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During this formative period, a planning meeting was being held with a small group in our old patrol cabins at old Camp Cedar Valley. The group was struggling with ideas that would link the name to our camp and geographical area of Arkansas. Legend has it that a large spring thunderstorm was brewing that night. As the wind grew and thunder boomed, the gathering grew quiet, deep in thought. Eventually, the lightening itself came closer, crashing through the surrounding cedar forest. Someone noticing this, commented about the "thunder and lightening in the cedars". Thus our lodge name and totem, "Thunder in the Cedars". Shortly thereafter, we determined with help from a professor at Arkansas State College how this translated into Choctaw, a peoples at one time native to our area. (An alternate story has recently been uncovered crediting Bob Lundquist and the 1947 team with picking the name, totem, etc. No other proof to support the story exists, except that it was referenced in notes in our council files originally drafted by Jack Roy himself.) |
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Legend also surrounds our early 'shield' patch and generic design. All the designs contained five small cedar trees. Many of our camp patches from the period through the 1970s also contained the same five small trees. The story is that there were five youth who formed the core of the group of our founders with Jack Roy as the adult leadership. The legend contends that the five small trees represent the five young 'seedlings' of our lodge. |
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In the early 1950s, the lodge grew slowly. All of our early members drew from the camp staff and some long-time adult leaders. In 1952, our first non-camp staff troop elections to the order occurred. The summer of 1953 marked our first Brotherhood inductions of a number of youth and adults. There was a strong interest in the 'Indian lore' aspect of the OA during summer camp, but our members had limited knowledge and resources. We learned a lot from our friends at the nearby camp Kia Kima. But we wanted more realistic and accurate representation in both costume and dance. During 1952 Jack Roy hired two Native American teenagers from the Tahlequah, Oklahoma area, to spend the summer at Cedar Valley teaching our scouts the proper techniques. The younger lad named Robert Pewo was very popular with the scouts. Robert possessed great skill in dancing and teaching others the techniques of costume construction. Don Hearn in particular quickly developed skills under Robert's instruction. Don in turn quickly moved to help build our first true dance team, and pushed others toward costume construction. Our early traditions in dance trace their roots to this unnamed Native American, to whom we will always be greatful, and Don. From this foundation, in 1958 Rick Duschl became involved and significantly expanded the Indian Lore focus of our lodge. |
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By 1960, the OA was spreading in our council. Chapters were beginning to form parallel to our districts. Active interest in Indian Lore grew as did our knowledge of correct costuming and style. A new generation of scouts, raised in the budding traditions of Cedar Valley and our lodge were coming of age and the leadership of our group passed from the founding youth to young men like Frederick 'Rick' Duschl, Vance Blackwell, E.C. Clifton and David Lyttle. Rick and others ensured that Indian Lore remained a central part of our focus together with service and camping. |
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In November 1966, we held our first Fall Fellowship, intended to be our annual purely social / entertainment event. We also introduced our first quarterly lodge newsletter, The Legend earlier that same year. By 1970, our lodge had grown substancially in size to match the growth of our council. Changes to Ordeal election procedures introduced by the National BSA in 1970 further increased our membership to record levels. The early youth of our founding years were grown men and a second generation of arrowmen had moved to young adulthood. Yet another generation of young men was coming of age as our 100th Vigil was inducted in 1975. During the mid-1970s new traditions were introduced such as the symbolic large red candle (1974) used in opening our meetings and Vigil blankets as gifts between brothers (1976). Also in 1975, arrowman Jon 'Bar' Barbarotto organized our first Cedar Valley Winter Camp. Held annually since, the staff has traditionally been almost 100% volunteer arrowmen. For most of the 1970s, we transitioned to having our chapters conduct Ordeal tapouts and inductions before returning to a lodge Ordeal with chapter inductions in the early 1980s. |
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The event was also marked by the largest gathering of Lodge 413 chiefs ever. Chiefs Don Hearn (1953), Jim King (1962), John Phillips (1969), Dean Massey (1973), Charlie Harris (1974), Stephen White (1975), Brad Gallop (1976), Kurt Massey (1978), David Shewmaker (1980), Greg Spence (1983), Jeff Puryear (1987), Jesse Cartwright (1988) and Joseph Kueter (1989), were present for the event. The three surviving original Vigil inductees were also present; Jack Roy, Dr. Sonny Roberson and Don Hearn. |
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The 1990s saw rapid change in many areas of Scouting and our lodge / council was no different. Twice we have lost old friends during this period. First, with the untimely death of our Council Executive, Ken Ackeret on June 6, 1991; and again on February 23, 1995, with the loss of Brad Gallop while serving as a District Executive in Texas. The face of Scouting has changed too, with many more women involved in positions of leadership than ever before. While, many of these ladies have been active for several years, there were relatively few involved in the non-Cub Scouting programs in our area until the 1990s. In 1996, from this ever growing important early group of female leaders, we inducted the first to the Vigil Honor in our lodge with the elevation of Thelma Kelly in September of that year. |
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Can you add to the story? If you have been a member of our lodge in the past do you know stories or event details that might be of interest to our members? Do you have photographs or old documents that we might borrow? We would truly enjoy hearing from any of our past members. In developing the story of our lodge, we recognize that there are many stories, events and aspects of our history that we have been unable to cover. It is never too late to "Do a good turn", and share your memories with our youth. Please contact the webmaster if you can help in our ongoing project to understand our past. Thank you! |
Copyright © 2000-2010
EAAC
Historical Preservation Society
Rev 1 Jan 2010 sw