Hankins Tales: Remembering Jim Warren

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

I have just learned of the death of yet another old friend. We went to the same elementary school and we lived in the same neighborhoods. We were members of the same Boy Scout troop and we walked many of the same trails over the years. The fact that he was a little younger than I am kind of puts things in true perspective.

Cancer is a son of a bitch, it is unforgiving in the way that it attacks the human body. I have been expecting this for some time but it still comes as a shock. This one life that we have been given is far shorter than most people realize. We sit around making plans and dreaming dreams and the seconds are ticking away like a small leak in a copper pipe. You can never get them back. So if you are bitching and moaning and complaining about the state of the world go out and do something to make it a better place. Vote, and sing and dance and make a joyful noise because we just never know when our time will be up.

As we get older we begin to understand that time is moving a lot faster than we comprehend. I find myself recommitted to making the best of the time that I have left. I want to leave this world and this planet in better shape than I found it. It is going to take a lot of work from all of us but it is something that we can achieve. Sometimes it takes a death to refocus what is important in life. It is sure as hell, not money, or going to work every day. It has nothing to do with politics or religion or hate or division, it has to do with being the very best single human that we can be. That is all that we can hope to achieve but it will make a difference, it will have an impact.

Jim Warren, gone too soon. To his family, we share your pain but we know that you will get to the other side of this. Another old friend from the hallowed valleys of Camp Powhatan. Another old memory filed away to be remembered with a smile.

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 Jim Warren

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