Hankins Tales: Remembering Brian Nunn

(Originally posted to social media on August 20, 2020)

A few minutes ago I was scrolling through Facebook looking for anything that might be positive in Nature, anything that was not politics or Covid 19. Suddenly a face flashed across the screen that I had not seen in 40 years but I would know that person anywhere. It was my old friend Brian Nunn who I had known so well from my days as the Ranger at Camp Chickahominy. His father David was one of my top volunteers and a huge supporter.

I focused on Brians’s dark eyes and wondered what this post was all about. I was horrified to see that his father was posting the fact that Brian had passed away. He was born in 1964, he was still a young man. I do not know any details about his death but I discovered that I was profoundly saddened by this loss. As human beings, it is not in our makeup to have to post the news of our children’s death. It is the greatest loss that we as parents can face.

My heart goes out to David for a loss that can only barely be understood by anyone who has never lost a child. I will not whisper useless platitudes, this will be hard for the entire family. During my time as Ranger, I helped to start an explorer Post as part of troop 103. It was one of the biggest troops in the old Peninsula Council.

Brian was one of the most active members of that group. He was exceedingly quiet but he was not afraid to ask questions and to display an unending curiosity about the world around him. He had a great sense of humor and I often caught him smiling with a very large grin on his face. I remember taking the group up to High Knoll trail camp sometime in the early 80s. This was at Camp Powhatan and these boys from the flatlands struggled with the elevation but they had a great time.

In that week I saw Brian come out of his shell and become much more open and truly excited about the outdoors. Once I became the Ranger up in Richmond I lost track of Brian. But I have never forgotten him. He is one of those kids that just stays with you. The kind of kid you will recall in a quiet moment around a campfire. When the embers are low and children crowd around for a story, that is when I will think of Brian.

With permission of the author, these stories by noted scouter and storyteller John Hankins are featured here at Natahwop.Org. He shares these as part of the history and lore of Camp Powhatan, Camp Ottari, and the High Knoll Trail, where he spent many years of his youth. John has an incomperable first-hand knowledge of this scout reservation, as he blazed most of the original trails for High Knoll, and has hiked the rest of them several times over.

John Hankins grew up in Troop 50 (Woodlawn United Methodist Church) in Roanoke, VA. He attended Camp Powhatan as a young scout, then worked at Philmont Ranch as a ranger. He returned to the reservation to serve on camp staff from 1968 to 1978. He was a legendary naturalist who could interpret the outdoors unlike any other. As a teacher, John often relied on the element of excitement to get his point across. His weekly lectures at the nature lodge, for example, introduced scouts to either a live rattlesnake or copperhead – usually dangling on a stick within a few feet of the front row.

John and several others first envisioned the now-legendary High Knoll trail system. They took it to council leadership for prospective funding, where the idea gained several key advocates (but no funding). John recalls how – in those days – they couldn’t pay the staff with money, so they gave them patches. The High Knoll Trail would go on to become one of the best outdoor programs in the country.

John applied in 1979 for the open job of Camp Ranger, but the council said he needed more experience in that post. With his rejection letter in hand, he was immediately hired by Camp Chickohominy, and then by Camp Brady Saunders where he served for 33 years as Camp Ranger. John moved with his wife, Cheri, to West Virginia where they enjoyed the spoils of retirement: grandchildren, travel, and the great outdoors. As of 2024, they are living on the outskirts of Richmond where they can be closer to family.

(“Hankins Tales” are shared here by permission of the author. Each story is copyrighted by John Hankins, and may not be reproduced in any form without his express written permission.)

The Natahwop

Hankins Tales: Remembering Brian Nunn

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