Girl Scouts

 

I was a member of the Girl Scouts for about 18 years. I began as a Brownie in second grade which was the youngest you could join in the 1950s. My troop was #430 and Mrs. Davidson and Mrs. Moen were the leaders. The meetings were after school in the basement lunchroom of Highland Park School in Gloucester City, NJ. We wore our brown uniforms to school. One of the things I remember doing was making butter in a screw top jar. It was a revelation to learn where butter came from. We also cooked out one day in the school yard. We made sit-upons. Hopefully yours was waterproof since you might be sitting on wet ground. In those days you were a Brownie from grades 2 through 4.  Then in a crossing over ceremony you became an Intermediate Scout. The crossing ceremony included literally crossing a small little bridge that signified growing up and now being a Girl Scout instead of a Brownie Scout.

Intermediate Scouts was from grades 5 through 8. My troop was #298 and we met in the basement of the Lutheran Church on 4^th St. in Gloucester City, NJ. My leaders were Mrs. Kimmey and Mrs. Williamson. We worked on badges although I never earned many. One of our Halloween parties was especially fun. The lights were dimmed, and opaque bags were passed around for us to feel what was in them. A story went with it. One bag was supposed to be eyeballs. Another was intestines. Then we would try and guess what they were without looking. Eyeballs were peeled grapes and intestines were cooked spaghetti. I can’t remember what other things were in the bags. On Girl Scout Sunday we attended the Lutheran church since they were our sponsors. My mom didn’t let me go on the on the camping trip when I was in 5^th grade. She was afraid I would get hurt or lost or something. In 6^th grade though I was allowed to go camping. We had to prepare by planning meals, going shopping and compiling a list of the things we should take. We camped at Camp Inawendiwin in Burlington County. At that time there was just three campsites with cold water and outhouses. We had a great time. We sneaked into the leaders’ tent and took one of their bras. We may have taken one of the 8^th grade girls’ too. Then we ran them up the flagpole so that in the mornings when everyone got up they saw the bras.

The next year the Girl Scouts reorganized, and Brownies were grades 2 and 3 and Intermediates  was dropped. Grades 4 to 6 became Juniors, grades 7 to 9 Cadettes and grades 10 to 12 Seniors. So, I was a Cadette. Mrs. Jean Hubbs McLaughlin and Mrs. Lois Reader were the leaders. We met in the Church of God basement. We had some trips. One was to NYC to see the sights including Radio City Music Hall. Another time we went to the Camden County Music Fair to see West Side Story. We went camping each year. The best scout in our troop was Miki Baile. She had the most badges and became a First-Class Scout. She also had an award for saving someone from drowning. Four of us went to a Camporee at Inawendiwin. I completed training to be a camp counselor and was a councilor that summer at Inawendiwin. In tenth grade I was supposed to be a Senior Scout but there was no troop in Gloucester City. Another girl, Cathy Moss and I went to a troop in Camden. The girls in that troop were kind of rough. In 1966 not many girls had tattoos but several of the girls in that troop did. Also, they smoked in the meeting. Cathy and I decided we were not interested in joining that troop.

In tenth and eleventh grades I helped with my mom’s Junior troop and also spent almost every weekend in the spring helping troops on camping trips. In twelfth grade I became an assistant leader of a Junior troop. Carol Henry was the leader. Then I became the leader of a Cadette troop at the Lutheran church. It was hard because I had no assistant leader. I did that for a few years and then when I was a teacher several of my scouts were in my class. I had allowed them to call me Arlene at scouts but when they were put in my class at school they had to call me Miss Moore. Of course, they pushed the envelope and called me Arlene at school. Eventually I gave up being a leader.

Girl Scouts was a great program for me. It gave me confidence and led me down the path to maturation.

#Girl Scouts, #Gloucester City, NJ