I Made Eagle: The End of my Boy Scout Adventures

As I stated earlier, I was on track to make Eagle Scoutbefore my 14th birthday. Well, it took me almost four years to get my last three merit badges and to complete my project. Why? Well, to be blunt, earning my Eagle Scout meant nothing to me at all. In fact, I was resolved not to pursue that award. But I was so stinking close that I had a change of heart.

In February, 1978 I was contemplating what to get my Dad for his birthday on February 26. I had a job and I had money. But for a teenager to find an adequate gift to give to his parents is always a challenge. If parents truly want something, they have the resources to go get it. So, I was stuck with no idea of what to get my Dad.

Then it hit me. What if I gave him my last three merit badges? By now, the challenge of earning a merit badge was over. These requirements were designed to challenge 12 year olds. I simply had to swallow my pride, read the dumb merit badge book, perform the requirements, (making sure I chose the easiest ones possible), and need go see a merit badge counselor. 

Scouts: The Beginning of the End

At last, after three years of Cub Scouts and one year in the Guide Patrol/Blazers I was finally a real Boy Scout. But, as I said, just before I turned 12, Dad was released as Scout Master and made Elder’s Quorum President. The new Scout Master was Steve Barnes.

Steve was a towering figure in the ward. Well, he was about seven feet tall and wore size 18 shoes. So, he was physically towering – his size made quite the impression on us. He was a great man and we enjoyed him as Scout Master and he enjoyed being with us. But he didn’t have the spark that made scouting fun. I had seen how Dad had made scouting a joy. So I had a benchmark and the troop I was part of fell way short of my expectations.

Of course, being the overzealous person that I am, during my first year of scouting I was totally into it. By the time I was 13 I had all but two or three merit badges for Eagle. I was on a pace to meet or exceed Matt’s accomplishment of being Eagle before I was 14. But then I stopped.

Eagles by the Dozen

As I mentioned earlier, the highest rank a boy can achieve in Scouting is Eagle. This award can take from 2 to 6 years to accomplish. While the ratio of boys who join the Boy Scouts and achieve Eagle is about 5-7 percent, in Dad’s troops, those that ratio seemed much higher. It is likely that in his 16 years as Scoutmaster Dad has lost the exact count of those who achieved this rank under his leadership, none of us will ever forget the day he had 12 Eagles at one Court of Honor.

Frank Heiss and Scouting: The Golden Age – Part 3: Changing Lives

As much as Dad saw importance in the scouting program, I firmly believe he always had a higher purpose in supporting this program. To him, scouting was more than merit badges, camping, hiking, and advancement. To Dad, scouting provided him the context, for over 18 years, to positively impact the lives of the boys in his charge. 

I also believe Dad saw scouting as more than “the activity arm or the Aaronic Priesthood.” He saw it as a way to instill core gospel principles into the lives members and non-members alike. Perhaps his greatest work was done by creating a program that excited his member scouts to willingly invite their non-member friends. 

At one point, Troop 106 was almost half member and half non-member. True, this was in California and not in Utah. So there was a much greater pool of non-member boys to include. But to have so many community members attending Mutual each week, being made aware of the youth activities, interacting with adult youth leaders and, perhaps more important, the LDS girls yielded nothing but positive results.

Opa and Scouting: The Beginning

I had the occasion to spend some time with Dad recently to get his input on the connection the Heiss family has with scouting. I knew it started with Opa, but I didn’t know how or why.

When Dad was about to turn 12, the bishop of the ward asked Opa to serve as Scout Master. Now, Opa had no experience with scouting. In fact, he didn’t know the first thing about the organization or the history the church had with this program. But the calling came as a perfect storm.

Scouting and the Church: My Perspective

I will not try to recite the long history the Church has had with scouting. It is has been a 100 year relationship.

To be fair, scouting advocates many positive things – faith, loyalty, honesty, service, and so on. So it made sense that a Church, trying to find a vehicle to engage its young men that was positive and exciting, turned to scouting.

Scouting had its heyday in the church up until about the 1960s. But from the 1960s to the 1980s, the nation’s attention towards scouting as well as that of the young men of the Church began to wane. Life changed and scouting fell behind. That is not to say the values of scouting were any less important. These are still great values.