Category: Hankins Tales
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Hankins Tales: Memories of The Big Catch
(Originally posted to social media on September 3, 2023) When I was just getting started in the boy scouts I was a little bit of a loner. I did not sit around the campfire poking the other kids with flaming sticks. I would normally go off and find my own entertainment. I recall that the…
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Hankins Tales: Remembering Tony Smith
(Originally posted to social media on December 10, 2023) Billy Parrish sent me a message to let me know that Tony Smith died last week. I had not heard or seen anything about that passing. However I cannot let that death pass without comment. Tony Smith was one of the most impressive scouters that I…
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Hankins Tales: Farewell Troop 50
(Originally posted to social media on December 20, 2023) My old friend Steve Warren just posted a story in the BRMC Scouting History about the fact that Troop 50 was shutting down in Roanoke, Virginia. This is the scout troop that I joined way back in 1963 when I turned 11 years of age. I…
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Hankins Tales: Remembering David Estes
(Originally posted to social media on January 8, 2024) I know how it works. When you are 18 your focus is on graduation and all of your future plans. By the time you are about 28 all of your friends are getting married and it is one big endless celebration. In your 40s you are…
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Hankins Tales: “They call me Crazy John…”
(Originally posted to social media on January 25, 2015) From 1968 to 1978, I worked on the camp Staffs at Camp Ottari and Camp Powhatan. I did a little bit of everything during those years. I was on the original High Knoll staff but my favorite seasons were working as Nature Director. During my last…
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Hankins Tales: “1963 – The year I became a Boy Scout”
(Originally posted on social media March 27, 2015) I officially became a Boy Scout in November of 1963. In Troop 50, there was a rule that if you wanted to go to summer camp you needed to pass your Tenderfoot Rank first. Most of it was memorization of the oath and law, and you had…