Hankins Tales: A Visit from Tim Ward

(Originally posted to social media on May 22, 2021)

We just had a brief visit from my old friend Tim Ward and his wife Ginger. Tim is someone who I can trace all the way back to Grandin Court Elementary school in Roanoke. We attended the same middle school and High School. He is about a year older than I am but we became good friends once we entered Troop 50 together at Woodlawn Methodist Church.

Over the years we got into almost every imaginable type of trouble and had adventures that most people would dismiss as impossible. Tim has been living on the edges of places like Kodiak Island and Tok Alaska. I have visited up there a few times but the last time we saw each other was about 25 years ago. Just because we have not seen each other in forever does not mean that we are no longer friends. In fact, some of my best friends are people that I have not reached out to in forever. We do not need mutual assurance that we are still there for each other. Many people have a continual need to maintain every relationship and in the process, they can actually drive people away.

Tim and Ginger sold the house in Tok and have been traveling around the county in a small caravan. He is hitting places that he recalls from his youth. They spent the winter in Martha’s Vineyard but they were discouraged by how developed the Island has become. Now they are heading down to Greyson County in Virginia. This is an area where a number of his relatives grew up. He and I used to camp a lot in the area of Whitetop Mt. This is some of the highest country in Virginia. 25 years is a long time and Tim was older and he weighed a lot less than I remember. But there was still a familiar glint in his eyes. Ginger has not changed from the 18-year-old girl I first met in Fairbanks millions of years ago.

They are on a journey that has no known destination. I fear that they are so used to the relative isolation of Alaska that they may never be able to fully adapt to the lower 48. Their two kids are still back in Anchorage and Kodiak. No matter what they do it was good to see them. We fell into a comfortable banter and talked about old times when we were young and foolish. Now we are both old and foolish, some things never change. I hope they find what they are looking for, they are not alone. There is an army of Americans who are on the move and trying to find that perfect place where they will fit in. Some of us will never find that place but we will have a hell of a time looking for it.

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: A Visit from Tim Ward

Leave a Reply Cancel reply