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Boy Scout Oath
On my honor, I will do my best
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Boy Scouts of America Troop 97 (OLE 97) HistoryOur Troop was formed in 1937 by the joint efforts of Ruth Rovery, a lady at Galilee Baptist Church, and Reverend R.G.Lee of Bellevue Baptist Church. The troop was given a 1-year probationary period and became a permanent fixture of Galilee Baptist in 1938. Several years later Galilee Church moved and became Broadway Baptist Church, and the troop moved with it. Over 200 boys have earned the rank of Eagle in our troop including a Scout who is blind, one with Muscular Dystrophy, and one with Prader-Willi Syndrome. Several families have had second-generation Eagles in our troop. One Family, the Rovery's, have had third generation Eagles in our troop. Leonard Rovery, Sr. and Leonard Rovery, Jr. received their Eagles on the same day. Daniel Taylor and Britt Taylor received their Eagles many years later. The troop was led from the beginning by Buddy Irwin, a 20-year old Eagle Scout. Buddy had a mission to pay back the debt he owed to Scouting. They had some trouble getting the kids from church to join due to the prevalence of programs such as RAs and GAs. So Rev. Lee suggested they recruit boys from the neighborhoods. That is exactly what Buddy did. He went into all the surrounding neighborhoods inviting all the boys to come to the scout meetings. Buddy knew that the troop was an outreach ministry of the church. Many of the boys in the troop had never been inside a church. God was very much a part of the activities of this troop. Every meeting began and ended with prayer, and the troop chaplain was required to read a passage of scripture during the meeting. On camping trips, Buddy would pull the bus over to the side of the road on Sunday morning, and the troop would erect a wooden cross there, and the boys would listen while Buddy read from God's holy word. It was not long before the word got around that something was going on in this troop. By 1946 there were over 200 boys in the troop, and Buddy was forced to split the troop into two 'virtual' troops each with its own scoutmaster, adult staff, and youth staff. Buddy could not stand telling any boy he could not come along and join the troop, but the other leaders prevailed upon him to put a cap on the number of boys in the troop. Eventually the numbers dwindled down a bit. By 1967 the number of boys in the troop was around 125, with a waiting list to join. This number was the maximum allowed, two full busloads of kids. Many times, Buddy's talents at fund-raising and recruitment helped move the troop past serious roadblocks in its development. Using local donations and newspaper sales by the boys, the troop was able to acquire a bus, the 'Swamp Fox', which helped transport the large troop to camp. Once an ad showed up in the paper wanting help delivering phone books to a city across the Mississippi River from us, and Buddy was quick to accept the position. The scouts in the troop delivered all the phonebooks, over 10,000 of them, on weekends over one summer and raised enough money to buy 12 Grumman(R) canoes and trailers to transport them. The Passing of a LegendBuddy was a dreamer and had many dreams concerning the direction scouting and the troop were going. When the church moved to Mississippi from Memphis, Tennessee, he drew up plans for a meeting building for the troop that would also serve as missionary temporary housing during visits to the church. He also dreamed about topping 200 Eagles on the list. Unfortunately, he died before he saw either of these dreams come to fruition. In 1989, Buddy Irwin went home to be with the Lord, leaving some big shoes to fill. His funeral was preached by John Webb, a scout in the troop who surrendered to the ministry while on one of the camping trips.
Those shoes were filled by lifetime Scouter and close friend, Bill Dixon. Bill at the time was Advancement Chairman for the troop. He had previously been Scoutmaster of Troop 3, which was established around the same time as Troop 97. Bill's sons, Doug and Mike, had made Eagle in 1973 and 1975. Bill is an incredible naturalist and can tell more than a hundred species of trees and plants during the winter when there are not any leaves simply by the way the limbs grow and the way the bark looks. Bill retired from the troop in 1998, but is now actively involved in leading another troop.
The troop was then commanded by Redigo Phillips, an Eagle Scout with a boy headed into the Troop. Redigo is an auditor for the IRS and an accomplished photographer. Redigo led the troop for 5 years until demands at work curtailed his ability to lead the troop.
The troop is currently led by Mark Stroud, a graphic artist for a local printing company.
To learn more about the Boy Scouts of America Scout Troop 97 [OLE 97] contact the Scout Leader.
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