As Told to Kyle Van Velkinburgh

The History of Troop 423 as told to Kyle Van Velkinburgh by Mr. Brad Harris our first Scoutmaster

The Birth:

The birth of Troop 423 occurred September 1997 with Mr. Brad Harris being the first Scoutmaster. It’s origin was Troop 419. Back in mid-summer of 1997, troop 419 was a very successful troop with over 100 scouts. Being such a large troop a letter was circulated to the scouts and parents of troop 419 stating that the troop would be divided into another troop. Troop 423. In this letter, scouts and parents were asked if they wanted to trail blaze the new troop and become its first members. In August, 21 members answered the call and organized themselves into 4 patrols meeting for the first time September 1997 at Tigard Christian Church, our sponsor then. First group of scouts were from all ages, not just younger or older scouts. A good mix.

Our first scoutmaster was Brad Harris. Mr. Harris moved to Beaverton at age 10 and joined Troop 685. He was and still is active in the OA. He held positions of Section and Lodge chief as a youth and carried the OA tradition to our new troop. The Order of the Arrow was strongly supported by 423.

Building a strong foundation:

One of the biggest tasks to forming new troop is how to organize, how to do fund raising, creating new traditions. All this with the idea that the troop was to be a “Boy Run” troop. Coming from a strong foundation with Troop 419, we drew from strong rich program to form our own traditions. Wanted to make sure it was a LOTS of fun and have exciting things to do!

Raising money for the troop had to happen fast. The first event was rummage sale in October. This was the seed money for things to come. We were fortunate to have our brothers at 419 set the new patrols up with patrol set (action packers) and camping gear. The next year was our first annual fund raising event, tree recycling.

The first meeting:

Starting a troop from scratch takes a lot of work. We were fortunate to be able to migrate a lot of traditions from 419 to make the process easier. The first meeting was an informational meeting. Focusing on creating a troop logo. The first logo is what we see on the back of our neckerchiefs today! The original design had “TCC” included in the design. Along with the logo, a new Troop Motto was created: “423 The Place To Be. Best Darn troop in Wapiti (or CPC)!” The meeting did have a fun theme though: Hobby Night – Brad Harris’s dad showed patches, there were trains and other collections. First Summer Camp!

The summer of 1998 we had our first summer camp at Camp Meriwether. We took 39 scouts! The older scouts loved outpost on beach (overnight on the beach). This is also where we started the “Good Attitude” shirt we still support today. The weather started off with a sprinkle the first night, but the rest of the week was great. David Brahler, a Star Scout and our first SPL, won the chili cook off for the troop. Notably, David was also troop 423 first Eagle Scout.

David showed a lot of troop spirit. During camp, he created a tradition of using a character named “High-Gene”. It was a nightly skit that they performed to show the importance of hygiene even during camping. Gene was the character’s name that did the nightly skit for the troop. One night was a demonstration on how to properly brush your teeth. It was pretty funny. It finished with a buddy dumping a bucket of water over his head. Other nights focused on the importance of drink water, another night the importance of bathing, etc. It was great fun watching the skits and making everyone laugh – but still conveying the importance of High Gene!

Mike had the best story which was an “Indian recipe that included NW Banana Slug”. The story is forgotten, but it must have been a good one!

Our first out of council was at camp Parsons. It was a great experience with new events/activities other camps didn’t have. The rotation we established was 2 years in council one year out of council for our summer camps.

Favorite camps:

On our first trip to Goldendale, it snowed. We had 3 inches before it was done. It was cold! The rangers where we stayed let us into the cabins and warm up. We all still had fun though.

The summer camp we loved the most was Camp Baldwin. It was a great place to utilize the “Patrol method” and it was always a positive experience. We also loved camping at Butte Creek!

We didn’t waste any time getting our camping gear broken in. Our first outing was October 19 at Twin Lakes followed up with a second outing at Camp Clark as our survival outing.

Scoutmasters Conferences:

Mr. Brad Harris tried to make this a special event, often conducting them outdoors, out in the woods. In nature. One time he held a conference 100’ shy of base of the Middle Sister. The setting allowed the scouts to reflect back and give valuable feedback to the program. You could imagine yourself in that setting. Our first Court of Honor:

The first court of honor was held around Christmas. As a first Christmas with the troop, it was decided to hold a Christmas Feast. Dinner was cooked by the scouts for the parents. Scouts cooked their favorite camp dish. It was quite a project. After creating the menu, the day of the feast the scouts arrive early, 1 or 2 pm. They used the camp equipment like the cook stoves and Dutch ovens to prepare meal for parents. This showed off their cooking skills used at camp.

Early Eagles:

As mentioned earlier, our first Eagle Scout was David Brashler and was followed by Justin. After these two Eagle Scouts were honored, it was decided to begin Eagle Plaque to honor those that earned that rank. Mr. Harris’s son Matt Harris who was also the second Senior Patrol Leader also earned the rank of Eagle.

Youth Leadership:

Earlier it was mentioned that the troop was determined to operate with a “boy run” philosophy. It was very successful.

One scout of note was our third SPL, Robert Rostum. He had an interesting beginning in scouting. Robert was never involved in scouting until he joined our troop. All of his scouting experience began as a Boy Scout, but excelled in scouting to become our 6th Eagle Scout. Unusual considering most boy scouts continued after enjoying the experience as a younger youth.

Robert was a great guy and actively engaged scouts of all ages in the troop. At Butte Creek, he would build little dams along the creek with the younger scouts. The scouts of 423 had fun interacting across all ages.

As time went on:

By mid - 2000, the troop had 89 active members – 13 patrols. Troop guides assigned to each patrol along with an Assistant SM for each patrol as well. We had over 40 registered adults. Our brother Troop 419 grew up to the same number over the same time. Both programs were very successful.

The patrol names then were: Lizard King Cobras Bobcats Sea Hawks Road runners Flaming arrows Scorpions Alligators Tigers Anaconda Grey wolves Rattle Snake Cliff Hangers

A final note from Mr. Brad Harris:

Celebrate legacy and built new traditions.