Glen Roark of Neosho was a scout leader in McDonald County for many years and is still involved in scouting.
He was a teacher, teaching fourth grade for eight years at Granby School in East Newton County and 18 years in McDonald County (four years at Anderson Elementary and 14 at White Rock Elementary). He retired in 2002.
Roark also served in the Army from 1967 to 1970 after being drafted during the Vietnam era. He served stateside for a year, a year in Vietnam and a year in Germany.
"I was a mechanic," he said. "(It was) nothing like what a lot of the guys experienced over there. We had barracks, hot meals, everything we could want."
He added he was able to see a lot of Europe during his time serving in Germany.
In 1970 when he returned from Germany to Anderson where he grew up, his father turned his Boy Scout troop over to Roark. His father had started the troop because he had two sons who wanted to be scouts. Troop 95 meets at Anderson United Methodist Church, the church Roark grew up in and where he and his wife, Carol, are still members.
"I figure I spent at least 2,000 nights in a tent with the boys," Roark said. "We camped in snow. We camped in below zero. We camped in rain all weekend. We did it all."
About 1984, Roark started training in Woodbadge, the highest training offered to adult leaders in scouts. He said everything is done in small groups, and members learn scouting skills and leadership skills. He said he knew a man who, before the training, was terrified of public speaking, and afterward, became a Methodist minister.
He served on staff with Woodbadge for seven years and then became a course director. He has done all the training that scouts have offered, he said.
"It's a great organization -- despite the bad publicity -- it's really a great organization for young men," he said.
He has received many awards during his time with scouts, including the District Award of Merit, the Tom Harrison Award, God and Church, Vigil Member of the Order of the Arrow, Arrowman of the Year in 1993, the Golden Sun and the Silver Beaver (the highest award on the council level given to a scout leader).
He serves as troop committee chair, and Carol is a troop committee member. They are both merit badge counselors, mainly teaching geocaching. Geocaching is an outdoor activity in which participants use GPS coordinates downloaded to their GPS unit or an app on their smartphone to locate a container, or geocache, hidden at the coordinates. Geocaches are hidden all over the world. Inside the container is a log where the participant may write down his or her name to "log" the find. Depending on the size of the container, there may also be small items that may be taken based on a "take something, leave something" honor system. The Roarks have geocached in 37 states, including Alaska, as well as Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean.
Roark has also worked with 32 scouts who have made Eagle Scout.
He said the scouts have had good support and volunteers throughout the years. What Troop 95 needs now are leaders for a Cub Scout troop to feed the troop and keep it going, he said. Timothy Thurman is the scoutmaster of Troop 95 now.
"Fifty-plus years of doing this and I don't regret a bit of it," Roark concluded.