Boy Scout Troop 325
By George Denise, Scoutmaster
A
few of you probably knew Chuck Guthery, especially those of you who attended
Bristlecone Junior Leader Training. Others of you may not recognize the name, or may not be able to place
the name with a face, but you would undoubtedly recognize him if you saw
him. Chuck was one of those people you
see all the time at scouting events. I'm not sure what all his titles were. I'm not even sure he always had titles. He was just one of those guys who was always there, making sure things
got done.
He
was an advisor to the Mene Oto Chapter of Order of the Arrow. He was an advisor for Mene Oto's camporee
staff. He was often a cook for various
Scouting functions, especially camporee and OA functions. You would often see him at OA ordeals and
fellowships. You would see him at
conclaves. Four years ago, when Mr.
Denise became chairman of BearPaw Winter Camping Training, Chuck approached him
to let him know that his troop, Troop 251, had been providing the lunches for
BearPaw Indoor Sessions as a fundraiser for the past few years. He wanted to know if Mr. Denise would like
them to continue doing that. The answer, of course, was "Yes." (Volunteers are not always that easy to
find.)
Most
of us that knew him in this room, probably knew him through Bristlecone Junior
Leader Training. He was on the staff
for Bristlecone for the past five years. For the past two years, Chuck was the Chairman for Bristlecone. He recruited Mrs. Denise to be on staff four
years ago, and then two years ago, he recruited Mr. Denise to be on staff. He recruited Woody Barrett to be the quartermaster
and head cook for Bristlecone. And he
recruited many of the youth members, both staff and participants.
Chuck's
whole life was scouting. He was
dedicated to scouting, but even more so, to the individual scouts. I don't
think Chuck ever missed helping an Eagle candidate who needed him.
Chuck
Guthery died last Wednesday night of a heart attack. He was helping a scout with an Eagle project at the time. Fitting that a man who gave his life to
scouting, died giving his life to scouting.
Chuck
will be missed. Some things that might
have been done by him sometime in the future will never get done, now. But somewhere, wherever he is, Chuck has
already found some scouts to work with - that's just the way Chuck is.
Thank you for listening. And God be with you.