No Ordinary Boy Scout Ceremony

This entry describes Not Your Ordinary BSA Order of the Arrow ceremony.

 This weekend 09-26-09 some 40 youth and 15 adults gathered at Will Rogers Scout Reservation near Cleveland,Oklahoma for a OA weekend filled with service projects and fellowship.  Saturday evening`s ceremony near the boat pond started out as others do except for the 7 in attendance in street clothes rather than Boy Scout uniform.  It quickly turned into a Memorial for a recently deceased  OA member.  This was to fulfill his last wishes.  Three adults eulogized his days in scouting telling of his love for fishing and teaching boys to fish at this very pond.  He had carved the large Indian totem poles in the background.  Each symbol had it`s own meaning.  Then per his wishes part of his ashes were shot over the pond from a cannon used in ceremonies.  The rest were distributed among those wanting to help scatter them.  I wondered what the younger boys thought of this as most participated.  Thus Richard Gode`s ashes remain for all eternity at the place he loved-Boy Scout Camp.  It was, to say the least, a very unusual but meaningful service!!