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Scout Troop 361
Boy Scouts of America (Now called Scouting America) Troop 361 was originally chartered January 15, 1943 by the Holy Name Society.
The original leaders were:
Edward R. Mowrey - Scoutmaster
Victor J. Kintz - Chairman
John P. Hall - Assistant Scoutmaster
Louis Van Rhein - Assistant Scoutmaster
Rev. E.P. Biggins - Chaplain
E. Kramer, Roy Weikart, George Kline, Erwin J. Faust, Les Bray and Nickolas J. Metzger - Troop Committee
Charter Scouts of the Troop were:
Charles Hall, Joseph Conlon, Thomas Sandbrink, Kenneth Laumond, Donald Faust, Ronnie Parsons, William Schrader, William Blase, William Kramer, John Colabranchi, Francis Stillman, Bernard Ryan, Donald Micka, and Norman Krumrey.
Scoutmasters:
Edward R. Mowrey 1943 - 44
Louis Van Rhein 1944 - 49
Leslie L. Bray 1949 - 50
Richard Stoughton 1950 & 52
Dr. E.M. Croghan 1951
Robert H. Bosch 1953 - 55
Bill E. Mason 1956 - 57
Ferd G. Classe 1958
William E. Mundy 1959 - 61
Raymond C. Weikert, Sr. 1961 - 63
Lester G. Wolken 1963 - 65
William J. Sulze 1965 - 68
Donald C. Kruse 1968 - 69
Vincent C. Krautman 1969 - 70
Paul H. Chavaux 1970 - 71
Raymond E. Dolan 1975
James Neville 1975 - 77
John Hamilton 1978 - 79
Joseph R. Felsen 1979
David B. Nickels 1980 - 81
Greg Rebman 1982 - 86
Louis Menard 1986 - 87
Charles Reed 1988
Andrew G. Leahy 1989 - 02
Philip E. Scherry 2002 - 03
James Hoel 2004 - 08
David L. Harfst 2008 - 13
George Haddad 2013- 15
Jon Segasture 2015 - 16
Chris Musial 2016 -
361 Eagle Scouts:
Michael L. Venegoni - 1956
Stephen M. Smith - 1959
William J. Meier, Jr. - 1966
David Kruse - 1968
Robert Barnes - 1969
John B. Kaufman - 1969
Thomas Helm - 1969
David A. Hoffmeister - 1970
Allan Nelson - 1971
Paul J. Chavaux - 1971
Michael S. Freidlein - 1972
Robert J. Hudler - 1975
James M. Neville - 1975
Chris Musial - 1977
Theodore A. Surgant - 1978
Daniel G. Neville - 1979
Scott A. Rinaberger - 1981
James K. George - 1981
Kenneth O’Shaughnessy - 1982
Matt Chiodini - 1993
Ron Parres, II - 1993
Chad Stuart - 1994
Philip Scherry - 1995
Whit Scheidegger - 1998
Steve Moelm - 1998
Casey Collins - 2000
Alfred Watson - 2000
Jacob Mowry - 2001
Kevin Madras, Jr. - 2002
Rory E. O’Donnell - 2002
Ian Watson - 2003
Alan Scherry - 2003
Brian Kane - 2004
Patrick T. O’Donnell - 2004
Daniel Begus - 2005
Michael Rabenberg - 2006
J.J. Balestreri - 2006
Josh Collins - 2009
Andrew Minshall - 2009
Paul Eschbach - 2009
Daniel Neville, Jr. - 2010
Robert Reynolds - 2010
Shawn O’Neal - 2011
Quinn Briceno - 2011
Andrew Dreyer - 2011
Jack Doheny - 2012
Joe Musial - 2013
Patrick O’Brien - 2013
Jacob Neville - 2013
Jeremy Harfst - 2014
James O'Halloran - 2015
Matthew Segasture - 2015
Zachary Arrindell - 2017
Zander Haddad - 2018
Sean Segasture - 2018
John Echele - 2019
Jack Williams - 2019
Samuel Williams - 2019
Scott Buchanan - 2020
Ethan Musial - 2020
Andrew Bacon - 2021
Nicholas Ventimiglia - 2022
John Peel - 2022
Matthew Musial - 2023
Brady Hansen - 2024
Andrew Kuehler - 2025
Joe Egley - 2025
Michael Ventimiglia - 2025
Cub Pack 361
Cub Scout Pack 361 was organized by the Ladies’ Sodality May 10, 1944 with 15 Cub Scouts.
The Pack’s chartering leaders were:
Steven J. Barth - Cubmaster
William A. Vogler - Chairman
A. Julius, William J. Zickel, H.J. Ready, August Finder, M.L. Ryan, and O. Hoelscher - Pack committee and leadership
Cubmasters:
Steve Barth 1944 - 46
Dr. E.M. Hindes 1946 - 50
William M. Weber 1950 - 52
E.A. Hoskins 1952 - 53
Steve J. Barth 1953 - 55
Francis A. Duenewald 1955 - 59
Everett L. Ryan 1960 - 63
LeRoy Russo 1963 - 66
Charles Mayer 1966 - 69
Mike Venegoni 1969 - 76
Ronald R. DeGreeff 1976 - 77
William J. Donahoe 1977 - 78
Greg Rebman 1978 - 82
Bob McCulloch 1982 - 84
Milt Mesko 1984 - 85
Tom McIntyre 1985 - 86
Michael L. O’Hare 1986 - 88
Andrew G. Leahy 1988 - 92
Stephen T. King 1992 - 96
Brian P. Seltzer 1996 - 98
Adam M. Velat 1998 - 99
Michael F. Twombly 1999 - 02
John V. Doheny 2002 - 08
Brian G. Schnelker 2009 - 11
Stephan A. Walsh 2011- 13
Phil Graham 2013 - 15
Jordan Parks 2015 - 18
Ben Bohling 2018 - 20
Sam Caputa 2021 -
Two long-time leaders of Pack 361 were John F. Flemming and Mrs. Rita T. Venegoni who were active leaders and cornerstones of the Pack for more than thirty years.
Explorer Post and Venturing Crew 361
Explorer Post 361 was first organized for older Boy Scouts in December of 1957.
Advisors:
Alan Southard, Sr. 1959-60
Stephen Schilly 1960-63
James A. Weikart 1963
Otto Canman 1964-68
Domenic Tringale 1968-72
Russell C. Hudler 1973-75
Fred M. Nelson 1975-76
Joseph R. Felsen 1979-81
Daniel G. Neville 1996-99
Timothy P. O’Donnell 2000-09
Daniel G. Neville 2009-
In 1996 our Explorer Post 361 admitted girls and female leaders to our program. In 1998 the Boy Scouts of America changed the title of Explorers in traditional programs to Venturers, and changed Explorer posts to Venturing crews.
Heroism Awards:
In February of 1993, 13 year-old Scout Ron Parres of Troop 361 used calm action and Scout training to save a life. While delivering flyers for the City of Brentwood yard waste program, he came across an elderly woman at the door of her home. She said that she was very cold and asked Ron to come in and light her stove. When she opened her door, the smell of gas was overwhelming. He found a small gas heater in the living room and four burners on a kitchen stove. All were on and releasing gas. Ron turned them off and hustled the woman out of the house into the cold and called 911. He waited with her until the police and fire department arrived. The 911 operator said that his call was a textbook example. He stayed calm and gave her everything that she needed to dispatch assistance. The Fire Department found the home filled with enough gas that a spark could have caused a devastating explosion. After making sure that the police and fire department had the situation under control, Ron finished delivering the rest of his flyers. His Scoutmaster, Andrew Leahy did not hear about the incident until four months later when he overheard other Scouts talking about it. He then worked to reconstruct the story and nominate Ron’s actions for recognition from the National BSA Court of Honor. After a thorough review, Ron Parres was awarded the Heroism Award from the BSA. In 1993 there were only 80 Heroism Awards presented in the entire Boy Scouts of America.
Presidential Visit
During the summer of 1997 Scout Troop 361 was visiting the Mall in Washington DC en-route to visiting the National Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, in Virginia. While saying grace before lunch near the Washington Monument they became aware of police chasing a subject on foot, heading their direction. Scoutmaster Andrew Leahy and the other leaders of the Troop moved the Scouts quickly to the side, off the sidewalk. The fleeing suspect was out-running the police and was in a position of escaping. That is until he came running by Troop 361 and Scoutmaster Leahy stepped into his path and with a well-placed shoulder knocked the felon off his feet and to the ground, and held him until the police were able to subdue and handcuff him.
The police thanked Leahy profusely and explained that the suspect was wanted for theft of a motor vehicle and in the process of fleeing police had narrowly missed running over Congressman Sonny Bono (R-California) and other pedestrians near the Mall. Losing control of the speeding vehicle, he had crashed into a tree and fled on foot. With the excitement over, Troop 361 continued on with their tour and to the Jamboree.
Two nights later at the Opening Campfire of the 1997 National Jamboree, with upwards of 40,000 spectators, President Bill Clinton unexpectedly gave a word of “thanks to Scoutmaster Andy Leahy and Troop 361 from St. Louis Missouri who assisted Capitol Police in apprehending a fleeing felon at the Washington Mall.” Local St. Louis media were alerted and secured footage of the President’s speech.
When the Troop arrived back at the Church they were met by television film crews and print media reporters.
The story does not end there. Later that summer President Clinton was to deliver a speech in town and asked to speak with Leahy and personally thank him. Leahy would accept only if the Scouts and leaders of the Troop were able to join him. Logistics did not allow for the entire Troop to meet President Clinton at the venue of his speech, so the White House arraigned for the Troop to meet the President at the foot of Air Force One as he departed. The President was joined there by Congressman Richard Gephardt who is a Distinguished Eagle Scout from St. Louis, and St. Louis Mayor Clarence Harmon.
President Clinton was very cordial to the Scouts and leaders, thanking them for their service. He delighted in explaining the differences of the real Air Force One in contrast to the aircraft portrayed in the recently released Harrison Ford film “Air Force One”. Just prior to departing, he posed for a photo with the Troop.
Later each Scout would receive an Official White House Photo commemorating the event.
This story is also written in “The Spirit Within” the second edition of the history of the Greater St. Louis Area Council (O’ Donnell 2014).
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