Thanks to Yorba Linda's volunteer leaders
Thanksgiving is an appropriate time to appreciate Yorba Linda’s genuine civic leaders--the hundreds of residents who work tirelessly to provide programs for this community’s youth and who serve without salaries, stipends, fringe benefits or retirement packages.
Through the years, many of these dedicated individuals have volunteered their time and talents for Boy Scout Troop 99, which celebrates a 95th anniversary next year and holds the title as Orange County’s oldest, continuously chartered troop.
Recently, I spoke with 31-year resident Paul Weddell, who has devoted nearly 30 years of service to Troop 99. He’s currently the troop unit commissioner and is advancement chair for the Orange County Council, which oversees 28,056 scouts.
The local troop was chartered with 22 scouts in 1916 as Yorba Linda-Troop 1, a number that was switched to 99, according to Weddell, during a later countywide reorganization. The troop evolved from a First Baptist Church youth group formed in 1914.
It’s not known how many young men have participated in Troop 99 activities since 1916, but based on troop records, 93 achieved Eagle rank, with the latest, Ryan Marquiss, to be recognized at a Court of Honor 3 p.m. Saturday at the Community Center.
Among the 93 are 14 sets of brothers, including Weddell’s two sons, Steve and Dan in 1988. Other Eagle-earning brothers are four sons of Norm Carter, the troop’s longest-serving Scoutmaster, and three in both the Camp and Durfee families.
Ten-year Scoutmaster Ken Just is the troop’s 31st adult leader, as Sunrise Rotary followed the Masons, American Legion Post 675, the Women’s and Junior Women’s clubs, United Methodist Men, Kiwanis and, briefly, the Chamber of Commerce as troop sponsors.
One interesting story Weddell tells concerns the historic red Scout house at Hurless Barton Park, near the Community Center’s eastside entrance.
Weddell said the structure was first located near the old citrus packing house before moving across the street to a railroad-donated parcel now occupied by Mimi’s Café.
The park site was granted exclusively to Troop 99 in a 1981 City Council resolution, Weddell stated, carefully clarifying that the city’s action “was not a gift, but a trade.”
Weddell explained: “When the city was developing the [Station] shopping center, it came to their attention that they didn’t own the land where the Scout house was located,” so the city exchanged the park site for the Troop 99 land near the prime Town Center corner.
“But…termites had made moving the structure impossible,” so the center’s developer rebuilt the unit using some of the old materials, Weddell said.
Now, Troop 99 has 45 members and hundreds more are in the city’s 10 other troops, not counting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-sponsored units, which according to Weddell, “are not sorted by city.”
Thanks today and everyday to contributors to Yorba Linda Scout programs.
Through the years, many of these dedicated individuals have volunteered their time and talents for Boy Scout Troop 99, which celebrates a 95th anniversary next year and holds the title as Orange County’s oldest, continuously chartered troop.
Recently, I spoke with 31-year resident Paul Weddell, who has devoted nearly 30 years of service to Troop 99. He’s currently the troop unit commissioner and is advancement chair for the Orange County Council, which oversees 28,056 scouts.
The local troop was chartered with 22 scouts in 1916 as Yorba Linda-Troop 1, a number that was switched to 99, according to Weddell, during a later countywide reorganization. The troop evolved from a First Baptist Church youth group formed in 1914.
It’s not known how many young men have participated in Troop 99 activities since 1916, but based on troop records, 93 achieved Eagle rank, with the latest, Ryan Marquiss, to be recognized at a Court of Honor 3 p.m. Saturday at the Community Center.
Among the 93 are 14 sets of brothers, including Weddell’s two sons, Steve and Dan in 1988. Other Eagle-earning brothers are four sons of Norm Carter, the troop’s longest-serving Scoutmaster, and three in both the Camp and Durfee families.
Ten-year Scoutmaster Ken Just is the troop’s 31st adult leader, as Sunrise Rotary followed the Masons, American Legion Post 675, the Women’s and Junior Women’s clubs, United Methodist Men, Kiwanis and, briefly, the Chamber of Commerce as troop sponsors.
One interesting story Weddell tells concerns the historic red Scout house at Hurless Barton Park, near the Community Center’s eastside entrance.
Weddell said the structure was first located near the old citrus packing house before moving across the street to a railroad-donated parcel now occupied by Mimi’s Café.
The park site was granted exclusively to Troop 99 in a 1981 City Council resolution, Weddell stated, carefully clarifying that the city’s action “was not a gift, but a trade.”
Weddell explained: “When the city was developing the [Station] shopping center, it came to their attention that they didn’t own the land where the Scout house was located,” so the city exchanged the park site for the Troop 99 land near the prime Town Center corner.
“But…termites had made moving the structure impossible,” so the center’s developer rebuilt the unit using some of the old materials, Weddell said.
Now, Troop 99 has 45 members and hundreds more are in the city’s 10 other troops, not counting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-sponsored units, which according to Weddell, “are not sorted by city.”
Thanks today and everyday to contributors to Yorba Linda Scout programs.
posted by Jim Drummond at 12:00 PM
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