kids had pitched tents along the fence line.  They were glad to see the food that Kathy had brought along.   Jack was holding a map like he always did when things cratered.  One kid interrupted Jack's navigational exercise by asking him why his mosquito repellant was not working.  Jack examined the bottle and informed the kid that his mosquito repellant was only effective on Texas species of  mosquitos. 

Mean while two of the older kids got a lesson in bus repairs by helping me change out the water pump.  I was very relieved to find that one of the five water pumps actually fit.  In the middle of all of this another kid comes up and asks if I think we can fix the bus and have it make it back to Fort Worth without another break down.  He tells me they shelled a water pump on the trip up to Oregon.  Then Jack pipes up that the bus was going through them about every six months. 

After about two hours we get the pump installed using flashlights to augment the mechanics version of the Braille System.  The break down was within 100 feet of the Sweetwater River.  The kids used canteens and pop cans to get water to fill up the radiator.  It's about 10:30 PM when I crank up the bus.  Thankfully there were no leaks and the bus idles smoothly. 

Jack now decides that he has time to make it to Laramie before calling it a night.  I told Jack that I would drive the bus as far as Muddy Gap to make sure that the repairs held up.  Kathy follows us in our car.  Jack decides to stand in the step well near the door to see how it goes.  The boys all piled in and  immediately crashed.  Little had changed over the years. 

The bus ran cool all the way to Muddy Gap.  Jack was very quiet until I pulled into the gas station/store/KOA camp ground at Muddy Gap.  The place was about to close down for the night, but was more than glad to sell me gasoline for the bus and the car.  Jack had not realized that the bus was almost out of fuel and was probably running on fumes. 

The kids all got off the bus and went into the store for a much needed pit stop.  Jack gets a Coke.  He says he needs to stay awake to get to Laramie.  I go in to pay for the fuel.  The man that ran the place looked at us and asked; "Rough day?'  I answered with a simple "This is really pretty normal for us.  We're used to it". 
 
I gave him the quick version of what happened while Jack is trying to write a check to Kathy for the water pump.   Kathy had the smarts to tell Jack to mail it to us later.  Mean while the gas man offers to let the Jack and the kids stay at the KOA campground on him, showers and all.  Jack wants to go on, but the kids overrule him as they realize that they can get a hot shower. 

Kathy and I say good bye to the troop and headed back to Riverton.  The conversation turns to why I think this is a normal event.  Many related stories later she begins to understand a very important part of many peoples' lives.  In the months and years that followed I bought a lot of gas and diesel fuel at Muddy Gap.  The last time I went through there in 1981the gas man told me that he was yet to run across anything quite like Jack and the troop. 

I never got another call from Jack.  The water pump lasted a few more years and a lot more miles.  I'm still thankful that we always got home sooner or later, no big deal.   Many years later the camping trips are still very pleasant memories. 

Jack Plaque

I have taken Kent's photo of the Jack Boyd flagpole plaque, cleaned it up, straightened it, and made it more legible. I'll post a small version along with the text on the Jack page of the website.

We are looking for someone to head up the project of collecting Jack Boyd stories and history. As Chris mentioned on the FaceBook alumni group, Camping with Jack is a great place for someone to start. We could use a bunch of anecdotes and stories from everyone who has a classic Jack Boyd experience.

Humongous Pile'O'Photos

We have just received a DVD from Kent Couch with a modest supply of photos (601, to be exact – three quarters of a Gigabyte). Most are from WR, with a number from trips to Austin and DC and a few Leonard Shots, the 2006 Reunion, OA stuff, and whatnot.

It is a ton of stuff and way more than could fit in a normal gallery. If someone would like to go through them and cull them for selected galleries,  this would be very helpful. Let me know and I'll send you a dupe of the DVD.

While we're at it, anyone who is interested is welcome to send me a prepaid DVD mailer and I'll send you a copy, regardless.

Biographies

There are several pages of Jack Boyd's biography in Camping with Jack.  That could be a start for something more extensive.  Heard Floore was friends with Joe Studdard.  Both of them collected folk music.  This was an active competition.  After Joe Studdard died I think Heard would up with a lot of what Joe had found. 

The Post 52 History from several years ago has biographies of sorts for Colonel Slaton, Terry Wilkes and Robert Vivion. 

Chris Callaway

Troop & Post Songbook, 5th Ed. 1975

I'm sure y'all have this already, but on the off chance you don't, I've attached a scanned copy of the 52 song book.

Thanks for all your efforts.

Andrew Bruner

We have processed the file to a more compact format and it is now downloadable. We are in the process of turning it into a digital form with text that can be copied and pasted into other documents. Due to the fuzzy, photocopied nature, nearly every word will need to be checked, so this may take a while. 

We will create a downloads page in the near future. In the meantime, the bitmapped PDF can be downloaded via the following link:

Troop & Post 52 Song Book 5th Edition, Summer 1975

One more thing:

Who can provide the background info on the legendary but mysterious songster, Joe Studdard?

- Editor

Charles L Sommers, 1979

We would like to welcome Stan Bravenek to the blog. He was among the group that laid the brick on the Post Room floor and many of us have have gained a loftier perspective by this accomplishment (at least a good half inch more lofty than before).

Here's his crew photo from the Sommers trek of 1979:

Back Row: Dean Ramsey, Ted Test, Mac McDonald (non-Post member), Rob Moran, Irro (guide)
Front Row: Bill Harmon, Stan Bravenec, Darrell Amsden, Chris (non-Post member).

A Rather Floppy Historical Record

Thanks to Steve Cocanower for submitting his memoirs. They may be on a DSDD floppy disk, but we have the time and (excuse the pun) we also have the drive.
We look forward to adding this content to the site in the near future.

Philmont, Rayado JLT Staff, 1973

Posted on Behalf of Cathy Hochberg

Staff photo from Philmont / Rayado Junior Leader Training Outpost, 1973

Back row:
Byron Lange (IA), Gary Lipscomb (OK), Duffy Boyles (OH), Dave Collison (KS), John Sisson (CO), Allen Croom (LA), Eric Pond (OR), Tim Austin (TX),
Middle row:
Bryan Morgan (TX), Roy Cleland (TX), Steve Lukehart (MO), Randle "Dee" Moore (TX), Ralph Wooden (MD), Charlie Allen (TX), Jim Stratton (OR), Richard Moseley (TX), Shane Doran (OR)
Front row:
Scott Muir (OR), Ron Ray (UT), Mark Nolte (MO), Jim Savard (OR), Heard Floore, Assistant Camp Director (TX), Rich Habel (IA), Harold Judd (IA), John Jensen (?)

Christmas Tree Sales

I remember that we first set up a tree lot at the corner of Berry Street and University Drive.  The bank had bought a set of lots to build a large building and had cleared off the houses in 1968 or 1969.  We rigged up make shift lights and built a tar paper shelter house/flocking station.   The shelter house was a hovel unfit for winos, but it held up for the few weeks we were selling trees. 

Former Troop and Post member Doug Harrell was trying to make a living selling Christmas trees wholesale.  I think we were his first customer.  We had to buy all kinds of one time things like flocking equipment, a tree bagger, etc. to get started.  I think we broke even after all was said and done that year.  We did sell a lot of trees however.  We also learned a lot about keeping records and handling money. 

Terry Wilkes was the advisor at this point in time.  We ran into some issues with the Southside Optimist Club.  the Optimists had run a tree lot in a public park (Kellis Park) at South Drive and Trail Lake  for years.  They were complaining bitterly to the scout office that we were unfairly competing with them and costing them business.  The scout office initially told us to close and that we could not use BSA on our signage.  We converted the signage to "POST 52" and continued on.  Wilkes (a council commissioner at the time) convinced the professionals to leave us alone. 

I don't remember where we went skiing that year.  I don't think it was Taos.  The trip to Taos was very basic and we actually camped out and cooked over a fire.  We used the infamous blue panel truck and Jack's station wagon for transportation. 

In the years that followed the tree lots moved to other places and the trips involved more and more people.  A year or so after the first trip we stayed at Philmont and skied at I think Angel Fire.  We had a lot of vehicle trouble on that trip with a rented van.  This van cratered in the middle of nowhere New Mexico.  I made two trips in my car hauling post members stacked like cord wood through a howling snow storm.  We got it fixed by two shady characters "Cool Hand Luke" and the "Gas Man" who ran a decrepit service station and motel with their girl friend.  I don't remember the name we hung on her. 


That was my last ski trip with the post.  The tree lots were still going strong when I got transferred back to Fort Worth from Colorado in 1981.  Shortly after getting back to Cowtown, Jack asked me to be the committee chairman for both units.  I was stunned to find out how much money the tree lot was handling.  This was after the move to Ryan Olds on Alta Mere.  The ski trips had become very popular and were even more successful.  In a few years artificial trees took their toll and the post gave up on Christmas trees.  I'm not sure when the shrimp trips started but they were successful as well. 

When I joined the post in 1965 I never would have dreamed that we would run a successful business enterprise.  But then again we never knew where the journey would lead us or where it would end.

Regarding the Fred Moyer Incident

I remember when Fred was killed. I wasn't on the trip, but...
The first news reports back in Fort Worth said something like "Texas Scout killed on Minnesota canoe trip." No name. No home town. No unit number. The Scout Office was flooded with calls. Or that's what I remember some 40+ years later.