by Elsie Mooers
When Sandy called and asked if I would do the Keynote speech today, I said, “Well, I guess I could do that. Do you have anything special you want me to talk about”? And she said, “No, anyone who has been in Scouting for 53 years, shouldn’t have a problem finding something to talk about.” But that’s the problem. I have so many memories and there have been so many changes, it is hard to get it all in just a few minutes. But I would like to just reminisce a bit about what I have done since I started, way back in 1949, and to perhaps dwell a little on the changes I’ve seen. I’ll start at the beginning. A friend called and asked if I would like to help her with her troop and I said I would but I would have to try to get someone to take care of my little daughter. And she laughed and said, “Bring her along, there are 22 girls to help take care of her. And when I got to the meeting, I plunked her down on a blanket and she came to every meeting from then on. And O, that first meeting. I never forgot it. I learned to make a bed roll, to read a compass; we explored the vast basement of the Franklin Elementary school, using the compass, I learned to make a square knot, right over left and left over right, I learned my first GS songs, “White Coral Bells” and “The cuckoo song”. And I hear the Promise and Laws for the first time. The Promise and Laws. I thought, this is what I want to do, to work with girls and to teach them the value of these laws. (Read Laws) the next year, I took over the troop and we stayed together until they graduated from High School. Twelve earned the First Class Badge which at that time, was the equivalent of the Gold Award today. I had many, many troops after that; I was a leader until just a few years ago, but that first troop was always special. Many of them keep in touch with me today and I value their friendship more than I can say.
I soon became interested in Council affairs. Our Crosby Ironton area was a part of Lakes Area Council. From Wadena, to Little Falls, to McGregor, up to Remer. And I formed so many friendships over the years, some of whom I am in contact with today, and many I have had to say Goodbye to. For time marches on. But all those wonderful people were interested in girls and helping them to grown, for Growing Up Is a Hard Thing to Do. It was hard then and it is hard now. We were in Region X at the time and our Field Advisor, Margaret Keeley, said we really ought to think about a new and bigger Council. For we needed the financial base of a bigger area. So we began a dialog with four other Councils, Glenwood, Alexandria, Princeton and Bemidji. There were 17 counties in central Minnesota and several of us went from town to town explaining about the council and why we needed to form a new one. And we did it. No matter that it took nine long years to do it, we did it finally. Our budget that first year was $8,000.00 and we had to have it up front before we could be chartered. But we did raise it, each town was asked to do the best they could. The leaders had sales of all kinds, Rummage, Bake, Balloon , you name it, they had it. In the St. Cloud area, some went house to house.