Hankins Tales: Making Amends to Phyllis Newbill

(Originally posted to social media on February 11, 2022)

I want to issue a public and profound apology to someone I barely know. The young lady’s name is Phyllis Leary Newbill, and she lives in the Blue Ridge Mts Council area. From what I can gather she hates me for stealing one of her rattlesnakes more than 30 years ago. It is so long ago that I do not recall all of the details but I want to try and clear the air.

First of all I did not steal the snake. It was gifted to me by the camp Ranger who assured me that “we will catch a lot more before the season is over”. I already had about 5 Rattlesnakes back in Richmond but I liked to rotate them for my snake demos and that was a beautiful specimen. When I was the Nature Director at Ottari many moons ago we would often catch about 4 Rattlesnakes each week just in the Ottari basin but evidently in that year they did not catch another one all season. Thus the hate. I can understand in hindsight why you would be upset.

In all of my years of working at the reservation on High Knoll or Powhatan or Ottari I knew the name Leary very well. We used to work with this character named Linton Leary who would rent us equipment when we needed it. He was a certified crazy man and I have to assume he was you father or Grandfather? Either way, we were friends. So for his relative to hate me for 30 years is a bridge too far. i would like to think that I am spoken of in warm and glowing terms on the reservation, but when somebody hates you with a white hot intensity that is not likely to happen.

Either way, I am trying to make amends. You are welcome to come to my house here in West Virginia and steal some of my Chickens. It will not make up for your loss but it might make you feel better. I no longer keep vast numbers of venomous snakes but if I did I would be glad to bring them to your house and drop them off in the kitchen. It could be a great surprise for you and maybe we could find a way to be friends. Please forgive me for my many transgressions , I did not realize what an impact it would have on your life. I blame Charlie……

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: Making Amends to Phyllis Newbill

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