Local residents awarded Parks Council’s ‘Silver Beaver’ Award

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On Sept. 21, the Utah National Parks Council honored 78 men and women with the American Boy Scout council’s highest award, the Silver Beaver. These people have worked with youth and adults in Scouting for many years. They’ve been trained in leadership and Scoutcraft skills and have passed that training on to others. They are dedicated to a cause and a movement that they believe in with all their hearts. The values of the Scout Oath and Law are the creed they live by each day.
Emery County’s recipients are Karen K. Huntsman, Castle Dale; William Reed Fehlberg, Huntington; Don Jay Larsen, Ferron; and Barton Cox and Gene A. Snow, both of Orangeville.
In June Roy Williams, the Chief Scout Executive of the National Council, Boy Scouts of America, spoke his feeling at a business meeting for professional scouters. He said, “Scouting stands for leadership by example. We stand for strengthening families. We stand for educating children. We stand for values. We stand for faith.” Today as education budgets are being stretched thin, isn’t it good to have an additional place where children may learn worthwhile values and skills.
Williams listed 10 things from a book, “The Wonder of Boys,” by Michael Gurian, that boys need to grow strong:
*Nurturing parent of caregivers
*A clan or tribe
*Spiritual life
*Important work
*Mentors and role models
*To know the rules
*To learn how to lead and how to follow
*An adventure and a best friend to have it with
*Lots of games
*An important role in life
“Sounds like all the elements of Scouting to me,” he said.
These Silver Beavers and thousands of other wonderful volunteers have made it possible for the Boy Scouts of America to go forward. The hours are long and the work can be hard, but they realize that nothing worth having ever comes easily. The Silver Beaver recipients from Utah were recognized on Sept. 21 in the main ballroom of the Wilkinson Center on the Brigham Young University campus.