Hankins Tales: Transitioning at Camp Brady Saunders

(Originally posted to social media on May 24, 2021)

I was very sorry to hear that my old friend Pat Dillon has resigned as the Ranger at camp. I am the one who recruited Pat about 8 years back to replace Tim Streagle who had moved to Idaho. However within about a year after being hired I abruptly retired and moved to West Virginia. Retirement was not even on my radar when we first hired Pat. The decision for me to retire took place very quickly and it caught a lot of people flatfooted.

Pat had been my top volunteer for all of the many years that I was at Brady Saunders. His skill set was remarkable and he was a work horse who would go all day long. Pat was easily the best camp Ranger I have ever encountered. His past history was as someone who had managed a lot of big jobs and his work as a professional electrician was critical to the needs of the reservation.

However, the past couple of years has been tough for scout Camps all over the nation. A number of them will not survive COVID and only those camps that are flexible are going to make it.

Since I was not on hand for the last few years I have no real idea what Pat went through but I can imagine it was not easy.

Pat will land on his feet and he will prove a valuable asset to anyone who hires him. There is an old saying that “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone”. I think that a lot of people will notice his absence. I wish him nothing but great luck in his future. He is still a great friend……

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: Transitioning at Camp Brady Saunders

Leave a Reply Cancel reply