Scouts Honor

As a youngster and all the way through high school, I was a Girl Scout. Thanks to two aunts: my Aunt Mary and my Aunt Eleanor, we Souza girls were introduced early on and loved each moment. If you were a Boy Scout, you probably experienced the same thing.  For some reason, my brother was never a boy scout.  I do not think they were as active in the Village.  I started as a Brownie, graduated to a regular scout and then in high school was a junior high scout.  I am a senior scout today, but a different kind. My Aunt Eleanor passed away too soon.  My Aunt Mary, although living in different states, continued her leadership all the way up to leader recruitment.

Juliette Gordon Low founded the American Girl Scouts in Savannah, Georgia in 1912.  We live only two hours from Savannah and have often walked by her victorian home, now a museum. The following two you tube videos give a nice history for those of you who would like to enjoy it.  There are over 50 million girl scout alumni in the world today,  Remember Girl Scouts selling cookies house to house? I bet you do not have to guess hard to know that
 mint chocolate cookies account for 25% of all sales.
 During WW2, the scouts sold calendars
instead because of food rationing

but started up again right after the war.
 Girl Scout cookie sales began in 1917 in Muskagee, Oklahoma.

It is fascinating to see that the Taunton scouts were founded not long after, 1913 or 1914.  The first Taunton troop was at the Winslow Congregational Church in Taunton.  That was a seed troop as eventually the entire Eastern Massachusetts council flowed from them.  The following link is a good little summary of that history. The article honors Mary Powers, 

a long time leader in Taunton Girl Scouts.

http://www.tauntongazette.com/news/x872935652/Taunton-Girl-Scouts-celebrate-100-years-honor-Mary-Powers?zc_p=1

My first scout memories were of our meetings at Fuller School.  Could not be more convenient. This is yours truly, it look like in our house on Blinn's Court in around 1947 . Get a look at that beautiful radio console on your left.  I must have been around 7 or 8 years old.
 Sorry about the poor quality....that is how old I am!!

Thanks to Pinterest, especially Michelle Smith, where I found these girl scout pins
 that we attached to our scarfs.
 Badges were worked for and earned.

I remember that we took a school bus to Camp King which was located
 near the E. Taunton airport, where we had day camp.

 We wore scarfs around our waists from which we  hung

the tin cups we drank from.

Overnight camp was not as frequent and was at Camp Merriwood.  I cannot find much on that except that apparently it is a housing developement area today.  The red spot seems to be where the camp was located, generally.  Camp Merriwood is listed on the net, King is not.

I used this photo previously when I wrote of front porches, but once again, here we are , I am on the upper left, my sister Kathy on the far right and little sister Mariellen with our dog of that time, sending us off.  All on the front lawn of our homestead on School Street in the Village.

A neighbor gal in the 

middle went with us to camp, too. 

This is a vintage photo of a girl scout overnight camp somewhere, they probably all were alike. We did all the campfire stuff, including s'mores, of course.  I think we just had tents, but that may be an incomplete memory.

Later, as a junior scout in high school, our troop went by bus to Washington D.C. to tour the buildings and monuments.  That must have been in 1956 or so.  We stayed at a Girl Scout hostel there, probably in nearby Virginia.  I wish I had photos...

Perhaps at least one reader will?

As I researched uniforms and such for this post, well, let me just say there is little resemblance to those uniforms of the 50's.....  I hope that the values and experiences remain the same.